diff --git a/spacy/compat.py b/spacy/compat.py
index 912c59cc2..848ea816a 100644
--- a/spacy/compat.py
+++ b/spacy/compat.py
@@ -59,6 +59,11 @@ elif is_python3:
     json_dumps = lambda data: ujson.dumps(data, indent=2)
     path2str = lambda path: str(path)
 
+def getattr_(obj, name, *default):
+    if is_python3 and isinstance(name, bytes):
+        name = name.decode('utf8')
+    return getattr(obj, name, *default)
+
 
 def symlink_to(orig, dest):
     if is_python2 and is_windows:
diff --git a/spacy/util.py b/spacy/util.py
index dabceb4a8..22533ca39 100644
--- a/spacy/util.py
+++ b/spacy/util.py
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ import ujson
 
 from .symbols import ORTH
 from .compat import cupy, CudaStream, path2str, basestring_, input_, unicode_
-from .compat import copy_array, normalize_string_keys
+from .compat import copy_array, normalize_string_keys, getattr_
 
 
 LANGUAGES = {}
@@ -499,7 +499,7 @@ def model_from_bytes(model, bytes_data):
             for dim, value in weights[i]['dims'].items():
                 setattr(layer, dim, value)
             for param in weights[i]['params']:
-                dest = getattr(layer, param['name'])
+                dest = getattr_(layer, param['name'])
                 copy_array(dest, param['value'])
             i += 1
         if hasattr(layer, '_layers'):