diff --git a/src/plugins/create-project/gbp-create-project-surface.c b/src/plugins/create-project/gbp-create-project-surface.c
index c84280971d08422b4fc993095f871c11f9dd90e5..7fc7757c19df44166e44d3ec1af027f3ea02a703 100644
--- a/src/plugins/create-project/gbp-create-project-surface.c
+++ b/src/plugins/create-project/gbp-create-project-surface.c
@@ -130,6 +130,10 @@ validate_name (const gchar *name)
   if (g_unichar_isdigit (g_utf8_get_char (name)))
     return FALSE;
 
+  // meson reserved this as keyword and therefore its not allowed as project name
+  if (ide_str_equal0 (name, "test"))
+    return FALSE;
+
   for (; *name; name = g_utf8_next_char (name))
     {
       gunichar ch = g_utf8_get_char (name);