diff --git a/lib/Doctrine/Common/Annotations/AnnotationReader.php b/lib/Doctrine/Common/Annotations/AnnotationReader.php
index bf9b488f2..f2b53b5b5 100644
--- a/lib/Doctrine/Common/Annotations/AnnotationReader.php
+++ b/lib/Doctrine/Common/Annotations/AnnotationReader.php
@@ -84,6 +84,17 @@ class AnnotationReader
         $this->_parser->setDefaultAnnotationNamespace($defaultNamespace);
     }
     
+    /**
+     * Sets an alias for an annotation namespace.
+     * 
+     * @param $namespace
+     * @param $alias
+     */
+    public function setAnnotationNamespaceAlias($namespace, $alias)
+    {
+        $this->_parser->setAnnotationNamespaceAlias($namespace, $alias);
+    }
+    
     /**
      * Gets the annotations applied to a class.
      * 
diff --git a/lib/Doctrine/Common/Annotations/Lexer.php b/lib/Doctrine/Common/Annotations/Lexer.php
index d624a1bd8..cb32f0cc2 100644
--- a/lib/Doctrine/Common/Annotations/Lexer.php
+++ b/lib/Doctrine/Common/Annotations/Lexer.php
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ class Lexer extends \Doctrine\Common\Lexer
     protected function getCatchablePatterns()
     {
         return array(
-            '[a-z_][a-z0-9_\\\]*',
+            '[a-z_][a-z0-9_:]*',
             '(?:[0-9]+(?:[\.][0-9]+)*)(?:e[+-]?[0-9]+)?',
             '"(?:[^"]|"")*"'
         );
diff --git a/lib/Doctrine/Common/Annotations/Parser.php b/lib/Doctrine/Common/Annotations/Parser.php
index b54e49ab8..4b91a8ab9 100644
--- a/lib/Doctrine/Common/Annotations/Parser.php
+++ b/lib/Doctrine/Common/Annotations/Parser.php
@@ -213,10 +213,12 @@ class Parser
 
     /**
      * Annotation     ::= "@" AnnotationName ["(" [Values] ")"]
-     * AnnotationName ::= QualifiedName | SimpleName
+     * AnnotationName ::= QualifiedName | SimpleName | AliasedName
      * QualifiedName  ::= NameSpacePart "\" {NameSpacePart "\"}* SimpleName
+     * AliasedName    ::= Alias ":" SimpleName
      * NameSpacePart  ::= identifier
      * SimpleName     ::= identifier
+     * Alias          ::= identifier
      *
      * @return mixed False if it is not a valid Annotation; instance of Annotation subclass otherwise. 
      */
@@ -228,7 +230,7 @@ class Parser
         $this->match(Lexer::T_AT);
         $this->match(Lexer::T_IDENTIFIER);
         $nameParts[] = $this->_lexer->token['value'];
-        
+
         while ($this->_lexer->isNextToken(Lexer::T_NAMESPACE_SEPARATOR)) {
             $this->match(Lexer::T_NAMESPACE_SEPARATOR);
             $this->match(Lexer::T_IDENTIFIER);
@@ -237,9 +239,12 @@ class Parser
 
         // Effectively pick the name of class (append default NS if none, grab from NS alias, etc)
         if (count($nameParts) == 1) {
-            $name = $this->_defaultAnnotationNamespace . $nameParts[0];
-        } else if (count($nameParts) == 2 && isset($this->_namespaceAliases[$nameParts[0]])) {
-            $name = $this->_namespaceAliases[$nameParts[0]] . $nameParts[1];
+            if (strpos($nameParts[0], ':')) {
+                list ($alias, $simpleName) = explode(':', $nameParts[0]);
+                $name = $this->_namespaceAliases[$alias] . $simpleName;
+            } else {
+                $name = $this->_defaultAnnotationNamespace . $nameParts[0];
+            }
         } else {
             $name = implode('\\', $nameParts);
         }
diff --git a/tests/Doctrine/Tests/Common/Annotations/ParserTest.php b/tests/Doctrine/Tests/Common/Annotations/ParserTest.php
index 270517d55..c9709ba07 100644
--- a/tests/Doctrine/Tests/Common/Annotations/ParserTest.php
+++ b/tests/Doctrine/Tests/Common/Annotations/ParserTest.php
@@ -100,6 +100,29 @@ DOCBLOCK;
         $parser = $this->createTestParser();
         $parser->parse("@Name(foo='bar')");
     }
+    
+    /**
+     * @group parse
+     */
+    public function testAnnotationNamespaceAlias()
+    {
+        $parser = new Parser;
+        $parser->setAnnotationNamespaceAlias('Doctrine\Tests\Common\Annotations\\', 'alias');
+        $docblock = <<<DOCBLOCK
+/**
+ * Some nifty class.
+ * 
+ * @author Mr.X
+ * @alias:Name(foo="stuff")
+ */
+DOCBLOCK;
+        
+        $result = $parser->parse($docblock);
+        $this->assertEquals(1, count($result));
+        $annot = $result['Doctrine\Tests\Common\Annotations\Name'];
+        $this->assertTrue($annot instanceof Name);
+        $this->assertEquals("stuff", $annot->foo);
+    }
 
     public function createTestParser()
     {