diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index fe3508d..9a7d4d3 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -7,5 +7,5 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
       - uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@stable
-      - run: cargo build
+      - run: cargo build --features unicode_names2
       - run: cargo test
diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index b0bfd13..33d1268 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -2,6 +2,226 @@
 # It is not intended for manual editing.
 version = 3
 
+[[package]]
+name = "byteorder"
+version = "1.5.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "1fd0f2584146f6f2ef48085050886acf353beff7305ebd1ae69500e27c67f64b"
+
+[[package]]
+name = "cfg-if"
+version = "1.0.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "baf1de4339761588bc0619e3cbc0120ee582ebb74b53b4efbf79117bd2da40fd"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "codex"
 version = "0.1.0"
+dependencies = [
+ "unicode_names2",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "getopts"
+version = "0.2.21"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "14dbbfd5c71d70241ecf9e6f13737f7b5ce823821063188d7e46c41d371eebd5"
+dependencies = [
+ "unicode-width",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "getrandom"
+version = "0.2.15"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "c4567c8db10ae91089c99af84c68c38da3ec2f087c3f82960bcdbf3656b6f4d7"
+dependencies = [
+ "cfg-if",
+ "libc",
+ "wasi",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "libc"
+version = "0.2.164"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "433bfe06b8c75da9b2e3fbea6e5329ff87748f0b144ef75306e674c3f6f7c13f"
+
+[[package]]
+name = "log"
+version = "0.4.22"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "a7a70ba024b9dc04c27ea2f0c0548feb474ec5c54bba33a7f72f873a39d07b24"
+
+[[package]]
+name = "phf"
+version = "0.11.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "ade2d8b8f33c7333b51bcf0428d37e217e9f32192ae4772156f65063b8ce03dc"
+dependencies = [
+ "phf_shared",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "phf_codegen"
+version = "0.11.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "e8d39688d359e6b34654d328e262234662d16cc0f60ec8dcbe5e718709342a5a"
+dependencies = [
+ "phf_generator",
+ "phf_shared",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "phf_generator"
+version = "0.11.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "48e4cc64c2ad9ebe670cb8fd69dd50ae301650392e81c05f9bfcb2d5bdbc24b0"
+dependencies = [
+ "phf_shared",
+ "rand",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "phf_shared"
+version = "0.11.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "90fcb95eef784c2ac79119d1dd819e162b5da872ce6f3c3abe1e8ca1c082f72b"
+dependencies = [
+ "siphasher",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "ppv-lite86"
+version = "0.2.20"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "77957b295656769bb8ad2b6a6b09d897d94f05c41b069aede1fcdaa675eaea04"
+dependencies = [
+ "zerocopy",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "proc-macro2"
+version = "1.0.89"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "f139b0662de085916d1fb67d2b4169d1addddda1919e696f3252b740b629986e"
+dependencies = [
+ "unicode-ident",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "quote"
+version = "1.0.37"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "b5b9d34b8991d19d98081b46eacdd8eb58c6f2b201139f7c5f643cc155a633af"
+dependencies = [
+ "proc-macro2",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "rand"
+version = "0.8.5"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "34af8d1a0e25924bc5b7c43c079c942339d8f0a8b57c39049bef581b46327404"
+dependencies = [
+ "libc",
+ "rand_chacha",
+ "rand_core",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "rand_chacha"
+version = "0.3.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "e6c10a63a0fa32252be49d21e7709d4d4baf8d231c2dbce1eaa8141b9b127d88"
+dependencies = [
+ "ppv-lite86",
+ "rand_core",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "rand_core"
+version = "0.6.4"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "ec0be4795e2f6a28069bec0b5ff3e2ac9bafc99e6a9a7dc3547996c5c816922c"
+dependencies = [
+ "getrandom",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "siphasher"
+version = "0.3.11"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "38b58827f4464d87d377d175e90bf58eb00fd8716ff0a62f80356b5e61555d0d"
+
+[[package]]
+name = "syn"
+version = "2.0.87"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "25aa4ce346d03a6dcd68dd8b4010bcb74e54e62c90c573f394c46eae99aba32d"
+dependencies = [
+ "proc-macro2",
+ "quote",
+ "unicode-ident",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "unicode-ident"
+version = "1.0.13"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "e91b56cd4cadaeb79bbf1a5645f6b4f8dc5bde8834ad5894a8db35fda9efa1fe"
+
+[[package]]
+name = "unicode-width"
+version = "0.1.14"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "7dd6e30e90baa6f72411720665d41d89b9a3d039dc45b8faea1ddd07f617f6af"
+
+[[package]]
+name = "unicode_names2"
+version = "1.3.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "d1673eca9782c84de5f81b82e4109dcfb3611c8ba0d52930ec4a9478f547b2dd"
+dependencies = [
+ "phf",
+ "unicode_names2_generator",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "unicode_names2_generator"
+version = "1.3.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "b91e5b84611016120197efd7dc93ef76774f4e084cd73c9fb3ea4a86c570c56e"
+dependencies = [
+ "getopts",
+ "log",
+ "phf_codegen",
+ "rand",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "wasi"
+version = "0.11.0+wasi-snapshot-preview1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "9c8d87e72b64a3b4db28d11ce29237c246188f4f51057d65a7eab63b7987e423"
+
+[[package]]
+name = "zerocopy"
+version = "0.7.35"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "1b9b4fd18abc82b8136838da5d50bae7bdea537c574d8dc1a34ed098d6c166f0"
+dependencies = [
+ "byteorder",
+ "zerocopy-derive",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "zerocopy-derive"
+version = "0.7.35"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "fa4f8080344d4671fb4e831a13ad1e68092748387dfc4f55e356242fae12ce3e"
+dependencies = [
+ "proc-macro2",
+ "quote",
+ "syn",
+]
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index f21d3db..89f5b50 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -9,3 +9,6 @@ readme = "README.md"
 license = "Apache-2.0"
 categories = ["encoding", "text-processing"]
 keywords = ["unicode", "symbols"]
+
+[build-dependencies]
+unicode_names2 = { version = "1.3.0", optional = true }
diff --git a/build.rs b/build.rs
index 2e2fd45..8d199ed 100644
--- a/build.rs
+++ b/build.rs
@@ -86,8 +86,8 @@ fn tokenize(line: &str) -> StrResult<Line> {
         return Ok(Line::Blank);
     }
 
