diff --git a/lib/public/user.php b/lib/public/user.php
index a93e3a674a84bb297554c9d67a17c8a76f02ec7c..411098ed5aa4b58c13302ba628cb421fa4878c49 100644
--- a/lib/public/user.php
+++ b/lib/public/user.php
@@ -56,8 +56,8 @@ class User {
 	 * @brief get the user display name of the user currently logged in.
 	 * @return string display name
 	 */
-	public static function getDisplayName() {
-		return \OC_USER::getDisplayName();
+	public static function getDisplayName($user=null) {
+		return \OC_USER::getDisplayName($user);
 	}
 	
 	/**
diff --git a/lib/user.php b/lib/user.php
index 4cdf07dc3ff9d62f22df9f468d444cd4d5a15ce5..65f899aa27c3bc72a7daa13ba08ce3bd9ca8f43b 100644
--- a/lib/user.php
+++ b/lib/user.php
@@ -350,8 +350,10 @@ class OC_User {
 	 * @brief get the display name of the user currently logged in.
 	 * @return string uid or false
 	 */
-	public static function getDisplayName() {
-		if( isset($_SESSION['display_name']) AND $_SESSION['display_name'] ) {
+	public static function getDisplayName($user=null) {
+		if ( $user ) {
+			return self::determineDisplayName($user);
+		} else if( isset($_SESSION['display_name']) AND $_SESSION['display_name'] ) {
 			return $_SESSION['display_name'];
 		}
 		else{