diff --git a/db/dbcommands.cpp b/db/dbcommands.cpp
index 335d9ed..be483ba 100644
--- a/db/dbcommands.cpp
+++ b/db/dbcommands.cpp
@@ -862,6 +862,7 @@ namespace mongo {
                 "{ create: <ns>[, capped: <bool>, size: <collSizeInBytes>, max: <nDocs>] }";
         }
         virtual bool run(const string& dbname , BSONObj& cmdObj, int, string& errmsg, BSONObjBuilder& result, bool fromRepl ) {
+            uassert(15888, "must pass name of collection to create", cmdObj.firstElement().valuestrsafe()[0] != '\0');
             string ns = dbname + '.' + cmdObj.firstElement().valuestr();
             string err;
             uassert(14832, "specify size:<n> when capped is true", !cmdObj["capped"].trueValue() || cmdObj["size"].isNumber() || cmdObj.hasField("$nExtents"));