diff --git a/lib/ext/Cite/index.js b/lib/ext/Cite/index.js
index 21a31a4d7..ced0b512c 100644
--- a/lib/ext/Cite/index.js
+++ b/lib/ext/Cite/index.js
@@ -181,8 +181,11 @@ function makeValidIdAttr(val) {
 	// Looks like Cite.php doesn't try to fix ids that already have
 	// a "_" in them. Ex: name="a b" and name="a_b" are considered
 	// identical. Not sure if this is a feature or a bug.
-	// It also considers entities equal to their encoding (i.e. '&' === '&').
-	return Sanitizer.escapeId(val, { noninitial: true });
+	// It also considers entities equal to their encoding
+	// (i.e. '&' === '&'), which is done:
+	//  in PHP: Sanitizer#decodeTagAttributes and
+	//  in Parsoid: ExtensionHandler#normalizeExtOptions
+	return Sanitizer.escapeIdForAttribute(val);
 }
 
 RefGroup.prototype.renderLine = function(env, refsList, ref) {