diff --git a/src/Faker/Provider/Base.php b/src/Faker/Provider/Base.php
index f1650cb216..6ec881837a 100644
--- a/src/Faker/Provider/Base.php
+++ b/src/Faker/Provider/Base.php
@@ -161,18 +161,19 @@ public static function randomAscii()
     /**
      * Returns randomly ordered subsequence of $count elements from a provided array
      *
-     * @param  array            $array Array to take elements from. Defaults to a-f
-     * @param  integer          $count Number of elements to take.
+     * @param  array            $array           Array to take elements from. Defaults to a-f
+     * @param  integer          $count           Number of elements to take.
+     * @param  boolean          $allowDuplicates Allow elements to be picked several times. Defaults to false
      * @throws \LengthException When requesting more elements than provided
      *
      * @return array New array with $count elements from $array
      */
-    public static function randomElements(array $array = array('a', 'b', 'c'), $count = 1)
+    public static function randomElements(array $array = array('a', 'b', 'c'), $count = 1, $allowDuplicates = false)
     {
         $allKeys = array_keys($array);
         $numKeys = count($allKeys);
 
-        if ($numKeys < $count) {
+        if (!$allowDuplicates && $numKeys < $count) {
             throw new \LengthException(sprintf('Cannot get %d elements, only %d in array', $count, $numKeys));
         }
 
@@ -182,11 +183,14 @@ public static function randomElements(array $array = array('a', 'b', 'c'), $coun
 
         while ($numElements < $count) {
             $num = mt_rand(0, $highKey);
-            if (isset($keys[$num])) {
-                continue;
+
+            if (!$allowDuplicates) {
+                if (isset($keys[$num])) {
+                    continue;
+                }
+                $keys[$num] = true;
             }
 
-            $keys[$num] = true;
             $elements[] = $array[$allKeys[$num]];
             $numElements++;
         }
diff --git a/test/Faker/Provider/BaseTest.php b/test/Faker/Provider/BaseTest.php
index 6fc0cc90c2..313b0021c4 100644
--- a/test/Faker/Provider/BaseTest.php
+++ b/test/Faker/Provider/BaseTest.php
@@ -547,5 +547,9 @@ public function testRandomElements()
         $this->assertContains('foo', $shuffled);
         $this->assertContains('bar', $shuffled);
         $this->assertContains('baz', $shuffled);
+
+        $allowDuplicates = BaseProvider::randomElements(array('foo', 'bar'), 3, true);
+        $this->assertCount(3, $allowDuplicates);
+        $this->assertContainsOnly('string', $allowDuplicates);
     }
 }