diff --git a/lib/linguist/language.rb b/lib/linguist/language.rb
index 8f6686d1..694ccf31 100644
--- a/lib/linguist/language.rb
+++ b/lib/linguist/language.rb
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ module Linguist
     attr_reader :name, :extensions
 
     def initialize(attributes = {})
-      @name       = attributes[:name]
+      @name       = attributes[:name] || raise(ArgumentError, "missing name")
       @extensions = attributes[:extensions] || []
     end
   end
diff --git a/test/test_language.rb b/test/test_language.rb
index 1ad96405..686486a7 100644
--- a/test/test_language.rb
+++ b/test/test_language.rb
@@ -32,6 +32,12 @@ class TestLanguage < Test::Unit::TestCase
     assert_equal "Ruby",   Language['Ruby'].name
   end
 
+  def test_error_without_name
+    assert_raise ArgumentError do
+      Language.new :name => nil
+    end
+  end
+
   def test_extensions
     assert Language['Perl'].extensions.include?('.pl')
     assert Language['Python'].extensions.include?('.py')