diff --git a/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_db_instance.go b/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_db_instance.go
index e391941fc..267f51aef 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_db_instance.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_db_instance.go
@@ -349,7 +349,7 @@ func resourceAwsDbInstanceRead(d *schema.ResourceData, meta interface{}) error {
 	arn, err := buildRDSARN(d, meta)
 	if err != nil {
 		name := "<empty>"
-		if v.DBName != "" {
+		if v.DBName != nil && *v.DBName != "" {
 			name = *v.DBName
 		}