diff --git a/gramps/gui/dbman.py b/gramps/gui/dbman.py
index b6dd586f2..6e8739e03 100644
--- a/gramps/gui/dbman.py
+++ b/gramps/gui/dbman.py
@@ -771,7 +771,8 @@ class DbManager(CLIDbManager):
         """
         Create a new database, append to model
         """
-        new_path, title = self.create_new_db_cli(title, create_db)
+        new_path, title = self.create_new_db_cli(conv_to_unicode(title, 'utf8'),
+                                                 create_db)
         path_name = os.path.join(new_path, NAME_FILE)
         (tval, last) = time_val(new_path)
         node = self.model.append(None, [title, new_path, path_name,