diff --git a/lib/config/plugins.js b/lib/config/plugins.js
index 73c8a7daf26b..58477d1e1397 100644
--- a/lib/config/plugins.js
+++ b/lib/config/plugins.js
@@ -114,6 +114,16 @@ module.exports = {
             longName = pluginNamespace + PLUGIN_NAME_PREFIX + pluginNameWithoutPrefix;
         let plugin = null;
 
+        if (pluginName.match(/\s+/)) {
+            const whitespaceError = new Error("Whitespace found in plugin name eslint-plugin-" + pluginNameWithoutPrefix);
+
+            whitespaceError.messageTemplate = "whitespace-found";
+            whitespaceError.messageData = {
+                pluginName: pluginNameWithoutPrefix
+            };
+            throw whitespaceError;
+        }
+
         if (!plugins[shortName]) {
             try {
                 plugin = require(longName);
diff --git a/messages/whitespace-found.txt b/messages/whitespace-found.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..7746f3533708
--- /dev/null
+++ b/messages/whitespace-found.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+ESLint couldn't find the plugin "eslint-plugin-<%- pluginName %>". It looks like there is whitespace in the plugin name.
+
+If you still can't figure out the problem, please stop by https://gitter.im/eslint/eslint to chat with the team.
diff --git a/tests/lib/config/plugins.js b/tests/lib/config/plugins.js
index ef88c948b93b..58881f927f7c 100644
--- a/tests/lib/config/plugins.js
+++ b/tests/lib/config/plugins.js
@@ -85,6 +85,12 @@ describe("Plugins", function() {
             assert.deepEqual(Rules.get("example/qux"), plugin.rules.qux);
         });
 
+        it("should throw an error when a plugin has whitespace", function() {
+            assert.throws(function() {
+                StubbedPlugins.load("whitespace ");
+            }, /Whitespace found in plugin name/);
+        });
+
         it("should throw an error when a plugin doesn't exist", function() {
             assert.throws(function() {
                 StubbedPlugins.load("nonexistentplugin");