diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index e4146478c..87ac5c65f 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@
         "dropbox": "10.7.0",
         "face-api.js": "0.22.2",
         "focus-visible": "5.1.0",
+        "grapheme-splitter": "1.0.4",
         "i18n-iso-countries": "6.8.0",
         "i18next": "17.0.6",
         "i18next-browser-languagedetector": "3.0.1",
@@ -10820,6 +10821,11 @@
         "node": ">=0.4.0"
       }
     },
+    "node_modules/grapheme-splitter": {
+      "version": "1.0.4",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/grapheme-splitter/-/grapheme-splitter-1.0.4.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-bzh50DW9kTPM00T8y4o8vQg89Di9oLJVLW/KaOGIXJWP/iqCN6WKYkbNOF04vFLJhwcpYUh9ydh/+5vpOqV4YQ=="
+    },
     "node_modules/growly": {
       "version": "1.3.0",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/growly/-/growly-1.3.0.tgz",
@@ -28639,6 +28645,11 @@
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/graceful-fs/-/graceful-fs-4.1.11.tgz",
       "integrity": "sha1-Dovf5NHduIVNZOBOp8AOKgJuVlg="
     },
+    "grapheme-splitter": {
+      "version": "1.0.4",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/grapheme-splitter/-/grapheme-splitter-1.0.4.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-bzh50DW9kTPM00T8y4o8vQg89Di9oLJVLW/KaOGIXJWP/iqCN6WKYkbNOF04vFLJhwcpYUh9ydh/+5vpOqV4YQ=="
+    },
     "growly": {
       "version": "1.3.0",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/growly/-/growly-1.3.0.tgz",
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index f21e61950..e6d5fb942 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@
     "dropbox": "10.7.0",
     "face-api.js": "0.22.2",
     "focus-visible": "5.1.0",
+    "grapheme-splitter": "1.0.4",
     "i18n-iso-countries": "6.8.0",
     "i18next": "17.0.6",
     "i18next-browser-languagedetector": "3.0.1",
diff --git a/react/features/base/avatar/functions.js b/react/features/base/avatar/functions.js
index 9e87c6ade..4aac4db0f 100644
--- a/react/features/base/avatar/functions.js
+++ b/react/features/base/avatar/functions.js
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 // @flow
 
+import GraphemeSplitter from 'grapheme-splitter';
 import _ from 'lodash';
 
 const AVATAR_COLORS = [
@@ -13,6 +14,8 @@ const AVATAR_COLORS = [
     '#2AA076',
     '#00A8B3'
 ];
+const wordSplitRegex = (/\s+|\.+|_+|;+|-+|,+|\|+|\/+|\\+/);
+const splitter = new GraphemeSplitter();
 
 /**
  * Generates the background color of an initials based avatar.
@@ -40,6 +43,20 @@ export function getAvatarColor(initials: ?string, customAvatarBackgrounds: Array
     return colorsBase[colorIndex];
 }
 
+/**
+ * Returns the first grapheme from a word, uppercased.
+ *
+ * @param {string} word - The string to get grapheme from.
+ * @returns {string}
+ */
+function getFirstGraphemeUpper(word) {
+    if (!word?.length) {
+        return '';
+    }
+
+    return splitter.splitGraphemes(word)[0].toUpperCase();
+}
+
 /**
  * Generates initials for a simple string.
  *
@@ -49,12 +66,7 @@ export function getAvatarColor(initials: ?string, customAvatarBackgrounds: Array
 export function getInitials(s: ?string) {
     // We don't want to use the domain part of an email address, if it is one
     const initialsBasis = _.split(s, '@')[0];
-    const words = _.words(initialsBasis);
-    let initials = '';
+    const [ firstWord, secondWord ] = initialsBasis.split(wordSplitRegex);
 
-    for (const w of words) {
-        (initials.length < 2) && (initials += String.fromCodePoint(w.codePointAt(0)).toUpperCase());
-    }
-
-    return initials;
+    return getFirstGraphemeUpper(firstWord) + getFirstGraphemeUpper(secondWord);
 }