diff --git a/gio/gsettingsschema.c b/gio/gsettingsschema.c
index 6d028ad1f..fdc177979 100644
--- a/gio/gsettingsschema.c
+++ b/gio/gsettingsschema.c
@@ -267,6 +267,8 @@ g_settings_schema_new (const gchar *name)
   GvdbTable *table = NULL;
   GSList *source;
 
+  g_return_val_if_fail (name != NULL, NULL);
+
   initialise_schema_sources ();
 
   for (source = schema_sources; source; source = source->next)