diff --git a/src/plots/cartesian/axes.js b/src/plots/cartesian/axes.js
index f93fbd660fa..747cfe3da61 100644
--- a/src/plots/cartesian/axes.js
+++ b/src/plots/cartesian/axes.js
@@ -1604,7 +1604,7 @@ axes.doTicks = function(gd, axid, skipTitle) {
     var axletter = axid.charAt(0),
         counterLetter = axes.counterLetter(axid),
         vals = axes.calcTicks(ax),
-        datafn = function(d) { return d.text + d.x + ax.mirror; },
+        datafn = function(d) { return [d.text, d.x, ax.mirror].join('_'); },
         tcls = axid + 'tick',
         gcls = axid + 'grid',
         zcls = axid + 'zl',
diff --git a/test/image/baselines/tick-datafn.png b/test/image/baselines/tick-datafn.png
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..476fa13cedb
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/image/baselines/tick-datafn.png differ
diff --git a/test/image/mocks/tick-datafn.json b/test/image/mocks/tick-datafn.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..6bbff3354ab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/image/mocks/tick-datafn.json
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+{
+   "data":[
+      {
+         "x":[
+            "Jan 11",
+            "Jan 10",
+            "Jan 9",
+            "Jan 8",
+            "Jan 7",
+            "Jan 6",
+            "Jan 5",
+            "Jan 4",
+            "Jan 3",
+            "Jan 2",
+            "Jan 1",
+            "Dec 31"
+         ],
+         "y":[
+            8,
+            7,
+            6,
+            5,
+            4,
+            3,
+            2,
+            1,
+            0,
+            1,
+            2,
+            3
+         ],
+         "type":"scatter"
+      }
+   ],
+   "layout":{
+      "xaxis":{
+         "ticks":"outside",
+         "tickcolor":"#000"
+      },
+      "yaxis":{
+         "ticks":"outside",
+         "tickcolor":"#000",
+         "gridwidth":0.1
+      }
+   }
+}