diff --git a/graylog2-server/src/main/java/org/graylog2/search/SearchQueryParser.java b/graylog2-server/src/main/java/org/graylog2/search/SearchQueryParser.java
index b6665072ece2..2ad3a79fc9d4 100644
--- a/graylog2-server/src/main/java/org/graylog2/search/SearchQueryParser.java
+++ b/graylog2-server/src/main/java/org/graylog2/search/SearchQueryParser.java
@@ -77,8 +77,16 @@ public class SearchQueryParser {
     private static final Splitter FIELD_VALUE_SPLITTER = Splitter.on(":").limit(2).omitEmptyStrings().trimResults();
     private static final Splitter VALUE_SPLITTER = Splitter.on(",").omitEmptyStrings().trimResults();
 
+    // Pattern to split a search query into individual parsable elements terms.
+    private static final String TERM_SPLIT_PATTERN =
+            "(\\S+:(=|=~|<|<=|>|>=)?'(?:[^'\\\\]|\\\\.)*')|" + // Field-specific terms with single-quotes: title:'value'
+                    "(\\S+:(=|=~|<|<=|>|>=)?\"(?:[^\"\\\\]|\\\\.)*\")|" + // Field-specific terms with double-quotes title:"value"
+                    "['\"][^\\\\]*?(?:\\\\.[^\\\\]*)*?['\"]|" + // Single quoted value: "value one"
+                    "\\S+:(=|=~|<|<=|>|>=)?\\S+|" + // Field-specific terms without quotes title:value
+                    "\\S+"; // Split the words of any other string value
+
     // This needs to be updated if more operators are added
-    private static final Pattern QUERY_SPLITTER_PATTERN = Pattern.compile("(\\S+:(=|=~|<|<=|>|>=)?'(?:[^'\\\\]|\\\\.)*')|(\\S+:(=|=~|<|<=|>|>=)?\"(?:[^\"\\\\]|\\\\.)*\")|\\S+|\\S+:(=|=~|<|<=|>|>=)?\\S+");
+    private static final Pattern QUERY_SPLITTER_PATTERN = Pattern.compile(TERM_SPLIT_PATTERN);
     private static final String INVALID_ENTRY_MESSAGE = "Chunk [%s] is not a valid entry";
     private static final String QUOTE_REPLACE_REGEX = "^[\"']|[\"']$";
     public static final SearchQueryOperator DEFAULT_STRING_OPERATOR = SearchQueryOperators.REGEXP;
diff --git a/graylog2-server/src/test/java/org/graylog2/search/SearchQueryParserTest.java b/graylog2-server/src/test/java/org/graylog2/search/SearchQueryParserTest.java
index 910d0df67910..a309f272e279 100644
--- a/graylog2-server/src/test/java/org/graylog2/search/SearchQueryParserTest.java
+++ b/graylog2-server/src/test/java/org/graylog2/search/SearchQueryParserTest.java
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.regex.Matcher;
 
 import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
@@ -293,6 +294,31 @@ void emptyFieldPrefixDoesNotChangeDefaultBehavior() {
         assertThat(searchQuery.hasDisallowedKeys()).isFalse();
     }
 
+    @Test
+    void unquotedEmptyFieldPrefixSingleSearchTerm() {
+        final SearchQueryParser parser = new SearchQueryParser("name", Set.of(), "");
+        // Verify unquoted term is split into two search values.
+        final SearchQuery searchQuery = parser.parse("Bobby testerson");
+        final Multimap<String, SearchQueryParser.FieldValue> queryMap = searchQuery.getQueryMap();
+        assertThat(queryMap.keySet().size()).isEqualTo(1);
+        final Collection<SearchQueryParser.FieldValue> values = queryMap.get("name");
+        assertThat(values.size()).isEqualTo(2);
+        assertThat(values).contains(new SearchQueryParser.FieldValue("Bobby", false));
+        assertThat(values).contains(new SearchQueryParser.FieldValue("testerson", false));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void quotedEmptyFieldPrefixSingleSearchTerm() {
+        final SearchQueryParser parser = new SearchQueryParser("name", Set.of(), "");
+        // Verify quoted term is maintained as a single search value.
+        final SearchQuery searchQuery = parser.parse("\"Bobby testerson\"");
+        final Multimap<String, SearchQueryParser.FieldValue> queryMap = searchQuery.getQueryMap();
+        assertThat(queryMap.keySet().size()).isEqualTo(1);
+        final Collection<SearchQueryParser.FieldValue> values = queryMap.get("name");
+        assertThat(values.size()).isEqualTo(1);
+        assertThat(values).containsOnly(new SearchQueryParser.FieldValue("Bobby testerson", false));
+    }
+
     @Test
     void booleanValuesSupported() {
         final SearchQueryParser parser = new SearchQueryParser("name",