diff --git a/src/plugins/git/gitplugin.cpp b/src/plugins/git/gitplugin.cpp
index 35ef47a978c..f9dfa4a31ca 100644
--- a/src/plugins/git/gitplugin.cpp
+++ b/src/plugins/git/gitplugin.cpp
@@ -193,6 +193,7 @@ QString GitPlugin::invalidBranchAndRemoteNamePattern()
         "|^[/-]"  // no leading slash or dash
         "|\""     // no quotes
         "|\\*"    // no asterisk
+        "|(^|[A-Z]+_)HEAD" // no HEAD, FETCH_HEAD etc.
     );
 }