diff --git a/src/borg/platform/freebsd.pyx b/src/borg/platform/freebsd.pyx
index 0976f019d..1a7871235 100644
--- a/src/borg/platform/freebsd.pyx
+++ b/src/borg/platform/freebsd.pyx
@@ -51,43 +51,57 @@ cdef extern from "unistd.h":
 
 
 def listxattr(path, *, follow_symlinks=False):
+    ns, prefix = EXTATTR_NAMESPACE_USER, b'user.'
+
     def func(path, buf, size):
         if isinstance(path, int):
-            return c_extattr_list_fd(path, EXTATTR_NAMESPACE_USER, <char *> buf, size)
+            return c_extattr_list_fd(path, ns, <char *> buf, size)
         else:
             if follow_symlinks:
-                return c_extattr_list_file(path, EXTATTR_NAMESPACE_USER, <char *> buf, size)
+                return c_extattr_list_file(path, ns, <char *> buf, size)
             else:
-                return c_extattr_list_link(path, EXTATTR_NAMESPACE_USER, <char *> buf, size)
+                return c_extattr_list_link(path, ns, <char *> buf, size)
 
     n, buf = _listxattr_inner(func, path)
-    return [name for name in split_lstring(buf[:n]) if name]
+    return [prefix + name for name in split_lstring(buf[:n]) if name]
 
 
 def getxattr(path, name, *, follow_symlinks=False):
+    ns, prefix = EXTATTR_NAMESPACE_USER, b'user.'
+
     def func(path, name, buf, size):
         if isinstance(path, int):
-            return c_extattr_get_fd(path, EXTATTR_NAMESPACE_USER, name, <char *> buf, size)
+            return c_extattr_get_fd(path, ns, name, <char *> buf, size)
         else:
             if follow_symlinks:
-                return c_extattr_get_file(path, EXTATTR_NAMESPACE_USER, name, <char *> buf, size)
+                return c_extattr_get_file(path, ns, name, <char *> buf, size)
             else:
-                return c_extattr_get_link(path, EXTATTR_NAMESPACE_USER, name, <char *> buf, size)
+                return c_extattr_get_link(path, ns, name, <char *> buf, size)
 
+    # strip namespace if there, but ignore if not there.
+    # older borg / attic versions did not prefix the namespace to the names.
+    if name.startswith(prefix):
+        name = name[len(prefix):]
     n, buf = _getxattr_inner(func, path, name)
     return bytes(buf[:n])
 
 
 def setxattr(path, name, value, *, follow_symlinks=False):
+    ns, prefix = EXTATTR_NAMESPACE_USER, b'user.'
+
     def func(path, name, value, size):
         if isinstance(path, int):
-            return c_extattr_set_fd(path, EXTATTR_NAMESPACE_USER, name, <char *> value, size)
+            return c_extattr_set_fd(path, ns, name, <char *> value, size)
         else:
             if follow_symlinks:
-                return c_extattr_set_file(path, EXTATTR_NAMESPACE_USER, name, <char *> value, size)
+                return c_extattr_set_file(path, ns, name, <char *> value, size)
             else:
-                return c_extattr_set_link(path, EXTATTR_NAMESPACE_USER, name, <char *> value, size)
+                return c_extattr_set_link(path, ns, name, <char *> value, size)
 
+    # strip namespace if there, but ignore if not there.
+    # older borg / attic versions did not prefix the namespace to the names.
+    if name.startswith(prefix):
+        name = name[len(prefix):]
     _setxattr_inner(func, path, name, value)
 
 
diff --git a/src/borg/testsuite/xattr.py b/src/borg/testsuite/xattr.py
index 44d1d12db..17cd5421b 100644
--- a/src/borg/testsuite/xattr.py
+++ b/src/borg/testsuite/xattr.py
@@ -56,13 +56,13 @@ class XattrTestCase(BaseTestCase):
         tmp_fn = os.fsencode(self.tmpfile.name)
         # make it work even with ext4, which imposes rather low limits
         buffer.resize(size=64, init=True)
-        # xattr raw key list will be size 9 * (10 + 1), which is > 64
-        keys = [b'user.attr%d' % i for i in range(9)]
+        # xattr raw key list will be > 64
+        keys = [b'user.attr%d' % i for i in range(20)]
         for key in keys:
             setxattr(tmp_fn, key, b'x')
         got_keys = listxattr(tmp_fn)
         self.assert_equal_se(got_keys, keys)
-        self.assert_equal(len(buffer), 128)
+        self.assert_true(len(buffer) > 64)
 
     def test_getxattr_buffer_growth(self):
         tmp_fn = os.fsencode(self.tmpfile.name)