diff --git a/lib/src/room.dart b/lib/src/room.dart
index 1b940d35..59fe39bc 100644
--- a/lib/src/room.dart
+++ b/lib/src/room.dart
@@ -566,6 +566,12 @@ class Room {
   Map<String, Map<String, String>> get emotePacks =>
       getImagePacksFlat(ImagePackUsage.emoticon);
 
+  /// returns the resolved mxid for a mention string, or null if none found
+  String getMention(String mention) => getParticipants()
+      .firstWhere((u) => u.mentionFragments.contains(mention),
+          orElse: () => null)
+      ?.id;
+
   /// Sends a normal text message to this room. Returns the event ID generated
   /// by the server for this message.
   Future<String> sendTextEvent(String message,
@@ -585,12 +591,9 @@ class Room {
       'body': message,
     };
     if (parseMarkdown) {
-      final mentionMap = <String, String>{
-        for (final user in getParticipants()) user.mention: user.id
-      };
       final html = markdown(event['body'],
-          emotePacks: getImagePacksFlat(ImagePackUsage.emoticon),
-          mentionMap: mentionMap);
+          getEmotePacks: () => getImagePacksFlat(ImagePackUsage.emoticon),
+          getMention: getMention);
       // if the decoded html is the same as the body, there is no need in sending a formatted message
       if (HtmlUnescape().convert(html.replaceAll(RegExp(r'<br />\n?'), '\n')) !=
           event['body']) {
diff --git a/lib/src/user.dart b/lib/src/user.dart
index cc639684..9bf2d4b7 100644
--- a/lib/src/user.dart
+++ b/lib/src/user.dart
@@ -207,6 +207,23 @@ class User extends Event {
     }
     return '$identifier#$ourHash';
   }
+
+  /// Get the mention fragments for this user.
+  Set<String> get mentionFragments {
+    if ((displayName?.isEmpty ?? true) ||
+        {'[', ']', ':'}.any((c) => displayName.contains(c))) {
+      return {};
+    }
+    var identifier = '@';
+    // if we have non-word characters we need to surround with []
+    if (!RegExp(r'^\w+$').hasMatch(displayName)) {
+      identifier += '[$displayName]';
+    } else {
+      identifier += displayName;
+    }
+    final hash = _hash(id);
+    return {identifier, '$identifier#$hash'};
+  }
 }
 
 String _hash(String s) {
diff --git a/lib/src/utils/markdown.dart b/lib/src/utils/markdown.dart
index 9d4c1441..10389b70 100644
--- a/lib/src/utils/markdown.dart
+++ b/lib/src/utils/markdown.dart
@@ -72,11 +72,13 @@ class SpoilerSyntax extends TagSyntax {
 }
 
 class EmoteSyntax extends InlineSyntax {
-  final Map<String, Map<String, String>> emotePacks;
-  EmoteSyntax(this.emotePacks) : super(r':(?:([-\w]+)~)?([-\w]+):');
+  final Map<String, Map<String, String>> Function() getEmotePacks;
+  Map<String, Map<String, String>> emotePacks;
+  EmoteSyntax(this.getEmotePacks) : super(r':(?:([-\w]+)~)?([-\w]+):');
 
   @override
   bool onMatch(InlineParser parser, Match match) {
+    emotePacks ??= getEmotePacks?.call() ?? <String, Map<String, String>>{};
     final pack = match[1] ?? '';
     final emote = match[2];
     String mxc;
@@ -182,29 +184,31 @@ class PillSyntax extends InlineSyntax {
 }
 
 class MentionSyntax extends InlineSyntax {
-  final Map<String, String> mentionMap;
-  MentionSyntax(this.mentionMap) : super(r'(@(?:\[[^\]:]+\]|\w+)(?:#\w+)?)');
+  final String Function(String) getMention;
+  MentionSyntax(this.getMention) : super(r'(@(?:\[[^\]:]+\]|\w+)(?:#\w+)?)');
 
   @override
   bool onMatch(InlineParser parser, Match match) {
+    final mention = getMention?.call(match[1]);
     if ((match.start > 0 &&
             !RegExp(r'[\s.!?:;\(]').hasMatch(match.input[match.start - 1])) ||
-        !mentionMap.containsKey(match[1])) {
+        mention == null) {
       parser.addNode(Text(match[0]));
       return true;
     }
-    final identifier = mentionMap[match[1]];
     final element = Element.text('a', htmlEscape.convert(match[1]));
     element.attributes['href'] =
-        htmlAttrEscape.convert('https://matrix.to/#/$identifier');
+        htmlAttrEscape.convert('https://matrix.to/#/$mention');
     parser.addNode(element);
     return true;
   }
 }
 
