diff --git a/include/identity.php b/include/identity.php
index 9a0900dc1f..eebb8fe51a 100644
--- a/include/identity.php
+++ b/include/identity.php
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ use Friendica\Core\System;
 use Friendica\Core\Worker;
 use Friendica\Database\DBM;
 use Friendica\Model\Contact;
+use Friendica\Protocol\Diaspora;
 
 require_once 'include/bbcode.php';
 require_once 'mod/proxy.php';
@@ -374,9 +375,9 @@ function profile_sidebar($profile, $block = 0)
 		$location = $pdesc = $gender = $marital = $homepage = $about = false;
 	}
 
-	$firstname = ((strpos($profile['name'], ' '))
-			? trim(substr($profile['name'], 0, strpos($profile['name'], ' '))) : $profile['name']);
-	$lastname = (($firstname === $profile['name']) ? '' : trim(substr($profile['name'], strlen($firstname))));
+	$splitted_name = Diaspora::splitName($profile['name']);
+	$firstname = $splitted_name['first'];
+	$lastname = $splitted_name['last'];
 
 	if ($profile['guid'] != "") {
 		$diaspora = array(
diff --git a/src/Protocol/Diaspora.php b/src/Protocol/Diaspora.php
index 67167ac930..09899ffa6c 100644
--- a/src/Protocol/Diaspora.php
+++ b/src/Protocol/Diaspora.php
@@ -3970,7 +3970,7 @@ class Diaspora
 	 *
 	 * @return array The array with "first" and "last"
 	 */
-	private static function splitName($name) {
+	public static function splitName($name) {
 		$name = trim($name);
 
 		// Is the name longer than 64 characters? Then cut the rest of it.