diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 4d4e4e5a0b..51e878b207 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -17,7 +17,8 @@
    decommission (CASSANDRA-3041)
  * Fix divide by zero error in GCInspector
  * revert CASSANDRA-2388
-
+ * allow quoting of the ColumnFamily name in CLI `create column family`
+   statement (CASSANDRA-3195)
 
 0.8.5
  * fix NPE when encryption_options is unspecified (CASSANDRA-3007)
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/cli/CliClient.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/cli/CliClient.java
index db8b386307..b18dc7b32b 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/cli/CliClient.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/cli/CliClient.java
@@ -1023,7 +1023,7 @@ public class CliClient
             return;
 
         // first value is the column family name, after that it is all key=value
-        CfDef cfDef = new CfDef(keySpace, statement.getChild(0).getText());
+        CfDef cfDef = new CfDef(keySpace, CliUtils.unescapeSQLString(statement.getChild(0).getText()));
 
         try
         {
diff --git a/test/unit/org/apache/cassandra/cli/CliTest.java b/test/unit/org/apache/cassandra/cli/CliTest.java
index bebdfbde89..9ce22de696 100644
--- a/test/unit/org/apache/cassandra/cli/CliTest.java
+++ b/test/unit/org/apache/cassandra/cli/CliTest.java
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ public class CliTest extends CleanupHelper
         "set sCf1['hello'][1][9999] = Long(1234);",
         "del sCf1['hello'][9999];",
         "get sCf1['hello'][1][9999];",
-        "create column family Counter1 with comparator=UTF8Type and default_validation_class=CounterColumnType;",
+        "create column family 'Counter1' with comparator=UTF8Type and default_validation_class=CounterColumnType;",
         "assume Counter1 keys as utf8;",
         "incr Counter1['hello']['cassandra'];",
         "incr Counter1['hello']['cassandra'] by 3;",