diff --git a/lib/commons/text/accessible-text-virtual.js b/lib/commons/text/accessible-text-virtual.js
index 99091b4fa3..ee6901551e 100644
--- a/lib/commons/text/accessible-text-virtual.js
+++ b/lib/commons/text/accessible-text-virtual.js
@@ -49,6 +49,10 @@ text.accessibleTextVirtual = function accessibleTextVirtual(
 
 	// Find the first step that returns a non-empty string
 	let accName = computationSteps.reduce((accName, step) => {
+		if (context.startNode === virtualNode) {
+			accName = text.sanitize(accName);
+		}
+
 		if (accName !== '') {
 			// yes, whitespace only a11y names halt the algorithm
 			return accName;
@@ -56,10 +60,6 @@ text.accessibleTextVirtual = function accessibleTextVirtual(
 		return step(virtualNode, context);
 	}, '');
 
-	if (context.startNode === virtualNode) {
-		accName = text.sanitize(accName);
-	}
-
 	if (context.debug) {
 		axe.log(accName || '{empty-value}', actualNode, context);
 	}
diff --git a/test/commons/text/accessible-text.js b/test/commons/text/accessible-text.js
index 18e072db83..efd3a4dddc 100644
--- a/test/commons/text/accessible-text.js
+++ b/test/commons/text/accessible-text.js
@@ -579,6 +579,15 @@ describe('text.accessibleTextVirtual', function() {
 		assert.equal(axe.commons.text.accessibleTextVirtual(target), '');
 	});
 
+	it('should not stop when attributes contain whitespace', function() {
+		fixture.innerHTML =
+			'<button aria-label=" " aria-labelledby=" ">Hello World</button>';
+		axe.testUtils.flatTreeSetup(fixture);
+
+		var target = axe.utils.querySelectorAll(axe._tree, 'button')[0];
+		assert.equal(axe.commons.text.accessibleTextVirtual(target), 'Hello World');
+	});
+
 	(shadowSupport.v1 ? it : xit)(
 		'should only find aria-labelledby element in the same context ',
 		function() {