+    wxFontFamily ret = wxFONTFAMILY_UNKNOWN;
+
+    const char *family_name = pango_font_description_get_family( description );
+
+    // note: not passing -1 as the 2nd parameter to g_ascii_strdown to work
+    // around a bug in the 64-bit glib shipped with solaris 10, -1 causes it
+    // to try to allocate 2^32 bytes.
+    if ( !family_name )
+        return ret;
+    wxGtkString family_text(g_ascii_strdown(family_name, strlen(family_name)));
+
+    // Check for some common fonts, to salvage what we can from the current
+    // win32 centric wxFont API:
+    if (wxStrnicmp( family_text, "monospace", 9 ) == 0)
+        ret = wxFONTFAMILY_TELETYPE;    // begins with "Monospace"
+    else if (wxStrnicmp( family_text, "courier", 7 ) == 0)
+        ret = wxFONTFAMILY_TELETYPE;    // begins with "Courier"
+#if defined(__WXGTK20__) || defined(HAVE_PANGO_FONT_FAMILY_IS_MONOSPACE)
+    else
+    {
+        PangoFontFamily **families;
+        PangoFontFamily  *family = NULL;
+        int n_families;
+        pango_context_list_families(
+#ifdef __WXGTK20__
+                gtk_widget_get_pango_context( wxGetRootWindow() ),
+#else
+                wxTheApp->GetPangoContext(),
+#endif
+                &families, &n_families);
+
+        for (int i = 0; i < n_families; ++i)
+        {
+            if (g_ascii_strcasecmp(pango_font_family_get_name( families[i] ),
+                                   pango_font_description_get_family( description )) == 0 )
+            {
+                family = families[i];
+                break;
+            }
+        }
+
+        g_free(families);
+
+        // Some gtk+ systems might query for a non-existing font from
+        // wxSystemSettings::GetFont(wxSYS_DEFAULT_GUI_FONT) on initialization,
+        // don't assert until wxSystemSettings::GetFont is checked for this - MR
+        // wxASSERT_MSG( family, "No appropriate PangoFontFamily found for ::description" );
+
+        if (family != NULL && pango_font_family_is_monospace( family ))
+            ret = wxFONTFAMILY_TELETYPE; // is deemed a monospace font by pango
+    }
+#endif // GTK+ 2 || HAVE_PANGO_FONT_FAMILY_IS_MONOSPACE
+
+    if (ret == wxFONTFAMILY_UNKNOWN)
+    {
+        if (strstr( family_text, "sans" ) != NULL || strstr( family_text, "Sans" ) != NULL)
+            // checked before serif, so that "* Sans Serif" fonts are detected correctly
+            ret = wxFONTFAMILY_SWISS;       // contains "Sans"
+        else if (strstr( family_text, "serif" ) != NULL || strstr( family_text, "Serif" ) != NULL)
+            ret = wxFONTFAMILY_ROMAN;       // contains "Serif"
+        else if (wxStrnicmp( family_text, "times", 5 ) == 0)
+            ret = wxFONTFAMILY_ROMAN;       // begins with "Times"
+        else if (wxStrnicmp( family_text, "old", 3 ) == 0)
+            ret = wxFONTFAMILY_DECORATIVE;  // begins with "Old" - "Old English", "Old Town"
+    }
+
+    return ret;