diff --git a/fastavro/_schema.pyx b/fastavro/_schema.pyx
index d622f710..1c36b34f 100644
--- a/fastavro/_schema.pyx
+++ b/fastavro/_schema.pyx
@@ -72,12 +72,12 @@ cpdef schema_name(schema, parent_ns):
         )
 
     namespace = schema.get("namespace", parent_ns)
-    if not namespace:
-        return namespace, name
-    elif "." in name:
-        return "", name
-    else:
+    if "." in name:
+        return name.rsplit(".", 1)[0], name
+    elif namespace:
         return namespace, f"{namespace}.{name}"
+    else:
+        return "", name
 
 
 cpdef expand_schema(schema):
diff --git a/fastavro/_schema_py.py b/fastavro/_schema_py.py
index d3021458..bb8fb543 100644
--- a/fastavro/_schema_py.py
+++ b/fastavro/_schema_py.py
@@ -103,12 +103,12 @@ def schema_name(schema: DictSchema, parent_ns: str) -> Tuple[str, str]:
         )
 
     namespace = schema.get("namespace", parent_ns)
-    if not namespace:
-        return namespace, name
-    elif "." in name:
-        return "", name
-    else:
+    if "." in name:
+        return name.rsplit(".", 1)[0], name
+    elif namespace:
         return namespace, f"{namespace}.{name}"
+    else:
+        return "", name
 
 
 def expand_schema(schema: Schema) -> Schema:
diff --git a/tests/test_schema.py b/tests/test_schema.py
index 9a2f4551..91af0a1a 100644
--- a/tests/test_schema.py
+++ b/tests/test_schema.py
@@ -1334,3 +1334,24 @@ def test_special_case_defaults(field_type, default_value):
     }
 
     fastavro.parse_schema(schema)
+
+
+def test_namespace_respected():
+    """https://github.com/fastavro/fastavro/issues/690"""
+    schema = {
+        "type": "record",
+        "name": "explicit_namespace.foo",
+        "fields": [
+            {
+                "name": "field1",
+                "type": {
+                    "type": "record",
+                    "name": "bar",
+                    "fields": [{"name": "bar_field", "type": "int"}],
+                },
+            },
+            {"name": "field2", "type": "explicit_namespace.bar"},
+        ],
+    }
+
+    fastavro.parse_schema(schema)