diff --git a/app/models/project.rb b/app/models/project.rb
index bfab009e..5d0cdd64 100644
--- a/app/models/project.rb
+++ b/app/models/project.rb
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ class Project < ActiveRecord::Base
   validates :description, length: { within: 0..2000 }
   validates :name, presence: true, length: { within: 0..255 },
             format: { with: Gitlab::Regex.project_name_regex,
-                      message: "only letters, digits & '_' '-' '.' allowed. Letter should be first" }
+                      message: "only letters, digits, spaces & '_' '-' '.' allowed. Letter should be first" }
   validates :path, presence: true, length: { within: 0..255 },
             format: { with: Gitlab::Regex.path_regex,
                       message: "only letters, digits & '_' '-' '.' allowed. Letter should be first" }
diff --git a/lib/gitlab/regex.rb b/lib/gitlab/regex.rb
index e0fb47da..48304220 100644
--- a/lib/gitlab/regex.rb
+++ b/lib/gitlab/regex.rb
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ module Gitlab
     end
 
     def project_name_regex
-      default_regex
+      /\A[a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9_\-\. ]*\z/
     end
 
     def path_regex