-String markdown(String text,
-    {Map<String, Map<String, String>> emotePacks,
-    Map<String, String> mentionMap}) {
+String markdown(
+  String text, {
+  Map<String, Map<String, String>> Function() getEmotePacks,
+  String Function(String) getMention,
+}) {
   var ret = markdownToHtml(
     text,
     extensionSet: ExtensionSet.commonMark,
@@ -215,9 +219,9 @@ String markdown(String text,
       StrikethroughSyntax(),
       LinebreakSyntax(),
       SpoilerSyntax(),
-      EmoteSyntax(emotePacks ?? <String, Map<String, String>>{}),
+      EmoteSyntax(getEmotePacks),
       PillSyntax(),
-      MentionSyntax(mentionMap ?? <String, String>{}),
+      MentionSyntax(getMention),
       InlineLatexSyntax(),
     ],
   );
diff --git a/test/markdown_test.dart b/test/markdown_test.dart
index 0770d6ee..07477870 100644
--- a/test/markdown_test.dart
+++ b/test/markdown_test.dart
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ void main() {
       '@[Fast Fox]#123': '@fastfox:example.org',
       '@[">]': '@blah:example.org',
     };
+    final getMention = (mention) => mentionMap[mention];
     test('simple markdown', () {
       expect(markdown('hey *there* how are **you** doing?'),
           'hey <em>there</em> how are <strong>you</strong> doing?');
@@ -67,16 +68,18 @@ void main() {
       expect(markdown('foxies\ncute'), 'foxies<br />\ncute');
     });
     test('emotes', () {
-      expect(markdown(':fox:', emotePacks: emotePacks),
+      expect(markdown(':fox:', getEmotePacks: () => emotePacks),
           '<img data-mx-emoticon="" src="mxc://roomfox" alt=":fox:" title=":fox:" height="32" vertical-align="middle" />');
-      expect(markdown(':user~fox:', emotePacks: emotePacks),
+      expect(markdown(':user~fox:', getEmotePacks: () => emotePacks),
           '<img data-mx-emoticon="" src="mxc://userfox" alt=":fox:" title=":fox:" height="32" vertical-align="middle" />');
-      expect(markdown(':raccoon:', emotePacks: emotePacks),
+      expect(markdown(':raccoon:', getEmotePacks: () => emotePacks),
           '<img data-mx-emoticon="" src="mxc://raccoon" alt=":raccoon:" title=":raccoon:" height="32" vertical-align="middle" />');
-      expect(markdown(':invalid:', emotePacks: emotePacks), ':invalid:');
-      expect(markdown(':invalid:?!', emotePacks: emotePacks), ':invalid:?!');
       expect(
-          markdown(':room~invalid:', emotePacks: emotePacks), ':room~invalid:');
+          markdown(':invalid:', getEmotePacks: () => emotePacks), ':invalid:');
+      expect(markdown(':invalid:?!', getEmotePacks: () => emotePacks),
+          ':invalid:?!');
+      expect(markdown(':room~invalid:', getEmotePacks: () => emotePacks),
+          ':room~invalid:');
     });
     test('pills', () {
       expect(markdown('Hey @sorunome:sorunome.de!'),
@@ -95,17 +98,17 @@ void main() {
           'Hey <a href="https://matrix.to/#/@sorunome:[::1]">@sorunome:[::1]</a>!');
     });
     test('mentions', () {
-      expect(markdown('Hey @Bob!', mentionMap: mentionMap),
+      expect(markdown('Hey @Bob!', getMention: getMention),
           'Hey <a href="https://matrix.to/#/@bob:example.org">@Bob</a>!');
-      expect(markdown('How is @[Bob Ross] doing?', mentionMap: mentionMap),
+      expect(markdown('How is @[Bob Ross] doing?', getMention: getMention),
           'How is <a href="https://matrix.to/#/@bobross:example.org">@[Bob Ross]</a> doing?');
       expect(
-          markdown('Hey @invalid!', mentionMap: mentionMap), 'Hey @invalid!');
-      expect(markdown('Hey @Fox#123!', mentionMap: mentionMap),
+          markdown('Hey @invalid!', getMention: getMention), 'Hey @invalid!');
+      expect(markdown('Hey @Fox#123!', getMention: getMention),
           'Hey <a href="https://matrix.to/#/@fox:example.org">@Fox#123</a>!');
-      expect(markdown('Hey @[Fast Fox]#123!', mentionMap: mentionMap),
+      expect(markdown('Hey @[Fast Fox]#123!', getMention: getMention),
           'Hey <a href="https://matrix.to/#/@fastfox:example.org">@[Fast Fox]#123</a>!');
-      expect(markdown('Hey @[">]!', mentionMap: mentionMap),
+      expect(markdown('Hey @[">]!', getMention: getMention),
           'Hey <a href="https://matrix.to/#/@blah:example.org">@[&quot;&gt;]</a>!');
     });
     test('latex', () {
diff --git a/test/room_test.dart b/test/room_test.dart
index f3835ea6..e4258e43 100644
--- a/test/room_test.dart
+++ b/test/room_test.dart
@@ -947,6 +947,12 @@ void main() {
       await room.removeSpaceChild('!1234:example.invalid');*/
     });
 
+    test('getMention', () async {
+      expect(room.getMention('@invalid'), null);
+      expect(room.getMention('@[Alice Margatroid]'), '@alice:example.org');
+      expect(room.getMention('@[Alice Margatroid]#1754'), '@alice:example.org');
+    });
+
     test('logout', () async {
       await matrix.logout();
     });
diff --git a/test/user_test.dart b/test/user_test.dart
index 2e32c01e..23c46fb3 100644
--- a/test/user_test.dart
+++ b/test/user_test.dart
@@ -159,6 +159,10 @@ void main() {
       expect(user1.mention, '@Bob#1745');
       user1.content['displayname'] = 'Alice M';
     });
+    test('mentionFragments', () async {
+      expect(user1.mentionFragments, {'@[Alice M]', '@[Alice M]#1745'});
+      expect(user2.mentionFragments, {'@Bob', '@Bob#1542'});
+    });
     test('dispose client', () async {
       await client.dispose(closeDatabase: true);
     });