diff --git a/pkg/app/application_test.go b/pkg/app/application_test.go
index 3706c604b..cb925930a 100644
--- a/pkg/app/application_test.go
+++ b/pkg/app/application_test.go
@@ -169,8 +169,7 @@ func TestResources1(t *testing.T) {
 				"apiVersion": "v1",
 				"kind":       "Namespace",
 				"metadata": map[string]interface{}{
-					"name":      "foo-ns1",
-					"namespace": "ns1",
+					"name": "foo-ns1",
 					"labels": map[string]interface{}{
 						"app": "nginx",
 					},
diff --git a/pkg/transformers/labelsandannotations_test.go b/pkg/transformers/labelsandannotations_test.go
index d4886f9b0..ed40760e7 100644
--- a/pkg/transformers/labelsandannotations_test.go
+++ b/pkg/transformers/labelsandannotations_test.go
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import (
 var service = schema.GroupVersionKind{Version: "v1", Kind: "Service"}
 var secret = schema.GroupVersionKind{Version: "v1", Kind: "Secret"}
 var cmap = schema.GroupVersionKind{Version: "v1", Kind: "ConfigMap"}
+var ns = schema.GroupVersionKind{Version: "v1", Kind: "Namespace"}
 var deploy = schema.GroupVersionKind{Group: "apps", Version: "v1", Kind: "Deployment"}
 var statefulset = schema.GroupVersionKind{Group: "apps", Version: "v1", Kind: "StatefulSet"}
 var foo = schema.GroupVersionKind{Group: "example.com", Version: "v1", Kind: "Foo"}
diff --git a/pkg/transformers/namespace.go b/pkg/transformers/namespace.go
index cc161ccf6..244626dfb 100644
--- a/pkg/transformers/namespace.go
+++ b/pkg/transformers/namespace.go
@@ -18,10 +18,38 @@ package transformers
 
 import (
 	"github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kustomize/pkg/resmap"
+	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime/schema"
 )
 
 type namespaceTransformer struct {
-	namespace string
+	namespace       string
+	pathConfigs     []PathConfig
+	skipPathConfigs []PathConfig
+}
+
+var namespacePathConfigs = []PathConfig{
+	{
+		Path:               []string{"metadata", "namespace"},
+		CreateIfNotPresent: true,
+	},
+}
+
+var skipNamespacePathConfigs = []PathConfig{
+	{
+		GroupVersionKind: &schema.GroupVersionKind{
+			Kind: "Namespace",
+		},
+	},
+	{
+		GroupVersionKind: &schema.GroupVersionKind{
+			Kind: "ClusterRoleBinding",
+		},
+	},
+	{
+		GroupVersionKind: &schema.GroupVersionKind{
+			Kind: "ClusterRole",
+		},
+	},
 }
 
 var _ Transformer = &namespaceTransformer{}
@@ -31,13 +59,43 @@ func NewNamespaceTransformer(ns string) Transformer {
 	if len(ns) == 0 {
 		return NewNoOpTransformer()
 	}
-	return &namespaceTransformer{namespace: ns}
+
+	return &namespaceTransformer{
+		namespace:       ns,
+		pathConfigs:     namespacePathConfigs,
+		skipPathConfigs: skipNamespacePathConfigs,
+	}
 }
 
 // Transform adds the namespace.
 func (o *namespaceTransformer) Transform(m resmap.ResMap) error {
-	for _, res := range m {
-		res.SetNamespace(o.namespace)
+	mf := resmap.ResMap{}
+
+	for id := range m {
+		mf[id] = m[id]
+		for _, path := range o.skipPathConfigs {
+			if selectByGVK(id.Gvk(), path.GroupVersionKind) {
+				delete(mf, id)
+				break
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	for id := range mf {
+		objMap := m[id].UnstructuredContent()
+		for _, path := range o.pathConfigs {
+			if !selectByGVK(id.Gvk(), path.GroupVersionKind) {
+				continue
+			}
+
+			err := mutateField(objMap, path.Path, path.CreateIfNotPresent, func(_ interface{}) (interface{}, error) {
+				return o.namespace, nil
+			})
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+		}
+
 	}
 	return nil
 }
diff --git a/pkg/transformers/namespace_test.go b/pkg/transformers/namespace_test.go
index 7d429774f..faf502b30 100644
--- a/pkg/transformers/namespace_test.go
+++ b/pkg/transformers/namespace_test.go
@@ -43,8 +43,24 @@ func TestNamespaceRun(t *testing.T) {
 					"namespace": "foo",
 				},
 			}),
+		resource.NewResId(ns, "ns1"): resource.NewResourceFromMap(
+			map[string]interface{}{
+				"apiVersion": "v1",
+				"kind":       "Namespace",
+				"metadata": map[string]interface{}{
+					"name": "ns1",
+				},
+			}),
 	}
 	expected := resmap.ResMap{
+		resource.NewResId(ns, "ns1"): resource.NewResourceFromMap(
+			map[string]interface{}{
+				"apiVersion": "v1",
+				"kind":       "Namespace",
+				"metadata": map[string]interface{}{
+					"name": "ns1",
+				},
+			}),
 		resource.NewResId(cmap, "cm1"): resource.NewResourceFromMap(
 			map[string]interface{}{
 				"apiVersion": "v1",