diff --git a/config/alfresco/ibatis/org.hibernate.dialect.Dialect/query-people-common-SqlMap.xml b/config/alfresco/ibatis/org.hibernate.dialect.Dialect/query-people-common-SqlMap.xml
index 71b74f05a6..2ba608f54a 100644
--- a/config/alfresco/ibatis/org.hibernate.dialect.Dialect/query-people-common-SqlMap.xml
+++ b/config/alfresco/ibatis/org.hibernate.dialect.Dialect/query-people-common-SqlMap.xml
@@ -27,20 +27,23 @@
             </if>
         where
             assoc.parent_node_id = #{parentNodeId}
+            <foreach item="item" index="index" collection="pattern" open=" " separator=" " close=" ">
+              <if test="prop1qnameId != null or prop2qnameId != null or prop3qnameId != null ">
+              and lower(concat(
+              </if>
             <if test="prop1qnameId != null">
-            and 
-            (
-               lower(prop1.string_value) like lower(#{pattern}) <include refid="alfresco.util.escape"/>
+              prop1.string_value, ' ',  
             </if>
             <if test="prop2qnameId != null">
-            or lower(prop2.string_value) like lower(#{pattern})  <include refid="alfresco.util.escape"/>
+              prop2.string_value, ' ',  
             </if>
             <if test="prop3qnameId != null">
-            or lower(prop3.string_value) like lower(#{pattern})  <include refid="alfresco.util.escape"/>
+              prop3.string_value, ' ',  
             </if>
-            <if test="prop1qnameId != null">
-            )
+              <if test="prop1qnameId != null or prop2qnameId != null or prop3qnameId != null ">  
+              ' ')) like lower(#{item}) <include refid="alfresco.util.escape"/>
             </if>
+            </foreach>
             <if test="includeAspectIds != null">
                 and exists (
                     select *
diff --git a/source/java/org/alfresco/repo/security/person/FilterSortPersonEntity.java b/source/java/org/alfresco/repo/security/person/FilterSortPersonEntity.java
index 095bb87046..f7d4ceee6a 100644
--- a/source/java/org/alfresco/repo/security/person/FilterSortPersonEntity.java
+++ b/source/java/org/alfresco/repo/security/person/FilterSortPersonEntity.java
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
  */
 package org.alfresco.repo.security.person;
 
+import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
 
 
@@ -42,7 +43,7 @@ public class FilterSortPersonEntity
     private Long prop3qnameId = null;
     private Boolean sort3asc = null;
     
-    private String pattern;
+    private List<String> pattern;
     
     private List<Long> includeAspectIds;
     private List<Long> excludeAspectIds;
@@ -65,7 +66,7 @@ public class FilterSortPersonEntity
         this.parentNodeId = parentNodeId;
     }
     
-    public String getPattern()
+    public List<String> getPattern()
     {
         return pattern;
     }
@@ -93,13 +94,20 @@ public class FilterSortPersonEntity
     
     public void setPattern(String pattern)
     {
+        this.pattern = new ArrayList<String>();
         if (pattern != null)
         {
             // escape the '%' character with '\' (standard SQL escape character)
             //pattern = escape(pattern, '%');
             
             // replace the wildcard character '*' with the one used in database queries i.e. '%'
-            this.pattern = pattern.replace('*', '%');
+            pattern = pattern.replace('*', '%');
+            
+            String[] parts = pattern.split(" ");
+            for(String part:parts)
+            {
+                this.pattern.add("%" + part + "%");
+            }
         }
     }