diff --git a/src/ng/compile.js b/src/ng/compile.js
index 5a082e9bb8c7..0aa2f0a4c0b4 100644
--- a/src/ng/compile.js
+++ b/src/ng/compile.js
@@ -3671,7 +3671,9 @@ var SPECIAL_CHARS_REGEXP = /[:\-_]+(.)/g;
 function directiveNormalize(name) {
   return name
     .replace(PREFIX_REGEXP, '')
-    .replace(SPECIAL_CHARS_REGEXP, fnCamelCaseReplace);
+    .replace(SPECIAL_CHARS_REGEXP, function(_, letter, offset) {
+      return offset ? letter.toUpperCase() : letter;
+    });
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/test/ng/compileSpec.js b/test/ng/compileSpec.js
index e3d923e6b1f6..8bd6fee9263c 100644
--- a/test/ng/compileSpec.js
+++ b/test/ng/compileSpec.js
@@ -305,6 +305,27 @@ describe('$compile', function() {
       inject(function($compile) {});
     });
 
+    it('should ignore special chars before processing attribute directive name', function() {
+      // a regression https://github.com/angular/angular.js/issues/16278
+      module(function() {
+        directive('t', function(log) {
+          return {
+            restrict: 'A',
+            link: {
+              pre: log.fn('pre'),
+              post: log.fn('post')
+            }
+          };
+        });
+      });
+      inject(function($compile, $rootScope, log) {
+        $compile('<div _t></div>')($rootScope);
+        $compile('<div -t></div>')($rootScope);
+        $compile('<div :t></div>')($rootScope);
+        expect(log).toEqual('pre; post; pre; post; pre; post');
+      });
+    });
+
     it('should throw an exception if the directive factory is not defined', function() {
       module(function() {
         expect(function() {