-    let (head, tail) = match line.split_once(' ') {
-        Some((a, b)) => (a, Some(b)),
+    let (head, tail) = match line.split_once(char::is_whitespace) {
+        Some((a, b)) => (a, Some(b.trim_start())),
         None => (line, None),
     };
 
@@ -121,10 +121,29 @@ fn validate_ident(string: &str) -> StrResult<()> {
 /// Extracts either a single char or parses a U+XXXX escape.
 fn decode_char(text: &str) -> StrResult<char> {
     if let Some(hex) = text.strip_prefix("U+") {
-        u32::from_str_radix(hex, 16)
+        let (hex, name) = match hex.split_once(char::is_whitespace) {
+            Some((hex, name)) => (hex, Some(name.trim_start())),
+            None => (hex, None),
+        };
+
+        let ch = u32::from_str_radix(hex, 16)
             .ok()
-            .and_then(|n| char::try_from(n).ok())
-            .ok_or_else(|| format!("invalid unicode escape {text:?}"))
+            .and_then(|n| char::from_u32(n))
+            .ok_or_else(|| format!("invalid unicode escape {hex:?}"))?;
+
+        #[cfg_attr(not(feature = "unicode_names2"), expect(unused_variables))]
+        if let Some(name) = name {
+            #[cfg(feature = "unicode_names2")]
+            if unicode_names2::character(name) != Some(ch) {
+                return Err(format!(
+                    "Incorrect name supplied for character U+{hex}: '{name}'{}",
+                    unicode_names2::name(ch)
+                        .map_or("".to_string(), |name| format!(" (expected {name})"))
+                ));
+            }
+        }
+
+        Ok(ch)
     } else {
         let mut chars = text.chars();
         match (chars.next(), chars.next()) {
diff --git a/src/modules/sym.txt b/src/modules/sym.txt
index 481122b..7cea030 100644
--- a/src/modules/sym.txt
+++ b/src/modules/sym.txt
@@ -1,25 +1,25 @@
-// Control.
-wj U+2060
-zwj U+200D
-zwnj U+200C
-zws U+200B
-lrm U+200E
-rlm U+200F
+// Layout control.
+wj   U+2060  Word joiner
+zwj  U+200D  Zero width joiner
+zwnj U+200C  Zero width non-joiner
+zws  U+200B  Zero width space
+lrm  U+200E  Left-to-right mark
+rlm  U+200F  Right-to-left mark
 
 // Spaces.
-space U+20
-  .nobreak U+A0
-  .nobreak.narrow U+202F
-  .en U+2002
-  .quad U+2003
-  .third U+2004
-  .quarter U+2005
-  .sixth U+2006
-  .med U+205F
-  .fig U+2007
-  .punct U+2008
-  .thin U+2009
-  .hair U+200A
+space U+20        Space
+  .nobreak U+A0   No-break space
+  .nobreak.narrow U+202F Narrow no-break space
+  .en U+2002      En space
+  .quad U+2003    Em space
+  .third U+2004   Three-per-em space
+  .quarter U+2005 Four-per-em space
+  .sixth U+2006   Six-per-em space
+  .fig U+2007     Figure space
+  .punct U+2008   Punctuation space
+  .thin U+2009    Thin space
+  .hair U+200A    Hair space
+  .med U+205F     Medium mathematical space
 
 // Delimiters.
 paren
@@ -30,9 +30,9 @@ paren
   .t ⏜
   .b ⏝
 brace
-  .l U+7B
+  .l U+7B  Left curly bracket
   .l.double ⦃
-  .r U+7D
+  .r U+7D  Right curly bracket
   .r.double ⦄
   .t ⏞
   .b ⏟
@@ -130,14 +130,14 @@ dash
   .wave.double 〰
 dot
   .op ⋅
-  .basic U+2E
+  .basic U+2E  Full stop
   .c ·
   .circle ⊙
   .circle.big ⨀
   .square ⊡
   .double ¨
-  .triple U+20DB
-  .quad U+20DC
+  .triple U+20DB Combining three dots above 
+  .quad U+20DC   Combining four dots above
 excl !
   .double ‼
   .inv ¡
@@ -149,10 +149,10 @@ quest ?
 interrobang ‽
 hash #
 hyph ‐
-  .minus U+2D
-  .nobreak U+2011
+  .minus U+2D     Hyphen-minus
+  .nobreak U+2011 Non-breaking hyphen
+  .soft U+AD      Soft hyphen
   .point ‧
-  .soft U+AD
 numero №
 percent %
 permille ‰