diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index d08624e8e..60659f4ed 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@
 	const.display_fevent(); (on_event_update_clicked): Likewise. 
 	* src/EventEdit.py (EventEditor.__init__): Call self.trans() before
 	displaying event name. 
+	* src/EditPerson.py (did_data_change): Add a unicode conversion to the
+	surname string. 
 
 2003-08-05  Tim Waugh  <twaugh@redhat.com>
 	* src/Report.py, src/TextDoc.py, src/DrawDoc.py: Adjusted the way
diff --git a/src/EditPerson.py b/src/EditPerson.py
index 7516cb6bd..1e79f5bb6 100644
--- a/src/EditPerson.py
+++ b/src/EditPerson.py
@@ -919,7 +919,7 @@ class EditPerson:
     def did_data_change(self):
         """Check to see if any of the data has changed from the
         original record"""
-        surname = self.surname_field.get_text()
+        surname = unicode(self.surname_field.get_text())
         if GrampsCfg.capitalize:
             surname = surname.upper()