diff --git a/release-notes/CREDITS b/release-notes/CREDITS
index cf0ad69520..fcfc2ba68a 100644
--- a/release-notes/CREDITS
+++ b/release-notes/CREDITS
@@ -638,6 +638,10 @@ Guixiong Wu (吴桂雄)
   * Reported #2032: Blacklist another serialization gadget (ibatis)
    (2.8.11.2)
 
+svarzee@github
+  * Reported #2109, suggested fix: Canonical string for reference type is built incorrectly
+   (2.8.11.3 / 2.9.7)
+
 Connor Kuhn (ckuhn@github)
   * Contributed #1341: FAIL_ON_MISSING_EXTERNAL_TYPE_ID_PROPERTY
    (2.9.0)
diff --git a/release-notes/VERSION b/release-notes/VERSION
index b87cf7b233..2f72cd3225 100644
--- a/release-notes/VERSION
+++ b/release-notes/VERSION
@@ -3,6 +3,11 @@ Project: jackson-databind
 === Releases ===
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+2.8.11.3 (not yet released)
+
+#2109: Canonical string for reference type is built incorrectly
+ (reported by svarzee@github)
+
 2.8.11.2 (08-Jun-2018)
 
 #1941: `TypeFactory.constructFromCanonical()` throws NPE for Unparameterized
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/type/ReferenceType.java b/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/type/ReferenceType.java
index 4add34ee0f..e8c69628cb 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/type/ReferenceType.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/type/ReferenceType.java
@@ -166,6 +166,7 @@ protected String buildCanonicalName()
         sb.append(_class.getName());
         sb.append('<');
         sb.append(_referencedType.toCanonical());
+        sb.append('>');
         return sb.toString();
     }
 
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/type/TestTypeFactory.java b/src/test/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/type/TestTypeFactory.java
index d543454ddc..ab0ff60bf4 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/type/TestTypeFactory.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/type/TestTypeFactory.java
@@ -232,8 +232,14 @@ public void testCanonicalNames()
                 can);
         assertEquals(t, tf.constructFromCanonical(can));
 
-        // [databind#1941]: allow "raw" types too
+        // [databind#2109]: also ReferenceTypes
+        t = tf.constructType(new TypeReference<AtomicReference<Long>>() { });
+        can = t.toCanonical();
+        assertEquals("java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReference<java.lang.Long>",
+                can);
+        assertEquals(t, tf.constructFromCanonical(can));
 
+        // [databind#1941]: allow "raw" types too
         t = tf.constructFromCanonical("java.util.List");
         assertEquals(List.class, t.getRawClass());
         assertEquals(CollectionType.class, t.getClass());