diff --git a/mu4e/mu4e-utils.el b/mu4e/mu4e-utils.el
index 311fe1d3..4a278d75 100644
--- a/mu4e/mu4e-utils.el
+++ b/mu4e/mu4e-utils.el
@@ -1216,7 +1216,7 @@ used in the view and compose modes."
     (when (search-forward-regexp "^\n" nil t) ;; search the first empty line
       (while (re-search-forward mu4e-cited-regexp nil t)
         (let* ((level (string-width (replace-regexp-in-string
-                                     " " "" (match-string 1))))
+                                     "[^>]" "" (match-string 0))))
                (face  (unless (zerop level)
                         (intern-soft (format "mu4e-cited-%d-face" level)))))
           (when face
diff --git a/mu4e/mu4e-vars.el b/mu4e/mu4e-vars.el
index c3255ca3..69b2a922 100644
--- a/mu4e/mu4e-vars.el
+++ b/mu4e/mu4e-vars.el
@@ -207,8 +207,10 @@ view buffer."
   :type 'boolean
   :group 'mu4e)
 
-(defcustom mu4e-cited-regexp "^ *\\(\\(>+ ?\\)+\\)"
-  "Regular expression that determines whether a line is a citation."
+(defcustom mu4e-cited-regexp  "^\\(\\([[:alpha:]]+\\)\\|\\( *\\)\\)\\(\\(>+ ?\\)+\\)"
+  "Regular expression that determines whether a line is a
+  citation. This recognizes lines starting with numbers of '>'
+  and spaces as well as citations of the type \"John> ... \"."
   :type 'string
   :group 'mu4e)
 
@@ -564,7 +566,7 @@ I.e. a message with the draft flag set."
   :group 'mu4e-faces)
 
 (defface mu4e-cited-2-face
-  '((t :inherit font-lock-type-face :bold nil :italic t))
+  '((t :inherit font-lock-preprocessor-face :bold nil :italic t))
   "Face for cited message parts (level 2)."
   :group 'mu4e-faces)
 
@@ -589,7 +591,7 @@ I.e. a message with the draft flag set."
   :group 'mu4e-faces)
 
 (defface mu4e-cited-7-face
-  '((t :inherit font-lock-preprocessor-face :bold nil :italic t))
+  '((t :inherit font-lock-type-face :bold nil :italic t))
   "Face for cited message parts (level 7)."
   :group 'mu4e-faces)