diff --git a/src/shogun/io/ARFFFile.cpp b/src/shogun/io/ARFFFile.cpp
index 998f9e32f6a..a3679dfd4bd 100644
--- a/src/shogun/io/ARFFFile.cpp
+++ b/src/shogun/io/ARFFFile.cpp
@@ -88,6 +88,7 @@ void ARFFDeserializer::read()
 				    std::make_pair(name, attributes));
 				m_attributes.push_back(Attribute::Nominal);
 				m_data_vectors.emplace_back(std::vector<float64_t>{});
+				m_attribute_names.emplace_back(name);
 				return;
 			}
 
@@ -105,6 +106,7 @@ void ARFFDeserializer::read()
 					else
 						m_date_formats.push_back(
 						    javatime_to_cpptime(date_elements[1]));
+					name = "";
 				}
 				else if (date_elements[1] == "date" && date_elements.size() < 4)
 				{
@@ -159,6 +161,7 @@ void ARFFDeserializer::read()
 				SG_SERROR(
 				    "Unexpected format in @ATTRIBUTE on line %d: %s\n",
 				    m_line_number, m_current_line.c_str());
+			m_attribute_names.emplace_back(name);
 		}
 		// comments in this section are ignored
 		else if (m_current_line.substr(0, 1) == m_comment_string)
@@ -224,13 +227,14 @@ void ARFFDeserializer::read()
 						    "Unexpected nominal value \"%s\" on line %d\n",
 						    elems[i].c_str(), m_line_number);
 					auto encoding = (*nominal_pos).second;
-					remove_char_inplace(elems[i], '\'');
+					auto trimmed_el = trim(elems[i]);
+					remove_char_inplace(trimmed_el, '\'');
 					auto pos =
-					    std::find(encoding.begin(), encoding.end(), elems[i]);
+					    std::find(encoding.begin(), encoding.end(), trimmed_el);
 					if (pos == encoding.end())
 						SG_SERROR(
 						    "Unexpected value \"%s\" on line %d\n",
-						    elems[i].c_str(), m_line_number);
+							trimmed_el.c_str(), m_line_number);
 					float64_t idx = std::distance(encoding.begin(), pos);
 					shogun::get<std::vector<float64_t>>(m_data_vectors[i])
 					    .push_back(idx);
diff --git a/src/shogun/io/ARFFFile.h b/src/shogun/io/ARFFFile.h
index 2336ed88048..71e02971782 100644
--- a/src/shogun/io/ARFFFile.h
+++ b/src/shogun/io/ARFFFile.h
@@ -397,6 +397,15 @@ namespace shogun
 			return m_relation;
 		}
 
+		/**
+		 * Returns string parsed in @relation line
+		 * @return the relation string
+		 */
+		SG_FORCED_INLINE std::vector<std::string> get_feature_names() const noexcept
+		{
+			return m_attribute_names;
+		}
+
 		/**
 		 * Get combined features from parsed data
 		 * @return
@@ -496,6 +505,8 @@ namespace shogun
 		static const char* m_data_string;
 		/** the default C++ date format specified by the ARFF standard */
 		static const char* m_default_date_format;
+		/** the name of the attributes */
+		std::vector<std::string> m_attribute_names;
 
 		/** internal line number counter for exceptions */
 		size_t m_line_number;
diff --git a/tests/unit/io/ARFFFile_unittest.cc b/tests/unit/io/ARFFFile_unittest.cc
index cb8e662a8b6..158f3e46446 100644
--- a/tests/unit/io/ARFFFile_unittest.cc
+++ b/tests/unit/io/ARFFFile_unittest.cc
@@ -143,10 +143,10 @@ TEST(ARFFFileTest, Parse_nominal)
 	                   "% \n"
 	                   "% \n"
 	                   "@data \n"
-	                   "\"a\", 50 \n"
+	                   "	\'a\', 50 \n"
 	                   "b, 26 \n"
-	                   "\"b\", 34 \n"
-	                   "\'c 1\', 41 \n"
+	                   "\"b\"	, 34 \n"
+	                   "	\'c 1\'  , 41 \n"
 	                   "\"¯\\_(ツ)_/¯\", 44 \n"
 	                   "a, 45 ";
 
@@ -174,4 +174,7 @@ TEST(ARFFFileTest, Parse_nominal)
 		ASSERT_EQ(mat2[i], solution2[i]);
 	}
 	ASSERT_EQ(parser->get_relation(), "test_nominal");
+	ASSERT_EQ(parser->get_feature_names().size(), 2);
+	ASSERT_EQ(parser->get_feature_names()[0], "VAR1");
+	ASSERT_EQ(parser->get_feature_names()[1], "VAR2");
 }
\ No newline at end of file