diff --git a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/Identifier.h b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/Identifier.h
--- a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/Identifier.h
+++ b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/Identifier.h
@@ -11,10 +11,12 @@
 
 #include "mlir/Support/LLVM.h"
 #include "llvm/ADT/DenseMapInfo.h"
+#include "llvm/ADT/PointerUnion.h"
 #include "llvm/ADT/StringMapEntry.h"
 #include "llvm/Support/PointerLikeTypeTraits.h"
 
 namespace mlir {
+class Dialect;
 class MLIRContext;
 
 /// This class represents a uniqued string owned by an MLIRContext.  Strings
@@ -22,10 +24,17 @@
 /// zero length.
 ///
 /// This is a POD type with pointer size, so it should be passed around by
-/// value.  The underlying data is owned by MLIRContext and is thus immortal for
+/// value. The underlying data is owned by MLIRContext and is thus immortal for
 /// almost all clients.
+///
+/// An Identifier may be prefixed with a dialect namespace followed by a single
+/// dot `.`. This is particularly useful when used as a key in a NamedAttribute
+/// to differentiate a dependent attribute (specific to an operation) from a
+/// generic attribute defined by the dialect (in general applicable to multiple
+/// operations).
 class Identifier {
-  using EntryType = llvm::StringMapEntry<llvm::NoneType>;
+  using EntryType =
+      llvm::StringMapEntry<PointerUnion<Dialect *, MLIRContext *>>;
 
 public:
   /// Return an identifier for the specified string.
@@ -51,6 +60,15 @@
   /// Return the number of bytes in this string.
   unsigned size() const { return entry->getKeyLength(); }
 
+  /// Return the dialect loaded in the context for this identifier or nullptr if
+  /// this identifier isn't prefixed with a loaded dialect. For example the
+  /// `llvm.fastmathflags` identifier would return the LLVM dialect here,
+  /// assuming it is loaded in the context.
+  Dialect *getDialect();
+
+  /// Return the current MLIRContext associated with this identifier.
+  MLIRContext *getContext();
+
   const char *begin() const { return data(); }
   const char *end() const { return entry->getKeyData() + size(); }
 
diff --git a/mlir/lib/IR/MLIRContext.cpp b/mlir/lib/IR/MLIRContext.cpp
--- a/mlir/lib/IR/MLIRContext.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/IR/MLIRContext.cpp
@@ -264,9 +264,12 @@
 
   /// Identifiers are uniqued by string value and use the internal string set
   /// for storage.
-  llvm::StringSet<llvm::BumpPtrAllocator &> identifiers;
+  llvm::StringMap<PointerUnion<Dialect *, MLIRContext *>,
+                  llvm::BumpPtrAllocator &>
+      identifiers;
   /// A thread local cache of identifiers to reduce lock contention.
-  ThreadLocalCache<llvm::StringMap<llvm::StringMapEntry<llvm::NoneType> *>>
+  ThreadLocalCache<llvm::StringMap<
+      llvm::StringMapEntry<PointerUnion<Dialect *, MLIRContext *>> *>>
       localIdentifierCache;
 
   /// An allocator used for AbstractAttribute and AbstractType objects.
@@ -481,6 +484,14 @@
 #endif
     dialect = ctor();
     assert(dialect && "dialect ctor failed");
+
+    // Refresh all the identifiers dialect field, this catches cases where a
+    // dialect may be loaded after identifier prefixed with this dialect name
+    // were already created.
+    for (auto &identifierEntry : impl.identifiers)
+      if (identifierEntry.first().startswith(dialectNamespace))
+        identifierEntry.second = dialect.get();
+
     return dialect.get();
   }
 
@@ -707,9 +718,15 @@
   assert(str.find('\0') == StringRef::npos &&
          "Cannot create an identifier with a nul character");
 
+  PointerUnion<Dialect *, MLIRContext *> dialectOrContext = context;
+  auto dialectNamePair = str.split('.');
+  if (!dialectNamePair.first.empty())
+    if (Dialect *dialect = context->getLoadedDialect(dialectNamePair.first))
+      dialectOrContext = dialect;
+
   auto &impl = context->getImpl();
   if (!context->isMultithreadingEnabled())
-    return Identifier(&*impl.identifiers.insert(str).first);
+    return Identifier(&*impl.identifiers.insert({str, dialectOrContext}).first);
 
   // Check for an existing instance in the local cache.
   auto *&localEntry = (*impl.localIdentifierCache)[str];
@@ -728,11 +745,21 @@
 
   // Acquire a writer-lock so that we can safely create the new instance.
   llvm::sys::SmartScopedWriter<true> contextLock(impl.identifierMutex);
-  auto it = impl.identifiers.insert(str).first;
+  auto it = impl.identifiers.insert({str, dialectOrContext}).first;
   localEntry = &*it;
   return Identifier(localEntry);
 }
 
+Dialect *Identifier::getDialect() {
+  return entry->second.dyn_cast<Dialect *>();
+}
+
+MLIRContext *Identifier::getContext() {
+  if (Dialect *dialect = getDialect())
+    return dialect->getContext();
+  return entry->second.get<MLIRContext *>();
+}
+
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
 // Type uniquing
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//