diff --git a/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/Name.java b/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/Name.java
index 9ed2458c89..e3f701e934 100644
--- a/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/Name.java
+++ b/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/Name.java
@@ -138,6 +138,15 @@ public interface Name extends QueryPart {
      */
     String last();
 
+    /**
+     * Whether this is the empty name.
+     * <p>
+     * An unnamed object will have an <code>""</code> empty string as its name.
+     * If a table has no explicit schema, it will be located in the default
+     * schema whose name is <code>""</code>.
+     */
+    boolean empty();
+
     /**
      * Whether this is a qualified name.
      * <p>
diff --git a/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/impl/AbstractName.java b/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/impl/AbstractName.java
index f062bd60e4..04c5a24d13 100644
--- a/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/impl/AbstractName.java
+++ b/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/impl/AbstractName.java
@@ -59,8 +59,8 @@ abstract class AbstractName extends AbstractQueryPart implements Name {
     /**
      * Generated UID
      */
-    private static final long serialVersionUID = 8562325639223483938L;
-    static final Name         NO_NAME          = DSL.name("");
+    private static final long    serialVersionUID = 8562325639223483938L;
+    static final UnqualifiedName NO_NAME          = new UnqualifiedName("");
 
     @Override
     public final Name append(String name) {
diff --git a/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/impl/QualifiedName.java b/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/impl/QualifiedName.java
index a6896157f4..2ab5256a86 100644
--- a/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/impl/QualifiedName.java
+++ b/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/impl/QualifiedName.java
@@ -178,6 +178,15 @@ final class QualifiedName extends AbstractName {
         return qualifiedName.length > 0 ? qualifiedName[qualifiedName.length - 1].last() : null;
     }
 
+    @Override
+    public final boolean empty() {
+        for (UnqualifiedName n : qualifiedName)
+            if (!n.empty())
+                return false;
+
+        return true;
+    }
+
     @Override
     public final boolean qualified() {
         return qualifiedName.length > 1;
diff --git a/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/impl/UnqualifiedName.java b/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/impl/UnqualifiedName.java
index 41e0172394..aaf47fde4c 100644
--- a/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/impl/UnqualifiedName.java
+++ b/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/impl/UnqualifiedName.java
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ import org.jooq.Context;
 import org.jooq.Name;
 import org.jooq.conf.RenderQuotedNames;
 import org.jooq.conf.SettingsTools;
+import org.jooq.tools.StringUtils;
 
 /**
  * The default implementation for an unqualified SQL identifier.
@@ -95,6 +96,11 @@ final class UnqualifiedName extends AbstractName {
         return name;
     }
 
+    @Override
+    public final boolean empty() {
+        return StringUtils.isEmpty(name);
+    }
+
     @Override
     public final boolean qualified() {
         return false;