diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.pgm/src/org/eclipse/jgit/pgm/Clone.java b/org.eclipse.jgit.pgm/src/org/eclipse/jgit/pgm/Clone.java
index a136df561..3fe50d668 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.pgm/src/org/eclipse/jgit/pgm/Clone.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.pgm/src/org/eclipse/jgit/pgm/Clone.java
@@ -93,15 +93,11 @@ class Clone extends AbstractFetchCommand {
 
 		final URIish uri = new URIish(sourceUri);
 		if (localName == null) {
-			String p = uri.getPath();
-			while (p.endsWith("/"))
-				p = p.substring(0, p.length() - 1);
-			final int s = p.lastIndexOf('/');
-			if (s < 0)
+			try {
+				localName = uri.getHumanishName();
+			} catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
 				throw die("cannot guess local name from " + sourceUri);
-			localName = p.substring(s + 1);
-			if (localName.endsWith(".git"))
-				localName = localName.substring(0, localName.length() - 4);
+			}
 		}
 		if (gitdir == null)
 			gitdir = new File(localName, ".git");
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/transport/URIishTest.java b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/transport/URIishTest.java
index 2598fdc1f..d2d37a7ed 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/transport/URIishTest.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/transport/URIishTest.java
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 /*
+ * Copyright (C) 2009, Mykola Nikishov <mn@mn.com.ua>
  * Copyright (C) 2008, Robin Rosenberg <robin.rosenberg@dewire.com>
  * Copyright (C) 2008, Shawn O. Pearce <spearce@spearce.org>
  * and other copyright owners as documented in the project's IP log.
@@ -44,10 +45,14 @@
 
 package org.eclipse.jgit.transport;
 
+import java.net.URISyntaxException;
+
 import junit.framework.TestCase;
 
