diff --git a/lib/jsdoc/name.js b/lib/jsdoc/name.js
index 695c37f6..5157aff1 100644
--- a/lib/jsdoc/name.js
+++ b/lib/jsdoc/name.js
@@ -123,6 +123,7 @@ function quoteUnsafe(name, kind) { // docspaced names may have unsafe characters
     return name;
 }
 
+// TODO: make this a private method, or remove it if possible
 RegExp.escape = RegExp.escape || function(str) {
     var specials = new RegExp("[.*+?|()\\[\\]{}\\\\]", "g"); // .*+?|()[]{}\
     return str.replace(specials, "\\$&");
@@ -216,44 +217,17 @@ exports.shorten = function(longname, forcedMemberof) {
 };
 
 /**
-    Split a string that starts with a name and ends with a description, into its parts.
+    Split a string that starts with a name and ends with a description into its parts.
     @param {string} nameDesc
     @returns {object} Hash with "name" and "description" properties.
  */
 exports.splitName = function(nameDesc) {
-    var name = '',
-        desc = '',
-        thisChar = '',
-        inQuote = false;
-    
-    for (var i = 0, len = nameDesc.length; i < len; i++) {
-        thisChar = nameDesc.charAt(i);
-        
-        if (thisChar === '\\') {
-            name += thisChar + nameDesc.charAt(++i);
-            continue;
-        }
-        
-        if (thisChar === '"') {
-            inQuote = !inQuote;
-        }
-        
-        if (inQuote) {
-            name += thisChar;
-            continue;
-        }
-        
-        if (!inQuote) {
-            if ( /\s/.test(thisChar) ) {
-                desc = nameDesc.substr(i);
-                desc = desc.replace(/^[\s\-\s]+/, '').trim();
-                break;
-            }
-            else {
-                name += thisChar;
-            }
-        }
-    }
-    
-    return { name: name, description: desc };
+    // like: name, [name], name text, [name] text, name - text, or [name] - text
+    // the hyphen must be on the same line as the name; this prevents us from treating a Markdown
+    // dash as a separator
+    nameDesc.match(/^(\[[^\]]+\]|\S+)((?:[ \t]*\-\s*|\s+)(\S[\s\S]*))?$/);
+    return {
+        name: RegExp.$1,
+        description: RegExp.$3
+    };
 };
diff --git a/lib/jsdoc/tag/type.js b/lib/jsdoc/tag/type.js
index d36b6820..e2d384a2 100644
--- a/lib/jsdoc/tag/type.js
+++ b/lib/jsdoc/tag/type.js
@@ -6,6 +6,13 @@
  * @license Apache License 2.0 - See file 'LICENSE.md' in this project.
  */
 
+var jsdoc = {
+    name: require('jsdoc/name'),
+    tag: {
+        inline: require('jsdoc/tag/inline')
+    }
+};
+
 /**
  * Information about a type expression extracted from tag text.
  *
@@ -83,6 +90,7 @@ function getTagInfo(tagValue, canHaveName, canHaveType) {
     var typeExpression = '';
     var text = tagValue;
     var expressionAndText;
+    var nameAndDescription;
     var typeOverride;
 
     if (canHaveType) {
@@ -92,15 +100,14 @@ function getTagInfo(tagValue, canHaveName, canHaveType) {
     }
     
     if (canHaveName) {
-        // like: name, [name], name text, [name] text, name - text, or [name] - text
-        text.match(/^(\[[^\]]+\]|\S+)((?:\s*\-\s*|\s+)(\S[\s\S]*))?$/);
-        name = RegExp.$1;
-        text = RegExp.$3;
+        nameAndDescription = jsdoc.name.splitName(text);
+        name = nameAndDescription.name;
+        text = nameAndDescription.description;
     }
 
     // an inline @type tag, like {@type Foo}, overrides the type expression
     if (canHaveType) {
-        typeOverride = require('jsdoc/tag/inline').extractInlineTag(text, 'type');
+        typeOverride = jsdoc.tag.inline.extractInlineTag(text, 'type');
         if (typeOverride.tags && typeOverride.tags[0]) {
             typeExpression = typeOverride.tags[0].text || typeExpression;
         }
@@ -134,6 +141,7 @@ function getTagInfo(tagValue, canHaveName, canHaveType) {
  * can vary (for example, in a function that accepts any number of parameters).
  */
 
+// TODO: move to module:jsdoc/name?
 /**
  * Extract JSDoc-style type information from the name specified in the tag info, including the
  * member name; whether the member is optional; and the default value of the member.
diff --git a/test/specs/jsdoc/name.js b/test/specs/jsdoc/name.js
index f8ba382b..21e3d720 100644
--- a/test/specs/jsdoc/name.js
+++ b/test/specs/jsdoc/name.js
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ describe("jsdoc/name", function() {
             expect(parts.memberof).toEqual('channels."#ops"');
             expect(parts.scope).toEqual('#');
 
-            startName = 'channels["#bots"]["log.max"]',
+            startName = 'channels["#bots"]["log.max"]';
             parts = jsdoc.name.shorten(startName);
 
             expect(parts.name).toEqual('"log.max"');
@@ -174,6 +174,22 @@ describe("jsdoc/name", function() {
             expect(parts.name, 'ns.Page#"last \\"sentence\\"".words~sort(2)');
             expect(parts.description, 'This is a description.');
         });
+
+        it('should strip the separator when the separator starts on the same line as the name', function() {
+            var startName = 'socket - The networking kind, not the wrench.';
+            var parts = jsdoc.name.splitName(startName);
+
+            expect(parts.name).toBe('socket');
+            expect(parts.description).toBe('The networking kind, not the wrench.');
+        });
+
+        it('should not strip a separator that is preceded by a line break', function() {
+            var startName = 'socket\n - The networking kind, not the wrench.';
+            var parts = jsdoc.name.splitName(startName);
+
+            expect(parts.name).toBe('socket');
+            expect(parts.description).toBe('- The networking kind, not the wrench.');
+        });
     });
 
     describe("resolve", function() {