diff --git a/lib/kobject.c b/lib/kobject.c
index 98b45bb33c8d..94b321f4ac67 100644
--- a/lib/kobject.c
+++ b/lib/kobject.c
@@ -265,8 +265,10 @@ int kobject_set_name_vargs(struct kobject *kobj, const char *fmt,
 		return 0;
 
 	kobj->name = kvasprintf(GFP_KERNEL, fmt, vargs);
-	if (!kobj->name)
+	if (!kobj->name) {
+		kobj->name = old_name;
 		return -ENOMEM;
+	}
 
 	/* ewww... some of these buggers have '/' in the name ... */
 	while ((s = strchr(kobj->name, '/')))