diff --git a/wp-admin/includes/taxonomy.php b/wp-admin/includes/taxonomy.php
index 66918260e1..b6cd67bd58 100644
--- a/wp-admin/includes/taxonomy.php
+++ b/wp-admin/includes/taxonomy.php
@@ -52,10 +52,15 @@ function wp_delete_category($cat_ID) {
 
 function wp_insert_category($catarr, $wp_error = false) {
 	$cat_defaults = array('cat_ID' => 0, 'cat_name' => '', 'category_description' => '', 'category_nicename' => '', 'category_parent' => '');
+	$cat_arr = wp_parse_args($cat_arr, $cat_defaults);
 	extract($catarr, EXTR_SKIP);
 
-	if ( trim( $cat_name ) == '' )
-		return 0;
+	if ( trim( $cat_name ) == '' ) {
+		if ( ! $wp_error )
+			return 0;
+		else
+			return new WP_Error( 'cat_name', __('You did not enter a category name.') );
+	}
 
 	$cat_ID = (int) $cat_ID;