 public class URIishTest extends TestCase {
 
+	private static final String GIT_SCHEME = "git://";
+
 	public void testUnixFile() throws Exception {
 		final String str = "/home/m y";
 		URIish u = new URIish(str);
@@ -244,4 +249,121 @@ public class URIishTest extends TestCase {
 		assertEquals(u.setPass(null).toPrivateString(), u.toString());
 		assertEquals(u, new URIish(str));
 	}
+
+	public void testGetNullHumanishName() {
+		try {
+			new URIish().getHumanishName();
+			fail("path must be not null");
+		} catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
+			// expected
+		}
+	}
+
+	public void testGetEmptyHumanishName() throws URISyntaxException {
+		try {
+			new URIish(GIT_SCHEME).getHumanishName();
+			fail("empty path is useless");
+		} catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
+			// expected
+		}
+	}
+
+	public void testGetAbsEmptyHumanishName() {
+		try {
+			new URIish().getHumanishName();
+			fail("empty path is useless");
+		} catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
+			// expected
+		}
+	}
+
+	public void testGetValidWithEmptySlashDotGitHumanishName()
+			throws IllegalArgumentException, URISyntaxException {
+		String humanishName = new URIish("/a/b/.git").getHumanishName();
+		assertEquals("b", humanishName);
+	}
+
+	public void testGetWithSlashDotGitHumanishName() throws URISyntaxException {
+		assertEquals("", new URIish("/.git").getHumanishName());
+	}
+
+	public void testGetTwoSlashesDotGitHumanishName() throws URISyntaxException {
+		assertEquals("", new URIish("/.git").getHumanishName());
+	}
+
+	public void testGetValidHumanishName() throws IllegalArgumentException,
+			URISyntaxException {
+		String humanishName = new URIish(GIT_SCHEME + "abc").getHumanishName();
+		assertEquals("abc", humanishName);
+	}
+
+	public void testGetValidSlashHumanishName()
+			throws IllegalArgumentException, URISyntaxException {
+		String humanishName = new URIish(GIT_SCHEME + "abc/").getHumanishName();
+		assertEquals("abc", humanishName);
+	}
+
+	public void testGetSlashValidSlashHumanishName()
+			throws IllegalArgumentException, URISyntaxException {
+		String humanishName = new URIish("/abc/").getHumanishName();
+		assertEquals("abc", humanishName);
+	}
+
+	public void testGetSlashValidSlashDotGitSlashHumanishName()
+			throws IllegalArgumentException, URISyntaxException {
+		String humanishName = new URIish("/abc/.git").getHumanishName();
+		assertEquals("abc", humanishName);
+	}
+
+	public void testGetSlashSlashDotGitSlashHumanishName()
+			throws IllegalArgumentException, URISyntaxException {
+		final String humanishName = new URIish(GIT_SCHEME + "/abc//.git")
+				.getHumanishName();
+		assertEquals("may return an empty humanish name", "", humanishName);
+	}
+
+	public void testGetSlashesValidSlashHumanishName()
+			throws IllegalArgumentException, URISyntaxException {
+		String humanishName = new URIish("/a/b/c/").getHumanishName();
+		assertEquals("c", humanishName);
+	}
+
+	public void testGetValidDotGitHumanishName()
+			throws IllegalArgumentException, URISyntaxException {
+		String humanishName = new URIish(GIT_SCHEME + "abc.git")
+				.getHumanishName();
+		assertEquals("abc", humanishName);
+	}
+
+	public void testGetValidDotGitSlashHumanishName()
+			throws IllegalArgumentException, URISyntaxException {
+		String humanishName = new URIish(GIT_SCHEME + "abc.git/")
+				.getHumanishName();
+		assertEquals("abc", humanishName);
+	}
+
+	public void testGetValidWithSlashDotGitHumanishName()
+			throws IllegalArgumentException, URISyntaxException {
+		String humanishName = new URIish("/abc.git").getHumanishName();
+		assertEquals("abc", humanishName);
+	}
+
+	public void testGetValidWithSlashDotGitSlashHumanishName()
+			throws IllegalArgumentException, URISyntaxException {
+		String humanishName = new URIish("/abc.git/").getHumanishName();
+		assertEquals("abc", humanishName);
+	}
+
+	public void testGetValidWithSlashesDotGitHumanishName()
+			throws IllegalArgumentException, URISyntaxException {
+		String humanishName = new URIish("/a/b/c.git").getHumanishName();
+		assertEquals("c", humanishName);
+	}
+
+	public void testGetValidWithSlashesDotGitSlashHumanishName()
+			throws IllegalArgumentException, URISyntaxException {
+		String humanishName = new URIish("/a/b/c.git/").getHumanishName();
+		assertEquals("c", humanishName);
+	}
+
 }
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/transport/URIish.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/transport/URIish.java
index e1df85248..1f7bad183 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/transport/URIish.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/transport/URIish.java
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 /*
+ * Copyright (C) 2009, Mykola Nikishov <mn@mn.com.ua>
  * Copyright (C) 2008, Robin Rosenberg <robin.rosenberg@dewire.com>
  * Copyright (C) 2008, Shawn O. Pearce <spearce@spearce.org>
  * and other copyright owners as documented in the project's IP log.
@@ -56,6 +57,8 @@ import java.util.regex.Pattern;
  * any special character is written as-is.
  */
 public class URIish {
+	private static final String DOT_GIT = ".git";
+
 	private static final Pattern FULL_URI = Pattern
 			.compile("^(?:([a-z][a-z0-9+-]+)://(?:([^/]+?)(?::([^/]+?))?@)?(?:([^/]+?))?(?::(\\d+))?)?((?:[A-Za-z]:)?/.+)$");
 
@@ -363,4 +366,53 @@ public class URIish {
 
 		return r.toString();
 	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Get the "humanish" part of the path. Some examples of a 'humanish' part
+	 * for a full path:
+	 * <table>
+	 * <tr>
+	 * <th>Path</th>
+	 * <th>Humanish part</th>
+	 * </tr>
+	 * <tr>
+	 * <td><code>/path/to/repo.git</code></td>
+	 * <td rowspan="4"><code>repo</code></td>
+	 * </tr>
+	 * <tr>
+	 * <td><code>/path/to/repo.git/</code></td>
+	 * </tr>
+	 * <tr>
+	 * <td><code>/path/to/repo/.git</code></td>
+	 * </tr>
+	 * <tr>
+	 * <td><code>/path/to/repo/</code></td>
+	 * </tr>
+	 * <tr>
+	 * <td><code>/path//to</code></td>
+	 * <td>an empty string</td>
+	 * </tr>
+	 * </table>
+	 *
+	 * @return the "humanish" part of the path. May be an empty string. Never
+	 *         {@code null}.
+	 * @throws IllegalArgumentException
+	 *             if it's impossible to determine a humanish part, or path is
+	 *             {@code null} or empty
+	 * @see #getPath
+	 */
+	public String getHumanishName() throws IllegalArgumentException {
+		if ("".equals(getPath()) || getPath() == null)
+			throw new IllegalArgumentException();
+		String[] elements = getPath().split("/");
+		if (elements.length == 0)
+			throw new IllegalArgumentException();
+		String result = elements[elements.length - 1];
+		if (DOT_GIT.equals(result))
+			result = elements[elements.length - 2];
+		else if (result.endsWith(DOT_GIT))
+			result = result.substring(0, result.length() - DOT_GIT.length());
+		return result;
+	}
+
 }