diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index bb241b008e..d60269e5ed 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 <h1 align="center">OpenCms</h1>
-
+ 
 <p align="center">
   <a href="http://opencms.org/" alt="OpenCms">
     <img src="https://www.alkacon.com/export/shared/web/logos/opencms-logo.svg" alt="OpenCms logo" width="340" height="84">
diff --git a/src/org/opencms/i18n/CmsLocaleManager.java b/src/org/opencms/i18n/CmsLocaleManager.java
index 8ecce0690e..f030b9e398 100644
--- a/src/org/opencms/i18n/CmsLocaleManager.java
+++ b/src/org/opencms/i18n/CmsLocaleManager.java
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@
 import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
 
 import com.cybozu.labs.langdetect.DetectorFactory;
+import org.springframework.web.util.HtmlUtils;
 
 /**
  * Manages the locales configured for this OpenCms installation.<p>
@@ -305,7 +306,7 @@ public static List<String> getLocaleVariants(
                 result.add(basename);
             }
             if (wantDefaultAsBase) {
-                result.add(basename + "_" + getDefaultLocale().toString());
+                result.add(basename + "_" + HtmlUtils.htmlEscape(HtmlUtils.htmlUnescape(getDefaultLocale().toString())));
             }
             return result;
         }