diff --git a/djrill/mail/backends/djrill.py b/djrill/mail/backends/djrill.py
index d9997cf..e680946 100644
--- a/djrill/mail/backends/djrill.py
+++ b/djrill/mail/backends/djrill.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ from django.core.mail.backends.base import BaseEmailBackend
 from django.core.mail.message import sanitize_address
 from django.utils import simplejson as json
 
+from email.utils import parseaddr
 import requests
 
 class DjrillBackendHTTPError(Exception):
@@ -62,7 +63,6 @@ class DjrillBackend(BaseEmailBackend):
         self.sender = sanitize_address(message.from_email, message.encoding)
         recipients_list = [sanitize_address(addr, message.encoding)
             for addr in message.recipients()]
-        from email.utils import parseaddr
         self.recipients = [{"email": e, "name": n} for n,e in [
             parseaddr(r) for r in recipients_list]]
 
@@ -96,22 +96,27 @@ class DjrillBackend(BaseEmailBackend):
         use by default. Standard text email messages sent through Django will
         still work through Mandrill.
         """
-        return {
+        from_name, from_email = parseaddr(self.sender)
+        msg_dict = {
             "text": message.body,
             "subject": message.subject,
-            "from_email": self.sender,
+            "from_email": from_email,
             "to": self.recipients
         }
+        if from_name:
+            msg_dict["from_name"] = from_name
+        return msg_dict
 
     def _build_advanced_message_dict(self, message):
         """
         Builds advanced message dict and attaches any accepted extra headers.
         """
         self.msg_dict.update({
-            "from_name": message.from_name,
             "tags": message.tags,
             "track_opens": message.track_opens,
         })
+        if message.from_name:
+            self.msg_dict["from_name"] = message.from_name
 
         if message.extra_headers:
             accepted_headers = {}
diff --git a/djrill/tests.py b/djrill/tests.py
index eebba74..2851f10 100644
--- a/djrill/tests.py
+++ b/djrill/tests.py
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ class DjrillBackendTests(DjrillBackendMockAPITestCase):
         data = self.get_api_call_data()
         self.assertEqual(data['message']['subject'], "Subject here")
         self.assertEqual(data['message']['text'], "Here is the message.")
+        self.assertFalse('from_name' in data['message'])
         self.assertEqual(data['message']['from_email'], "from@example.com")
         self.assertEqual(len(data['message']['to']), 1)
         self.assertEqual(data['message']['to'][0]['email'], "to@example.com")
@@ -65,6 +66,22 @@ class DjrillBackendTests(DjrillBackendMockAPITestCase):
             mail.send_mail('Subject', 'Message', 'from@example.com',
                 ['to@example.com'])
 
+    def test_name_addr(self):
+        """Make sure RFC2822 name-addr format (with display-name) is allowed
+
+        (Test both sender and recipient addresses)
+        """
+        mail.send_mail('Subject', 'Message', 'From Name <from@example.com>',
+            ['Recipient #1 <to1@example.com>', 'to2@example.com'])
+        data = self.get_api_call_data()
+        self.assertEqual(data['message']['from_name'], "From Name")
+        self.assertEqual(data['message']['from_email'], "from@example.com")
+        self.assertEqual(len(data['message']['to']), 2)
+        self.assertEqual(data['message']['to'][0]['name'], "Recipient #1")
+        self.assertEqual(data['message']['to'][0]['email'], "to1@example.com")
+        self.assertEqual(data['message']['to'][1]['name'], "")
+        self.assertEqual(data['message']['to'][1]['email'], "to2@example.com")
+
 
 class DjrillMessageTests(TestCase):
     def setUp(self):