diff --git a/doc/src/extensions.rst b/doc/src/extensions.rst
index 4db76b01..d96cca4f 100644
--- a/doc/src/extensions.rst
+++ b/doc/src/extensions.rst
@@ -221,6 +221,19 @@ functionalities defined by the |DBAPI|_.
 
         .. __: http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/libpq-misc.html#LIBPQ-PQLIBVERSION
 
+.. function:: quote_ident(str, scope)
+
+    Return quoted identifier according to PostgreSQL quoting rules.
+
+    The *scope* must be a `connection` or a `cursor`, the underlying
+    connection encoding is used for any necessary character conversion.
+
+    Requires libpq >= 9.0.
+
+    .. seealso:: libpq docs for `PQescapeIdentifier()`__
+
+        .. __: http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/libpq-exec.html#LIBPQ-PQESCAPEIDENTIFIER
+
 .. _sql-adaptation-objects:
 
 SQL adaptation protocol objects
diff --git a/lib/extensions.py b/lib/extensions.py
index d10e8ac6..b40e28b8 100644
--- a/lib/extensions.py
+++ b/lib/extensions.py
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ try:
 except ImportError:
     pass
 
-from psycopg2._psycopg import adapt, adapters, encodings, connection, cursor, lobject, Xid, libpq_version, parse_dsn
+from psycopg2._psycopg import adapt, adapters, encodings, connection, cursor, lobject, Xid, libpq_version, parse_dsn, quote_ident
 from psycopg2._psycopg import string_types, binary_types, new_type, new_array_type, register_type
 from psycopg2._psycopg import ISQLQuote, Notify, Diagnostics, Column
 
diff --git a/psycopg/psycopgmodule.c b/psycopg/psycopgmodule.c
index c77dce5b..9906b7be 100644
--- a/psycopg/psycopgmodule.c
+++ b/psycopg/psycopgmodule.c
@@ -165,6 +165,42 @@ exit:
     return res;
 }
 
+
+#define psyco_quote_ident_doc "quote_ident(str, conn_or_curs) -> str"
+
+static PyObject *
+psyco_quote_ident(PyObject *self, PyObject *args)
+{
+    const char *str = NULL;
+    char *quoted;
+    PyObject *obj, *result;
+    connectionObject *conn;
+
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "sO", &str, &obj)) return NULL;
+
+    if (PyObject_TypeCheck(obj, &cursorType)) {
+        conn = ((cursorObject*)obj)->conn;
+    }
+    else if (PyObject_TypeCheck(obj, &connectionType)) {
+        conn = (connectionObject*)obj;
+    }
+    else {
+        PyErr_SetString(PyExc_TypeError,
+                        "argument 2 must be a connection or a cursor");
+        return NULL;
+    }
+
+    quoted = PQescapeIdentifier(conn->pgconn, str, strlen(str));
+    if (!quoted) {
+        PyErr_NoMemory();
+        return NULL;
+    }
+    result = conn_text_from_chars(conn, quoted);
+    PQfreemem(quoted);
+
+    return result;
+}
+
 /** type registration **/
 #define psyco_register_type_doc \
 "register_type(obj, conn_or_curs) -> None -- register obj with psycopg type system\n\n" \
@@ -768,6 +804,8 @@ static PyMethodDef psycopgMethods[] = {
      METH_VARARGS|METH_KEYWORDS, psyco_parse_dsn_doc},
     {"adapt",  (PyCFunction)psyco_microprotocols_adapt,
      METH_VARARGS, psyco_microprotocols_adapt_doc},
+    {"quote_ident",  (PyCFunction)psyco_quote_ident,
+     METH_VARARGS, psyco_quote_ident_doc},
 
     {"register_type", (PyCFunction)psyco_register_type,
      METH_VARARGS, psyco_register_type_doc},
diff --git a/psycopg/utils.c b/psycopg/utils.c
index 836f6129..ec8e47c8 100644
--- a/psycopg/utils.c
+++ b/psycopg/utils.c
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ psycopg_escape_string(connectionObject *conn, const char *from, Py_ssize_t len,
     return to;
 }
 
-/* Escape a string to build a valid PostgreSQL identifier
+/* Escape a string to build a valid PostgreSQL identifier.
  *
  * Allocate a new buffer on the Python heap containing the new string.
  * 'len' is optional: if 0 the length is calculated.
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ psycopg_escape_string(connectionObject *conn, const char *from, Py_ssize_t len,
  *
  * WARNING: this function is not so safe to allow untrusted input: it does no
  * check for multibyte chars. Such a function should be built on
- * PQescapeIndentifier, which is only available from PostgreSQL 9.0.
+ * PQescapeIdentifier, which is only available from PostgreSQL 9.0.
  */
 char *
 psycopg_escape_identifier_easy(const char *from, Py_ssize_t len)
diff --git a/tests/test_quote.py b/tests/test_quote.py
index e7b3c316..a24ab6d4 100755
--- a/tests/test_quote.py
+++ b/tests/test_quote.py
@@ -165,6 +165,13 @@ class TestQuotedString(ConnectingTestCase):
         self.assertEqual(q.encoding, 'utf_8')
 
 
+class TestQuotedIdentifier(ConnectingTestCase):
+    def test_identifier(self):
+        from psycopg2.extensions import quote_ident
+        self.assertEqual(quote_ident('blah-blah', self.conn), '"blah-blah"')
+        self.assertEqual(quote_ident('quote"inside', self.conn), '"quote""inside"')
+
+
 def test_suite():
     return unittest.TestLoader().loadTestsFromName(__name__)