diff --git a/autoload/tagbar.vim b/autoload/tagbar.vim
index 0829845..482fd1b 100644
--- a/autoload/tagbar.vim
+++ b/autoload/tagbar.vim
@@ -1092,7 +1092,14 @@ function! s:ExecuteCtagsOnFile(fname, realfname, typeinfo) abort
         "intended to be in an argument, spaces in a single ctag_args
         "string would be ambiguous. Is the space an argument separator
         "or to be included in the argument
-        let ctags_args  = [ '-f',
+        let ctags_args = []
+        if exists('g:tagbar_ctags_options')
+            for value in g:tagbar_ctags_options
+                call add(ctags_args, '--options='.value)
+            endfor
+        fi
+        let ctags_args  = ctags_args + [
+                          \ '-f',
                           \ '-',
                           \ '--format=2',
                           \ '--excmd=pattern',
diff --git a/doc/tagbar.txt b/doc/tagbar.txt
index 22de2b7..a31161e 100644
--- a/doc/tagbar.txt
+++ b/doc/tagbar.txt
@@ -399,6 +399,26 @@ Example:
         let g:tagbar_ctags_bin = 'C:\Ctags5.8\ctags.exe'
 <
 
+                                                      *g:tagbar_ctags_options*
+g:tagbar_ctags_options
+Default: undefined
+
+Use this option to specify a list of filenames to pass to ctags with the
+'--options' flag.  This is similar to the deffile key for tagbar type
+extensions, see |tagbar-extend|, but acts globally. The special value 'NONE'
+as the first entry disables reading of the default configuration files (e.g.
+~/.ctags). Without this, if ~/.ctags and other files listed in
+g:tagbar_ctags_options include some of the same patterns, tagbar might show
+duplicate entries.
+
+Example:
+>
+        let g:tagbar_ctags_options = ['NONE', split(&rtp,",")[0].'/ctags.cnf']
+
+This causes ctags to use settings from ~/.vim/ctags.cnf, ignoring other
+configuration files.
+
+
                                                                *g:tagbar_left*
 g:tagbar_left~
 Default: 0
@@ -1282,7 +1302,9 @@ ctags manually execute the following command in a terminal:
         ctags -f - --format=2 --excmd=pattern --extra= --fields=nksaSmt myfile
 <
 If you set the |g:tagbar_ctags_bin| variable you probably have to use the same
-value here instead of simply "ctags".
+value here instead of simply "ctags". Also, if you use
+|:tagbar_ctags_options|, you should include the equivalent --options flag in
+the call to ctags.
 
 If something more fundamental isn't working right then try running the
 |:messages| command to see if Tagbar printed any error messages that might