diff --git a/public/language/en_GB/user.json b/public/language/en_GB/user.json
index 110dd9698e..1ca6651efb 100644
--- a/public/language/en_GB/user.json
+++ b/public/language/en_GB/user.json
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@
 	"change_password_success": "Your password is updated!",
 	"confirm_password": "Confirm Password",
 	"password": "Password",
+	"username_taken_workaround": "The username you requested was already taken, so we have altered it slightly. You are now known as <strong>%1</strong>",
 
 	"upload_picture": "Upload picture",
 	"upload_a_picture": "Upload a picture",
diff --git a/src/notifications.js b/src/notifications.js
index 945b7233c1..7524816d16 100644
--- a/src/notifications.js
+++ b/src/notifications.js
@@ -3,11 +3,13 @@
 var async = require('async'),
 	winston = require('winston'),
 	cron = require('cron').CronJob,
+	nconf = require('nconf'),
 
 	db = require('./database'),
 	utils = require('../public/src/utils'),
 	events = require('./events'),
-	User = require('./user');
+	User = require('./user'),
+	meta = require('./meta');
 
 (function(Notifications) {
 
@@ -29,14 +31,22 @@ var async = require('async'),
 			if (exists) {
 				db.sortedSetRank('uid:' + uid + ':notifications:read', nid, function(err, rank) {
 
-					db.getObjectFields('notifications:' + nid, ['nid', 'from', 'text', 'importance', 'score', 'path', 'datetime', 'uniqueId'], function(err, notification) {
+					db.getObjectFields('notifications:' + nid, ['nid', 'from', 'text', 'image', 'importance', 'score', 'path', 'datetime', 'uniqueId'], function(err, notification) {
 						notification.read = rank !== null ? true:false;
 
-						if (notification.from) {
+						if (notification.from && !notification.image) {
 							User.getUserField(notification.from, 'picture', function(err, picture) {
 								notification.image = picture;
 								callback(notification);
 							});
+						} else if (notification.image) {
+							switch(notification.image) {
+								case 'brand:logo':
+									notification.image = meta.config['brand:logo'] || nconf.get('relative_path') + '/logo.png';
+								break;
+							}
+
+							callback(notification);
 						} else {
 							callback(notification);
 						}
diff --git a/src/user/create.js b/src/user/create.js
index 3bbfe9e9c7..87c90e4076 100644
--- a/src/user/create.js
+++ b/src/user/create.js
@@ -1,11 +1,13 @@
 'use strict';
 
 var async = require('async'),
-	db = require('./../database'),
-	utils = require('./../../public/src/utils'),
+	db = require('../database'),
+	utils = require('../../public/src/utils'),
 	validator = require('validator'),
-	plugins = require('./../plugins'),
-	groups = require('./../groups');
+	plugins = require('../plugins'),
+	groups = require('../groups'),
+	notifications = require('../notifications'),
+	translator = require('../../public/src/translator');
 
 module.exports = function(User) {
 
@@ -45,7 +47,23 @@ module.exports = function(User) {
 					if (err) {
 						return next(err);
 					}
-					next(exists ? new Error('[[error:username-taken]]') : null);
+					if (exists) {
+						async.forever(function(next) {
+							// Append a random number to the username
+							var	newUsername = userData.username + (Math.floor(Math.random() * 255) + 1);
+							User.exists(newUsername, function(err, exists) {
+								if (!exists) {
+									next(newUsername);
+								} else {
+									next();
+								}
+							});
+						}, function(username) {
+							next(null, username);
+						});
+					} else {
+						next();
+					}
 				});
 			},
 			function(next) {
@@ -71,6 +89,12 @@ module.exports = function(User) {
 			}
 			userData = results[results.length - 1];
 
+			// If a new username was picked...
+			if (results[3]) {
+				userData.username = results[3];
+				userData.userslug = utils.slugify(results[3]);
+			}
+
 			db.incrObjectField('global', 'nextUid', function(err, uid) {
 				if(err) {
 					return callback(err);
@@ -125,6 +149,19 @@ module.exports = function(User) {
 
 					groups.join('registered-users', uid);
 
+					// If their username was automatically changed...
+					if (results[3]) {
+						translator.translate('[[user:username_taken_workaround, ' + userData.username + ']]', function(notifText) {
+							notifications.create({
+								text: notifText,
+								picture: 'brand:logo',
+								datetime: Date.now()
+							}, function(nid) {
+								notifications.push(nid, uid);
+							});
+						});
+					}
+
 					if (password) {
 						User.hashPassword(password, function(err, hash) {
 							if(err) {