diff --git a/httpclient/src/main/java/org/apache/http/conn/util/PublicSuffixMatcher.java b/httpclient/src/main/java/org/apache/http/conn/util/PublicSuffixMatcher.java
index e06937054..1793377fe 100644
--- a/httpclient/src/main/java/org/apache/http/conn/util/PublicSuffixMatcher.java
+++ b/httpclient/src/main/java/org/apache/http/conn/util/PublicSuffixMatcher.java
@@ -142,17 +142,17 @@ public String getDomainRoot(final String domain, final DomainType expectedType)
         if (domain.startsWith(".")) {
             return null;
         }
-        String domainName = null;
-        String segment = domain.toLowerCase(Locale.ROOT);
+        final String normalized = domain.toLowerCase(Locale.ROOT);
+        String segment = normalized;
+        String result = null;
         while (segment != null) {
-
             // An exception rule takes priority over any other matching rule.
-            if (hasException(IDN.toUnicode(segment), expectedType)) {
+            final String key = IDN.toUnicode(segment);
+            if (hasException(key, expectedType)) {
                 return segment;
             }
-
-            if (hasRule(IDN.toUnicode(segment), expectedType)) {
-                break;
+            if (hasRule(key, expectedType)) {
+                return result;
             }
 
             final int nextdot = segment.indexOf('.');
@@ -160,15 +160,13 @@ public String getDomainRoot(final String domain, final DomainType expectedType)
 
             if (nextSegment != null) {
                 if (hasRule("*." + IDN.toUnicode(nextSegment), expectedType)) {
-                    break;
+                    return result;
                 }
             }
-            if (nextdot != -1) {
-                domainName = segment;
-            }
+            result = segment;
             segment = nextSegment;
         }
-        return domainName;
+        return normalized;
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/httpclient/src/test/java/org/apache/http/conn/util/TestPublicSuffixListParser.java b/httpclient/src/test/java/org/apache/http/conn/util/TestPublicSuffixListParser.java
index 35ac9d57b..a1cb415d3 100644
--- a/httpclient/src/test/java/org/apache/http/conn/util/TestPublicSuffixListParser.java
+++ b/httpclient/src/test/java/org/apache/http/conn/util/TestPublicSuffixListParser.java
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ public void testParse() throws Exception {
             in.close();
         }
         Assert.assertNotNull(suffixList);
-        Assert.assertEquals(Arrays.asList("jp", "ac.jp", "*.tokyo.jp", "no", "h\u00E5.no"), suffixList.getRules());
+        Assert.assertEquals(Arrays.asList("xx", "jp", "ac.jp", "*.tokyo.jp", "no", "h\u00E5.no"), suffixList.getRules());
         Assert.assertEquals(Arrays.asList("metro.tokyo.jp"), suffixList.getExceptions());
     }
 
diff --git a/httpclient/src/test/java/org/apache/http/conn/util/TestPublicSuffixMatcher.java b/httpclient/src/test/java/org/apache/http/conn/util/TestPublicSuffixMatcher.java
index 8c124fff8..cb986c0b8 100644
--- a/httpclient/src/test/java/org/apache/http/conn/util/TestPublicSuffixMatcher.java
+++ b/httpclient/src/test/java/org/apache/http/conn/util/TestPublicSuffixMatcher.java
@@ -63,13 +63,13 @@ public void testGetDomainRoot() throws Exception {
         Assert.assertEquals("example.xx", matcher.getDomainRoot("www.blah.blah.example.XX"));
         Assert.assertEquals(null, matcher.getDomainRoot("xx"));
         Assert.assertEquals(null, matcher.getDomainRoot("jp"));
-        Assert.assertEquals(null, matcher.getDomainRoot("example"));
-        Assert.assertEquals("example.example", matcher.getDomainRoot("example.example"));
         Assert.assertEquals(null, matcher.getDomainRoot("ac.jp"));
         Assert.assertEquals(null, matcher.getDomainRoot("any.tokyo.jp"));
         Assert.assertEquals("metro.tokyo.jp", matcher.getDomainRoot("metro.tokyo.jp"));
         Assert.assertEquals("blah.blah.tokyo.jp", matcher.getDomainRoot("blah.blah.tokyo.jp"));
         Assert.assertEquals("blah.ac.jp", matcher.getDomainRoot("blah.blah.ac.jp"));
+        Assert.assertEquals("garbage", matcher.getDomainRoot("garbage"));
+        Assert.assertEquals("garbage.garbage", matcher.getDomainRoot("garbage.garbage"));
     }
 
     @Test
diff --git a/httpclient/src/test/java/org/apache/http/impl/cookie/TestPublicSuffixListParser.java b/httpclient/src/test/java/org/apache/http/impl/cookie/TestPublicSuffixListParser.java
index 50816ba2e..49e35161f 100644
--- a/httpclient/src/test/java/org/apache/http/impl/cookie/TestPublicSuffixListParser.java
+++ b/httpclient/src/test/java/org/apache/http/impl/cookie/TestPublicSuffixListParser.java
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ public void testParseLocal() throws Exception {
         Assert.assertTrue(filter.match(cookie, new CookieOrigin("somehost.local", 80, "/stuff", false)));
 
         cookie.setDomain(".blah");
-        Assert.assertFalse(filter.match(cookie, new CookieOrigin("somehost.blah", 80, "/stuff", false)));
+        Assert.assertTrue(filter.match(cookie, new CookieOrigin("somehost.blah", 80, "/stuff", false)));
     }
 
     @Test
diff --git a/httpclient/src/test/resources/suffixlist.txt b/httpclient/src/test/resources/suffixlist.txt
index f5ff28378..6aa880c90 100644
--- a/httpclient/src/test/resources/suffixlist.txt
+++ b/httpclient/src/test/resources/suffixlist.txt
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 // <http://www.apache.org/>.
 //
 
+xx
 jp
 ac.jp
 *.tokyo.jp