diff --git a/manifests/db/mysql.pp b/manifests/db/mysql.pp
index 3f20081..d64086a 100644
--- a/manifests/db/mysql.pp
+++ b/manifests/db/mysql.pp
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ class nova::db::mysql(
   $dbname        = 'nova',
   $user          = 'nova',
   $host          = '127.0.0.1',
-  $charset       = 'latin1',
+  $charset       = 'utf8',
   $allowed_hosts = undef,
   $cluster_id    = 'localzone'
 ) {
diff --git a/spec/classes/nova_db_mysql_spec.rb b/spec/classes/nova_db_mysql_spec.rb
index 3eb6ff2..00572bf 100644
--- a/spec/classes/nova_db_mysql_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/classes/nova_db_mysql_spec.rb
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ describe 'nova::db::mysql' do
       it { should contain_mysql__db('nova').with(
         :user        => 'nova',
         :password    => 'qwerty',
-        :charset     => 'latin1',
+        :charset     => 'utf8',
         :require     => "Class[Mysql::Config]"
       )}
     end
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ describe 'nova::db::mysql' do
       it { should contain_mysql__db('nova').with(
         :user        => 'nova',
         :password    => 'qwerty',
-        :charset     => 'latin1',
+        :charset     => 'utf8',
         :require     => "Class[Mysql::Config]"
       )}
     end