diff --git a/src/cfvariable.jl b/src/cfvariable.jl
index a364e4bf..8de925a4 100644
--- a/src/cfvariable.jl
+++ b/src/cfvariable.jl
@@ -474,7 +474,7 @@ function Base.keys(v::AbstractVariable)
 end
 
 
-function Base.getindex(v::AbstractVariable,name::AbstractString)
+function Base.getindex(v::AbstractVariable,name::SymbolOrString)
     ds = dataset(v)
     ncvar = ds[name]
     if _isrelated(ncvar,v)
diff --git a/test/test_cfconventions.jl b/test/test_cfconventions.jl
index 7093fb5d..5af7e220 100644
--- a/test/test_cfconventions.jl
+++ b/test/test_cfconventions.jl
@@ -169,5 +169,11 @@ ds = NCDataset(fname)
 @test_throws KeyError ds[CF"longitude"] # error
 
 nclon_u2 = ds["ubar"][CF"longitude"]
+@test name(nclon_u2) == "lon_u"
+
+
+nclon_u2 = ds["ubar"]["lon_u"]
+@test name(nclon_u2) == "lon_u"
 
+nclon_u2 = ds["ubar"][:lon_u]
 @test name(nclon_u2) == "lon_u"