diff --git a/src/axes.jl b/src/axes.jl
index 944d724a..0ef3a3a7 100644
--- a/src/axes.jl
+++ b/src/axes.jl
@@ -227,8 +227,9 @@ function get_ticks(sp::Subplot, axis::Axis; update = true)
                 if !isempty(dvals)
                     # discrete ticks...
                     n = length(dvals)
-                    rng = if ticks == :auto
-                        Int[round(Int,i) for i in range(1, stop=n, length=min(n,15))]
+                    rng = if ticks == :auto && n > 15
+                        Δ = ceil(Int, n / 10)
+                        Δ:Δ:n
                     else # if ticks == :all
                         1:n
                     end
diff --git a/test/test_axes.jl b/test/test_axes.jl
index 07db6102..db2cb8cd 100644
--- a/test/test_axes.jl
+++ b/test/test_axes.jl
@@ -12,3 +12,12 @@ end
     @test plot(1, axis=nothing)[1][:xaxis][:ticks] == []
     @test plot(1, axis=nothing)[1][:yaxis][:ticks] == []
 end # testset
+
+@testset "Categorical ticks" begin
+    p1 = plot('A':'M', 1:13)
+    p2 = plot('A':'Z', 1:26)
+    p3 = plot('A':'Z', 1:26, ticks = :all)
+    @test Plots.get_ticks(p1[1], p1[1][:xaxis])[2] == string.('A':'M')
+    @test Plots.get_ticks(p2[1], p2[1][:xaxis])[2] == string.('C':3:'Z')
+    @test Plots.get_ticks(p3[1], p3[1][:xaxis])[2] == string.('A':'Z')
+end