diff --git a/pulsar-common/src/main/java/org/apache/pulsar/common/naming/TopicName.java b/pulsar-common/src/main/java/org/apache/pulsar/common/naming/TopicName.java
index dd24c9a971210..b2f96bfe6e259 100644
--- a/pulsar-common/src/main/java/org/apache/pulsar/common/naming/TopicName.java
+++ b/pulsar-common/src/main/java/org/apache/pulsar/common/naming/TopicName.java
@@ -170,9 +170,9 @@ private TopicName(String completeTopicName) {
                 throw new IllegalArgumentException("Invalid topic name: " + completeTopicName);
             }
 
-
-            if (localName == null || localName.isEmpty()) {
-                throw new IllegalArgumentException("Invalid topic name: " + completeTopicName);
+            if (StringUtils.isBlank(localName)) {
+                throw new IllegalArgumentException(String.format("Invalid topic name: %s. Topic local name must not"
+                        + " be blank.", completeTopicName));
             }
 
         } catch (NullPointerException e) {
diff --git a/pulsar-common/src/test/java/org/apache/pulsar/common/naming/TopicNameTest.java b/pulsar-common/src/test/java/org/apache/pulsar/common/naming/TopicNameTest.java
index 485bea3f1addb..27eb82d15af0d 100644
--- a/pulsar-common/src/test/java/org/apache/pulsar/common/naming/TopicNameTest.java
+++ b/pulsar-common/src/test/java/org/apache/pulsar/common/naming/TopicNameTest.java
@@ -177,6 +177,13 @@ public void topic() {
             // Ok
         }
 
+        try {
+            TopicName.get(" ");
+            fail("Should have raised exception");
+        } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
+            // Ok
+        }
+
         TopicName nameWithSlash = TopicName.get("persistent://tenant/cluster/namespace/ns-abc/table/1");
         assertEquals(nameWithSlash.getEncodedLocalName(), Codec.encode("ns-abc/table/1"));