diff --git a/src/Faker/Provider/Base.php b/src/Faker/Provider/Base.php
index a8fd712b..cbccfc25 100644
--- a/src/Faker/Provider/Base.php
+++ b/src/Faker/Provider/Base.php
@@ -124,7 +124,10 @@ class Base
      */
     public static function randomElement($array = array('a', 'b', 'c'))
     {
-        return $array[mt_rand(0, count($array) - 1)];
+        $keys = array_keys($array);
+        $key = $keys[mt_rand(0, count($keys) - 1)];
+
+        return $array[$key];
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/test/Faker/Provider/BaseTest.php b/test/Faker/Provider/BaseTest.php
index 8a53ad72..0cff9c70 100644
--- a/test/Faker/Provider/BaseTest.php
+++ b/test/Faker/Provider/BaseTest.php
@@ -90,6 +90,12 @@ class BaseTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
         $this->assertContains(BaseProvider::randomElement($elements), $elements);
     }
 
+    public function testRandomElementReturnsElementFromAssociativeArray()
+    {
+        $elements = array('tata' => '23', 'toto' => 'e', 'tutu' => 32, 'titi' => '#');
+        $this->assertContains(BaseProvider::randomElement($elements), $elements);
+    }
+
     public function testNumerifyReturnsSameStringWhenItContainsNoHashSign()
     {
         $this->assertEquals('fooBar?', BaseProvider::numerify('fooBar?'));