diff --git a/src/main/java/com/github/fge/filesystem/path/GenericPath.java b/src/main/java/com/github/fge/filesystem/path/GenericPath.java
index ff7fb60..06815da 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/github/fge/filesystem/path/GenericPath.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/github/fge/filesystem/path/GenericPath.java
@@ -129,6 +129,10 @@ public int getNameCount()
     @Override
     public Path getName(final int index)
     {
+        if (elements.root != null && elements.root.isEmpty() && elements.names.length == 0) {
+            return new GenericPath(fs, factory, PathElements.EMPTY);
+        }
+
         final String name;
 
         //noinspection ProhibitedExceptionCaught
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/github/fge/filesystem/path/GenericPathTest.java b/src/test/java/com/github/fge/filesystem/path/GenericPathTest.java
index 7e1519d..44e6e29 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/github/fge/filesystem/path/GenericPathTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/github/fge/filesystem/path/GenericPathTest.java
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 import com.github.fge.filesystem.driver.FileSystemDriver;
 import com.github.fge.filesystem.fs.GenericFileSystem;
 import com.github.fge.filesystem.provider.FileSystemRepository;
+import org.testng.Assert;
 import org.testng.annotations.BeforeMethod;
 import org.testng.annotations.DataProvider;
 import org.testng.annotations.Test;
@@ -120,6 +121,19 @@ public void getFileNameWithNameElementsDoesNotReturnNull()
         assertPath(path.getFileName()).isNotNull();
     }
 
+    /* The typical behavior of a Unix path is to return a path with an
+     * empty root and no names when element 0 is requested from a path
+     * with an empty root and no names.
+     */
+    @Test
+    public void getEmptyFileNameReturnsEmptyFirstName() {
+        final PathElements elements = new PathElements("", new String[] {});
+        final Path path = new GenericPath(fs, factory, elements);
+
+        Assert.assertEquals(path.getName(0).toString(), "",
+                "First name element on empty path didn't equal an empty String");
+    }
+
     /*
      * This test this part of the Path's .relativize() method:
      *
@@ -240,4 +254,4 @@ public void toUriPathReturnsCorrectURI(final String s, final String path,
         assertThat(p.toUri().toString()).as("generated URI is correct")
             .isEqualTo(expected);
     }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}