diff --git a/XMLCONF b/XMLCONF
index 65398fc..25f7f6f 100644
--- a/XMLCONF
+++ b/XMLCONF
@@ -1798,21 +1798,13 @@ eduni/namespaces/1.0/010.xml [not validating:] not-wf [validating:] not-wf
 eduni/namespaces/1.0/011.xml [not validating:] not-wf [validating:] not-wf
 eduni/namespaces/1.0/012.xml [not validating:] not-wf [validating:] not-wf
 eduni/namespaces/1.0/013.xml [not validating:] not-wf [validating:] invalid
-eduni/namespaces/1.0/014.xml [not validating:] FAILED:
-  invalid array index 0 for #() (should be nonnegative and <0)
-[
-Bad QName syntax: colon at end
-]
+eduni/namespaces/1.0/014.xml [not validating:] not-wf [validating:] invalid
 eduni/namespaces/1.0/015.xml [not validating:] FAILED:
   well-formedness violation not detected
 [
 Bad QName syntax: colon at start
 ]
-eduni/namespaces/1.0/016.xml [not validating:] FAILED:
-  invalid array index 0 for #() (should be nonnegative and <0)
-[
-Bad QName syntax: xmlns:
-]
+eduni/namespaces/1.0/016.xml [not validating:] not-wf [validating:] invalid
 eduni/namespaces/1.0/017.xml [not validating:] input [validating:] invalid
 eduni/namespaces/1.0/018.xml [not validating:] input [validating:] invalid
 eduni/namespaces/1.0/019.xml [not validating:] input [validating:] invalid
@@ -1859,4 +1851,4 @@ eduni/namespaces/1.0/046.xml [not validating:] input [validating:] FAILED:
 [
 Colon in ID attribute name
 ]
-7/1829 tests failed; 333 tests were skipped
\ No newline at end of file
+5/1829 tests failed; 333 tests were skipped
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/xml/xml-parse.lisp b/xml/xml-parse.lisp
index 7d2d614..9435848 100644
--- a/xml/xml-parse.lisp
+++ b/xml/xml-parse.lisp
@@ -3316,7 +3316,8 @@
 ;; have to check is that the first rune is a name-start-rune and that
 ;; there is not colon in it.
 (defun nc-name-p (name)
-  (and (name-start-rune-p (rune name 0))
+  (and (plusp (length name))
+       (name-start-rune-p (rune name 0))
        (notany #'(lambda (rune) (rune= #/: rune)) name)))
 
 (defun split-qname (qname)