diff --git a/mrbgems/mruby-regexp/include/re_internal.h b/mrbgems/mruby-regexp/include/re_internal.h
index 2c66eda1f..07e022677 100644
--- a/mrbgems/mruby-regexp/include/re_internal.h
+++ b/mrbgems/mruby-regexp/include/re_internal.h
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ typedef struct mrb_regexp_pattern {
   uint16_t num_captures;   /* number of capture groups (including group 0) */
   uint32_t flags;
   re_named_capture *named_captures;
+  char *named_arena;       /* owned storage for named_captures[i].name; NULL if num_named == 0 */
   uint16_t num_named;
   mrb_bool has_backref;    /* true if pattern uses \1-\9 */
   mrb_bool needs_backtrack; /* true if pattern needs backtracking engine */
diff --git a/mrbgems/mruby-regexp/src/re_compile.c b/mrbgems/mruby-regexp/src/re_compile.c
index c65e6c223..9ffcab203 100644
--- a/mrbgems/mruby-regexp/src/re_compile.c
+++ b/mrbgems/mruby-regexp/src/re_compile.c
@@ -884,7 +884,26 @@ re_compile(mrb_state *mrb, const char *pattern, mrb_int len, uint32_t flags)
   pat->num_captures = c.num_captures;
   pat->flags = flags;
   pat->named_captures = c.named_captures;
+  pat->named_arena = NULL;
   pat->num_named = c.num_named;
+
+  /* Copy capture names into an owned arena. Until this point the names
+     point into the pattern source (or into c.stripped, which gets freed
+     below in /x mode). After this loop the regexp owns its names. */
+  if (c.num_named > 0) {
+    size_t total = 0;
+    for (uint16_t i = 0; i < c.num_named; i++) total += c.named_captures[i].name_len;
+    if (total > 0) {
+      pat->named_arena = (char*)mrb_malloc(mrb, total);
+      size_t off = 0;
+      for (uint16_t i = 0; i < c.num_named; i++) {
+        uint16_t n = c.named_captures[i].name_len;
+        memcpy(pat->named_arena + off, c.named_captures[i].name, n);
+        pat->named_captures[i].name = pat->named_arena + off;
+        off += n;
+      }
+    }
+  }
   pat->has_backref = c.has_backref;
   pat->needs_backtrack = c.needs_backtrack;
 
@@ -959,6 +978,7 @@ re_free(mrb_state *mrb, mrb_regexp_pattern *pat)
     mrb_free(mrb, pat->code);
     mrb_free(mrb, pat->classes);
     mrb_free(mrb, pat->named_captures);
+    mrb_free(mrb, pat->named_arena);
     mrb_free(mrb, pat->prefix);
     mrb_free(mrb, pat->cached_visited);
     mrb_free(mrb, pat->cached_threads[0]);
diff --git a/mrbgems/mruby-regexp/test/regexp.rb b/mrbgems/mruby-regexp/test/regexp.rb
index 9b48ccc1f..8f1499c27 100644
--- a/mrbgems/mruby-regexp/test/regexp.rb
+++ b/mrbgems/mruby-regexp/test/regexp.rb
@@ -361,6 +361,25 @@ assert("MatchData#named_captures") do
   assert_equal "host", nc["b"]
 end
 
+assert("Regexp - named captures survive /x preprocessing") do
+  # Regression: with /x, re_compile freed the stripped buffer that
+  # named_captures[i].name pointed into.
+  re = /(?<n>\d+) # comment
+       \s* (?<u>\w+) /x
+  m = re.match("42 px")
+  assert_equal "42", m[:n]
+  assert_equal "px", m[:u]
+end
+
+assert("Regexp - named captures survive source string mutation") do
+  # Regression: name pointer used to alias RSTRING_PTR of the source.
+  s = String.new("(?<key>\\d+)")
+  re = Regexp.new(s)
+  s.replace("X" * 10000)   # force buffer reallocation
+  m = re.match("abc 123 def")
+  assert_equal "123", m[:key]
+end
+
 assert("Regexp - positive lookahead (?=...)") do
   md = /\w+(?=@)/.match("user@host")
   assert_equal "user", md[0]