diff --git a/lib/coderay/scanners/ruby/patterns.rb b/lib/coderay/scanners/ruby/patterns.rb
index a52198ef..6a9eebe0 100644
--- a/lib/coderay/scanners/ruby/patterns.rb
+++ b/lib/coderay/scanners/ruby/patterns.rb
@@ -34,9 +34,9 @@ module Ruby::Patterns  # :nodoc: all
       add(%w[ undef ], :undef_expected).
       add(%w[ alias ], :alias_expected).
       add(%w[ class module ], :module_expected)
-
-    IDENT = 'ä'[/[[:alpha:]]/] == 'ä' ? /[[:alpha:]_][[:alnum:]_]*/ : /[^\W\d]\w*/
-
+    
+    IDENT = 'ä'[/[[:alpha:]]/] == 'ä' ? Regexp.new('[[:alpha:]_[^\0-\177]][[:alnum:]_[^\0-\177]]*') : /[^\W\d]\w*/
+    
     METHOD_NAME = / #{IDENT} [?!]? /ox
     METHOD_NAME_OPERATOR = /
       \*\*?           # multiplication and power