diff --git a/lib/natalie/compiler/binding_gen.rb b/lib/natalie/compiler/binding_gen.rb
index a5e8712cf..c97e836ac 100644
--- a/lib/natalie/compiler/binding_gen.rb
+++ b/lib/natalie/compiler/binding_gen.rb
@@ -856,6 +856,7 @@ def generate_name
 gen.binding('String', 'index', 'StringObject', 'index', argc: 1, pass_env: true, pass_block: false, return_type: :Object)
 gen.binding('String', 'initialize', 'StringObject', 'initialize', argc: 0..1, pass_env: true, pass_block: false, return_type: :Object)
 gen.binding('String', 'inspect', 'StringObject', 'inspect', argc: 0, pass_env: true, pass_block: false, return_type: :Object)
+gen.binding('String', 'intern', 'StringObject', 'to_sym', argc: 0, pass_env: true, pass_block: false, return_type: :Object)
 gen.binding('String', 'length', 'StringObject', 'size', argc: 0, pass_env: true, pass_block: false, return_type: :Object)
 gen.binding('String', 'ljust', 'StringObject', 'ljust', argc: 1..2, pass_env: true, pass_block: false, return_type: :Object)
 gen.binding('String', 'lstrip', 'StringObject', 'lstrip', argc: 0, pass_env: true, pass_block: false, return_type: :Object)
diff --git a/spec/core/string/intern_spec.rb b/spec/core/string/intern_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cd7dad435
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/core/string/intern_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+require_relative '../../spec_helper'
+require_relative 'fixtures/classes'
+require_relative 'shared/to_sym'
+
+describe "String#intern" do
+  it_behaves_like :string_to_sym, :intern
+end
diff --git a/spec/core/string/shared/to_sym.rb b/spec/core/string/shared/to_sym.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2a362ba96
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/core/string/shared/to_sym.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+describe :string_to_sym, shared: true do
+  it "returns the symbol corresponding to self" do
+    "Koala".send(@method).should equal :Koala
+    'cat'.send(@method).should equal :cat
+    '@cat'.send(@method).should equal :@cat
+    'cat and dog'.send(@method).should equal :"cat and dog"
+    "abc=".send(@method).should equal :abc=
+  end
+
+  it "does not special case +(binary) and -(binary)" do
+    "+(binary)".send(@method).should equal :"+(binary)"
+    "-(binary)".send(@method).should equal :"-(binary)"
+  end
+
+  it "does not special case certain operators" do
+    "!@".send(@method).should equal :"!@"
+    "~@".send(@method).should equal :"~@"
+    "!(unary)".send(@method).should equal :"!(unary)"
+    "~(unary)".send(@method).should equal :"~(unary)"
+    "+(unary)".send(@method).should equal :"+(unary)"
+    "-(unary)".send(@method).should equal :"-(unary)"
+  end
+
+  # NATFIXME: Add back once we have encoding.
+  xit "returns a US-ASCII Symbol for a UTF-8 String containing only US-ASCII characters" do
+    sym = "foobar".send(@method)
+    sym.encoding.should == Encoding::US_ASCII
+    sym.should equal :"foobar"
+  end
+
+  # NATFIXME: Add back once we have encoding.
+  xit "returns a US-ASCII Symbol for a binary String containing only US-ASCII characters" do
+    sym = "foobar".b.send(@method)
+    sym.encoding.should == Encoding::US_ASCII
+    sym.should equal :"foobar"
+  end
+
+  # NATFIXME: Add back once we have encoding.
+  xit "returns a UTF-8 Symbol for a UTF-8 String containing non US-ASCII characters" do
+    sym = "il était une fois".send(@method)
+    sym.encoding.should == Encoding::UTF_8
+    sym.should equal :"il était une #{'fois'}"
+  end
+
+  # NATFIXME: Add back once we have encoding.
+  xit "returns a UTF-16LE Symbol for a UTF-16LE String containing non US-ASCII characters" do
+    utf16_str = "UtéF16".encode(Encoding::UTF_16LE)
+    sym = utf16_str.send(@method)
+    sym.encoding.should == Encoding::UTF_16LE
+    sym.to_s.should == utf16_str
+  end
+
+  # NATFIXME: Add back once we have encoding.
+  xit "returns a binary Symbol for a binary String containing non US-ASCII characters" do
+    binary_string = "binarí".b
+    sym = binary_string.send(@method)
+    sym.encoding.should == Encoding::BINARY
+    sym.to_s.should == binary_string
+  end
+
+  # NATFIXME: Add back once we have encoding.
+  xit "ignores exising symbols with different encoding" do
+    source = "fée"
+
+    iso_symbol = source.force_encoding(Encoding::ISO_8859_1).send(@method)
+    iso_symbol.encoding.should == Encoding::ISO_8859_1
+    binary_symbol = source.force_encoding(Encoding::BINARY).send(@method)
+    binary_symbol.encoding.should == Encoding::BINARY
+  end
+
+  # NATFIXME: Add back once we have encoding and `String#valid_encoding?`
+  xit "raises an EncodingError for UTF-8 String containing invalid bytes" do
+    invalid_utf8 = "\xC3"
+    invalid_utf8.should_not.valid_encoding?
+    -> {
+      invalid_utf8.send(@method)
+    }.should raise_error(EncodingError, /invalid/)
+  end
+end
diff --git a/spec/core/string/to_sym_spec.rb b/spec/core/string/to_sym_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f9135211c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/core/string/to_sym_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+require_relative '../../spec_helper'
+require_relative 'fixtures/classes'
+require_relative 'shared/to_sym'
+
+describe "String#to_sym" do
+  it_behaves_like :string_to_sym, :to_sym
+end