diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 5c4d9d76..320ba271 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@
 
 * Arguments to `$` and `[[` calls are no longer prepended with `..`  (#434)
 
+* Grouping now works with non-standard column names (#451)
+
 # dtplyr 1.3.1
 
 * Fix for failing R CMD check.
diff --git a/R/step-group.R b/R/step-group.R
index 98c5b579..511ca6ad 100644
--- a/R/step-group.R
+++ b/R/step-group.R
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ group_by.dtplyr_step <- function(.data, ..., .add = FALSE, arrange = TRUE) {
   groups <- eval(expr(dplyr::group_by_prepare(.data, !!!dots, .add = .add)))
   arranged <- if (!is.null(.data$arrange)) .data$arrange && arrange else arrange
 
-  step_group(groups$data, as.character(groups$groups), arranged)
+  step_group(groups$data, as.character(groups$group_names), arranged)
 }
 
 can_step_group_return_early <- function(parent, groups, arrange) {
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-step-group.R b/tests/testthat/test-step-group.R
index 959ccf05..07610827 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-step-group.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-step-group.R
@@ -99,3 +99,13 @@ test_that("only adds step if necessary", {
   expect_s3_class(out, "dtplyr_step_group")
   expect_equal(group_vars(out), character())
 })
+
+test_that("works with non-standard column names, #451", {
+  dt <- lazy_dt(tibble(`a a` = "a"))
+  res <- dt %>%
+    group_by(`a a`) %>%
+    count() %>%
+    as_tibble()
+  expect_named(res, c("a a", "n"))
+  expect_equal(res$`a a`, "a")
+})