diff --git a/pmd/regress/test/net/sourceforge/pmd/rules/SuspiciousEqualsMethodNameRuleTest.java b/pmd/regress/test/net/sourceforge/pmd/rules/SuspiciousEqualsMethodNameRuleTest.java
index 66677fe40f..238144f649 100644
--- a/pmd/regress/test/net/sourceforge/pmd/rules/SuspiciousEqualsMethodNameRuleTest.java
+++ b/pmd/regress/test/net/sourceforge/pmd/rules/SuspiciousEqualsMethodNameRuleTest.java
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ public class SuspiciousEqualsMethodNameRuleTest extends SimpleAggregatorTst {
        runTests(new TestDescriptor[] {
            new TestDescriptor(TEST1, "bad, equals(Foo foo)", 1, rule),
            new TestDescriptor(TEST2, "ok, equals(Object foo)", 0, rule),
+           new TestDescriptor(TEST3, "bad, equal(Object foo)", 1, rule),
        });
     }
 
@@ -30,4 +31,9 @@ public class SuspiciousEqualsMethodNameRuleTest extends SimpleAggregatorTst {
     " public boolean equals(Object foo) {return true;}" + PMD.EOL +
     "}";
 
+    private static final String TEST3 =
+    "public class Foo {" + PMD.EOL +
+    " public boolean equal(Object foo) {return true;}" + PMD.EOL +
+    "}";
+
 }
diff --git a/pmd/rulesets/newrules.xml b/pmd/rulesets/newrules.xml
index 837779eb87..68b720582e 100644
--- a/pmd/rulesets/newrules.xml
+++ b/pmd/rulesets/newrules.xml
@@ -68,12 +68,20 @@ class Foo {
             <property name="xpath">
                 <value>
         <![CDATA[
-        //ClassDeclaration//MethodDeclarator
-          [@Image = 'equals']
-          [count(FormalParameters/*) = 1 ]
-          [ not (FormalParameters//Type/Name
-                 [@Image = 'Object' or @Image = 'java.lang.Object'])
-          ]
+//MethodDeclarator [
+(
+@Image = 'equals'
+  and count(FormalParameters/*) = 1
+  and not (FormalParameters/FormalParameter/Type/Name
+   [@Image = 'Object' or @Image = 'java.lang.Object'])
+)
+or
+@Image='equal'
+ and count(FormalParameters/*) = 1
+ and (FormalParameters/FormalParameter/Type/Name
+  [@Image = 'Object' or @Image = 'java.lang.Object'])
+         
+]
         ]]>
                     </value>
                  </property>