diff --git a/src/kinds.jl b/src/kinds.jl
index bf837716..f206f372 100644
--- a/src/kinds.jl
+++ b/src/kinds.jl
@@ -212,6 +212,7 @@ register_kinds!(JuliaSyntax, 0, [
         "ErrorOverLongCharacter"
         "ErrorInvalidUTF8"
         "ErrorInvisibleChar"
+        "ErrorIdentifierStart"
         "ErrorUnknownCharacter"
         "ErrorBidiFormatting"
         # Generic error
@@ -1175,6 +1176,7 @@ const _token_error_descriptions = Dict{Kind, String}(
     K"ErrorOverLongCharacter"=>"character literal contains multiple characters",
     K"ErrorInvalidUTF8"=>"invalid UTF-8 sequence",
     K"ErrorInvisibleChar"=>"invisible character",
+    K"ErrorIdentifierStart" => "identifier cannot begin with character",
     K"ErrorUnknownCharacter"=>"unknown unicode character",
     K"ErrorBidiFormatting"=>"unbalanced bidirectional unicode formatting",
     K"ErrorInvalidOperator" => "invalid operator",
diff --git a/src/parse_stream.jl b/src/parse_stream.jl
index b4ddbeaf..5df40e21 100644
--- a/src/parse_stream.jl
+++ b/src/parse_stream.jl
@@ -1051,7 +1051,7 @@ function validate_tokens(stream::ParseStream)
         elseif is_error(k) && k != K"error"
             # Emit messages for non-generic token errors
             tokstr = String(txtbuf[tokrange])
-            msg = if k in KSet"ErrorInvisibleChar ErrorUnknownCharacter"
+            msg = if k in KSet"ErrorInvisibleChar ErrorUnknownCharacter ErrorIdentifierStart"
                 "$(_token_error_descriptions[k]) $(repr(tokstr[1]))"
             elseif k in KSet"ErrorInvalidUTF8 ErrorBidiFormatting"
                 "$(_token_error_descriptions[k]) $(repr(tokstr))"
diff --git a/src/tokenize.jl b/src/tokenize.jl
index 0f60309f..5a6b4d96 100644
--- a/src/tokenize.jl
+++ b/src/tokenize.jl
@@ -538,8 +538,9 @@ function _next_token(l::Lexer, c)
         return emit(l, k)
     else
         emit(l,
-            !isvalid(c)          ? K"ErrorInvalidUTF8"   :
-            is_invisible_char(c) ? K"ErrorInvisibleChar" :
+            !isvalid(c)           ? K"ErrorInvalidUTF8"   :
+            is_invisible_char(c)  ? K"ErrorInvisibleChar" :
+            is_identifier_char(c) ? K"ErrorIdentifierStart" :
             K"ErrorUnknownCharacter")
     end
 end
diff --git a/test/diagnostics.jl b/test/diagnostics.jl
index 1d1f9e5d..ff9e76a2 100644
--- a/test/diagnostics.jl
+++ b/test/diagnostics.jl
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ end
         @test diagnostic("a$(c)b") ==
             Diagnostic(2, 1+sizeof(string(c)), :error, "invisible character $(repr(c))")
     end
+    @test diagnostic("₁") == Diagnostic(1, 3, :error, "identifier cannot begin with character '₁'")
     @test diagnostic(":⥻") == Diagnostic(2, 4, :error, "unknown unicode character '⥻'")
 
     @test diagnostic("\"X \u202a X\"") == Diagnostic(2, 8, :error, "unbalanced bidirectional unicode formatting \"X \\u202a X\"")
diff --git a/test/tokenize.jl b/test/tokenize.jl
index 0837b9c8..eb30370f 100644
--- a/test/tokenize.jl
+++ b/test/tokenize.jl
@@ -1009,6 +1009,7 @@ end
 
 @testset "invalid UTF-8 characters" begin
     @test onlytok("\x00") == K"ErrorUnknownCharacter"
+    @test onlytok("₁") == K"ErrorIdentifierStart"
 
     bad_chars = [
         first("\xe2")              # malformed