<p>MySQL raises ER_NAME_BECOMES_EMPTY when a supplied identifier becomes an empty string after being processed, typically during RENAME, ALTER, or CREATE operations.</p>
<p>MySQL Error 1474: ER_NAME_BECOMES_EMPTY occurs when an identifier you pass to RENAME, ALTER, or CREATE resolves to an empty string after MySQL strips quotes or whitespace. Double-check the new name, avoid empty quotes, and retry with a valid identifier.</p>
Name '%s' has become ''
MySQL throws error 1474 with the message Name '%s' has become '' when an object name supplied in a statement resolves to an empty string. The server strips delimiters and whitespace before validation. If nothing remains, the identifier is considered empty and invalid.
The error halts the statement because MySQL cannot create, rename, or reference an object without a valid name. Fixing it quickly is important to keep schema migrations or automated scripts from breaking.
Developers most often meet ER_NAME_BECOMES_EMPTY while running RENAME TABLE, ALTER TABLE ... RENAME TO, CREATE INDEX, or RENAME INDEX statements. It can also surface in stored procedures that concatenate dynamic DDL containing empty variables.
The issue is common in deployment pipelines and ORMs where name variables may not be populated correctly.
Leaving the error unresolved blocks schema evolution, prevents new indexes from being created, and can cause CI/CD jobs to fail. Rapid remediation avoids downtime and merge-request delays.
A script might use RENAME TABLE my_table TO "" ; after stripping quotes, the target name is empty.
In dynamic SQL, a variable meant to hold the new name may be NULL or blank, resulting in an empty identifier.
Whitespace-only names are trimmed by MySQL, leaving an empty string.
Double quotes or backticks without content, such as `` or "", become empty after quote removal.
Occurs when the new identifier already exists rather than being empty.
Raised when the source table does not exist during a rename.
Triggered by illegal column names, such as those containing forbidden characters.
No. ER_NAME_BECOMES_EMPTY is tied to DDL that defines object names, not to DML like INSERT or UPDATE.
Only if the quoted string contains a valid identifier. Empty quotes cause the same failure because MySQL strips the quotes.
No. MySQL requires non-empty identifiers. You must supply a valid name.
Galaxy flags empty identifiers in real-time and the AI copilot proposes corrected statements, reducing deployment errors.
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