diff --git a/src/locale/localed-util.c b/src/locale/localed-util.c
index 02fac9786b..eba13a2ac3 100644
--- a/src/locale/localed-util.c
+++ b/src/locale/localed-util.c
@@ -803,21 +803,35 @@ int find_legacy_keymap(const X11Context *xc, char **ret) {
                         /* If we got an exact match, this is the best */
                         matching = 10;
                 else {
-                        /* We have multiple X layouts, look for an
-                         * entry that matches our key with everything
-                         * but the first layout stripped off. */
-                        if (startswith_comma(xc->layout, a[1]))
-                                matching = 5;
+                        /* see if we get an exact match with the order reversed */
+                        _cleanup_strv_free_ char **b = NULL;
+                        _cleanup_free_ char *c = NULL;
+                        r = strv_split_full(&b, a[1], ",", 0);
+                        if (r < 0)
+                                return r;
+                        strv_reverse(b);
+                        c = strv_join(b, ",");
+                        if (!c)
+                                return log_oom();
+                        if (streq(xc->layout, c))
+                                matching = 9;
                         else {
-                                _cleanup_free_ char *x = NULL;
+                                /* We have multiple X layouts, look for an
+                                 * entry that matches our key with everything
+                                 * but the first layout stripped off. */
+                                if (startswith_comma(xc->layout, a[1]))
+                                        matching = 5;
+                                else {
+                                        _cleanup_free_ char *x = NULL;
 
-                                /* If that didn't work, strip off the
-                                 * other layouts from the entry, too */
-                                x = strdupcspn(a[1], ",");
-                                if (!x)
-                                        return -ENOMEM;
-                                if (startswith_comma(xc->layout, x))
-                                        matching = 1;
+                                        /* If that didn't work, strip off the
+                                         * other layouts from the entry, too */
+                                        x = strdupcspn(a[1], ",");
+                                        if (!x)
+                                                return -ENOMEM;
+                                        if (startswith_comma(xc->layout, x))
+                                                matching = 1;
+                                }
                         }
                 }
 
@@ -825,7 +839,7 @@ int find_legacy_keymap(const X11Context *xc, char **ret) {
                         if (isempty(xc->model) || streq_ptr(xc->model, a[2])) {
                                 matching++;
 
-                                if (streq_ptr(xc->variant, a[3])) {
+                                if (streq_ptr(xc->variant, a[3]) || (isempty(xc->variant) && streq(a[3], "-"))) {
                                         matching++;
 
                                         if (streq_ptr(xc->options, a[4]))
@@ -848,7 +862,7 @@ int find_legacy_keymap(const X11Context *xc, char **ret) {
                 }
         }
 
-        if (best_matching < 10 && !isempty(xc->layout)) {
+        if (best_matching < 9 && !isempty(xc->layout)) {
                 _cleanup_free_ char *l = NULL, *v = NULL, *converted = NULL;
 
                 /* The best match is only the first part of the X11
diff --git a/src/locale/test-localed-util.c b/src/locale/test-localed-util.c
index cb66dffd48..f702ff29b0 100644
--- a/src/locale/test-localed-util.c
+++ b/src/locale/test-localed-util.c
@@ -173,6 +173,18 @@ TEST(x11_convert_to_vconsole) {
         assert_se(streq(vc.keymap, "es-dvorak"));
         vc_context_clear(&vc);
 
+        /* es no-variant test is not very good as the desired match
+        comes first in the list so will win if both candidates score
+        the same. in this case the desired match comes second so will
+        not win unless we correctly give the no-variant match a bonus
+        */
+        log_info("/* test without variant, desired match second (bg,us:) */");
+        assert_se(free_and_strdup(&xc.layout, "bg,us") >= 0);
+        assert_se(free_and_strdup(&xc.variant, NULL) >= 0);
+        assert_se(x11_convert_to_vconsole(&xc, &vc) >= 0);
+        assert_se(streq(vc.keymap, "bg_bds-utf8"));
+        vc_context_clear(&vc);
+
         log_info("/* test with old mapping (fr:latin9) */");
         assert_se(free_and_strdup(&xc.layout, "fr") >= 0);
         assert_se(free_and_strdup(&xc.variant, "latin9") >= 0);
@@ -180,11 +192,14 @@ TEST(x11_convert_to_vconsole) {
         assert_se(streq(vc.keymap, "fr-latin9"));
         vc_context_clear(&vc);
 
+        /* https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1039185 */
+        /* us,ru is the x config users want, but they still want ru
+        as the console layout in this case */
         log_info("/* test with a compound mapping (us,ru:) */");
         assert_se(free_and_strdup(&xc.layout, "us,ru") >= 0);
         assert_se(free_and_strdup(&xc.variant, NULL) >= 0);
         assert_se(x11_convert_to_vconsole(&xc, &vc) >= 0);
-        assert_se(streq(vc.keymap, "us"));
+        assert_se(streq(vc.keymap, "ru"));
         vc_context_clear(&vc);
 
         log_info("/* test with a compound mapping (ru,us:) */");