diff --git a/source/java/org/alfresco/repo/web/scripts/facet/FacetQNameUtils.java b/source/java/org/alfresco/repo/web/scripts/facet/FacetQNameUtils.java
index a00ba23cb6..c39da5d7f8 100644
--- a/source/java/org/alfresco/repo/web/scripts/facet/FacetQNameUtils.java
+++ b/source/java/org/alfresco/repo/web/scripts/facet/FacetQNameUtils.java
@@ -24,7 +24,8 @@ import org.alfresco.service.namespace.QName;
 
 /**
  * This class provides some simple utility methods for dealing with {@link QName QNames}
- * within the faceted search feature.
+ * within the faceted search feature. The whole thing should be considered a hack to handle 'special cases'.
+ * <p/>
  * These are not intended for general use, or else they'd be in the {@link QName} class.
  * @since 5.0
  */
@@ -58,6 +59,13 @@ public abstract class FacetQNameUtils
             // Assume it's a short-form qname.
             result = QName.createQName(s, resolver);
         }
+        else if (!s.contains(Character.toString(QName.NAMESPACE_BEGIN)) &&
+                !s.contains(Character.toString(QName.NAMESPACE_END)) &&
+                !s.contains(Character.toString(QName.NAMESPACE_PREFIX)))
+        {
+            // No '{', '}' or ':' means it's a prefixless QName (SITE or TAG, in our case).
+            result = QName.createQName(null, s);
+        }
         else
         {
             // We're not sure what sort of qname this is supposed to be.
diff --git a/source/test-java/org/alfresco/repo/web/scripts/facet/FacetQNameUtilsTest.java b/source/test-java/org/alfresco/repo/web/scripts/facet/FacetQNameUtilsTest.java
index 026879bd16..9f62827167 100644
--- a/source/test-java/org/alfresco/repo/web/scripts/facet/FacetQNameUtilsTest.java
+++ b/source/test-java/org/alfresco/repo/web/scripts/facet/FacetQNameUtilsTest.java
@@ -74,7 +74,14 @@ public class FacetQNameUtilsTest
                      FacetQNameUtils.createQName("{http://www.alfresco.org/model/foo/1.0}localName", resolver));
     }
     
-    // Note: it doesn't really make sense to have a short-form qname with no prefix.
+    @Test public void canCreateFromShortFormWithNoPrefix() throws Exception
+    {
+        // The sensibleness of this from an Alfresco perspective is questionable.
+        // But this is what we must do to support 'QName' strings like "Site" or "Tag" in the REST API.
+        assertEquals(QName.createQName(null, "localName"),
+                FacetQNameUtils.createQName("localName", resolver));
+    }
+    
     @Test public void canCreateFromLongFormWithNoPrefix() throws Exception
     {
         assertEquals(QName.createQName(null, "localName"),