diff --git a/app/models/user.rb b/app/models/user.rb
index 35dd762cc..0bb7e62a3 100644
--- a/app/models/user.rb
+++ b/app/models/user.rb
@@ -302,7 +302,10 @@ class User < ApplicationRecord
   end
 
   def self.search(term)
-    term.present? ? where("email = ? OR username ILIKE ?", term.strip, "%#{term}%") : none
+    return none if term.blank?
+
+    search = term.strip
+    where("email = ? OR username ILIKE ?", search, "%#{search}%")
   end
 
   def self.username_max_length
diff --git a/spec/models/user_spec.rb b/spec/models/user_spec.rb
index 0b7eb3c20..c37ec298c 100644
--- a/spec/models/user_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/user_spec.rb
@@ -440,6 +440,14 @@ describe User do
       expect(search).to eq [user1]
     end
 
+    it "find users by name with whitespaces" do
+      user1 = create(:user, username: "Larry Bird")
+      create(:user, username: "Robert Parish")
+      search = User.search(" larry ")
+
+      expect(search).to eq [user1]
+    end
+
     it "returns no results if no search term provided" do
       expect(User.search("    ")).to be_empty
     end