diff --git a/gramps/gen/utils/grampslocale.py b/gramps/gen/utils/grampslocale.py
index 7a0af3a0a..558af0536 100644
--- a/gramps/gen/utils/grampslocale.py
+++ b/gramps/gen/utils/grampslocale.py
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ _hdlr = None
 # GrampsLocale initialization comes before command-line argument
 # passing, so one must set the log level directly. The default is
 # logging.WARN. Uncomment the following to change it to logging.DEBUG:
-#LOG.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
+# LOG.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
 try:
     from icu import Locale, Collator
     HAVE_ICU = True
diff --git a/gramps/gen/utils/maclocale.py b/gramps/gen/utils/maclocale.py
index 97eea1ea4..6f2f54db4 100644
--- a/gramps/gen/utils/maclocale.py
+++ b/gramps/gen/utils/maclocale.py
@@ -231,6 +231,7 @@ def mac_setup_localization(glocale):
             LOG.debug("Environment locale %s not supported", _locale)
 
     if not glocale.lang:
+        LOG.debug("Setting from the environment didn't work out, checking defaults")
         (glocale.lang, glocale.currency, glocale.calendar) = _mac_get_locale()
 
     glocale.coll_qualifier = None
@@ -241,6 +242,13 @@ def mac_setup_localization(glocale):
         glocale.lang = glocale.check_available_translations(coll_parts[0])
 
     glocale.lang = locale.normalize(glocale.lang)
+    if not glocale.lang.split('.')[1].lower() in ['utf8', 'utf-8']:
+        LOG.debug('Forcing locale encoding to UTF-8')
+        glocale.lang = '.'.join([glocale.lang.split('.')[0], 'UTF-8'])
+        try:
+            locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL, glocale.lang)
+        except locale.Error:
+            LOG.debug('Attempt failed, locale %s unsupported', glocale.lang)
     glocale.encoding = glocale.lang.split('.')[1]
     if not glocale.language:
         lang = locale.getlocale(locale.LC_MESSAGES)[0]