diff --git a/src/librustc/lint/builtin.rs b/src/librustc/lint/builtin.rs
index 214401b17a1..01fea98dfa0 100644
--- a/src/librustc/lint/builtin.rs
+++ b/src/librustc/lint/builtin.rs
@@ -754,7 +754,7 @@ impl LintPass for NonCamelCaseTypes {
 
             // start with a non-lowercase letter rather than non-uppercase
             // ones (some scripts don't have a concept of upper/lowercase)
-            !ident.char_at(0).is_lowercase() && !ident.contains_char('_')
+            ident.len() > 0 && !ident.char_at(0).is_lowercase() && !ident.contains_char('_')
         }
 
         fn to_camel_case(s: &str) -> String {
@@ -768,9 +768,13 @@ impl LintPass for NonCamelCaseTypes {
             let s = token::get_ident(ident);
 
             if !is_camel_case(ident) {
-                cx.span_lint(NON_CAMEL_CASE_TYPES, span,
-                    format!("{} `{}` should have a camel case name such as `{}`",
-                            sort, s, to_camel_case(s.get())).as_slice());
+                let c = to_camel_case(s.get());
+                let m = if c.is_empty() {
+                    format!("{} `{}` should have a camel case name such as `CamelCase`", sort, s)
+                } else {
+                    format!("{} `{}` should have a camel case name such as `{}`", sort, s, c)
+                };
+                cx.span_lint(NON_CAMEL_CASE_TYPES, span, m.as_slice());
             }
         }
 
diff --git a/src/test/compile-fail/lint-non-camel-case-types.rs b/src/test/compile-fail/lint-non-camel-case-types.rs
index 784930003d0..f33c7956a14 100644
--- a/src/test/compile-fail/lint-non-camel-case-types.rs
+++ b/src/test/compile-fail/lint-non-camel-case-types.rs
@@ -37,4 +37,6 @@ struct foo7 {
     bar: int,
 }
 
+type __ = int; //~ ERROR type `__` should have a camel case name such as `CamelCase`
+
 fn main() { }