diff --git a/pkg/target/kusttarget.go b/pkg/target/kusttarget.go
index 8e80de17a..565507516 100644
--- a/pkg/target/kusttarget.go
+++ b/pkg/target/kusttarget.go
@@ -275,7 +275,7 @@ func (kt *KustTarget) newTransformer(patches []*resource.Resource) (transformers
 	}
 	r = append(r, t)
 	r = append(r, transformers.NewNamespaceTransformer(
-		string(kt.kustomization.Namespace), kt.tcfg.NameSpace))
+		string(kt.kustomization.Namespace), kt.tcfg.NameSpace, kt.rf.RF()))
 	t, err = transformers.NewNamePrefixTransformer(
 		string(kt.kustomization.NamePrefix), kt.tcfg.NamePrefix)
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/pkg/transformers/namespace.go b/pkg/transformers/namespace.go
index 5f0c06482..fc0d5f727 100644
--- a/pkg/transformers/namespace.go
+++ b/pkg/transformers/namespace.go
@@ -18,7 +18,9 @@ package transformers
 
 import (
 	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/pkg/gvk"
+	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/pkg/resid"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/pkg/resmap"
+	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/pkg/resource"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/pkg/transformers/config"
 )
 
@@ -26,12 +28,13 @@ type namespaceTransformer struct {
 	namespace        string
 	fieldSpecsToUse  []config.FieldSpec
 	fieldSpecsToSkip []config.FieldSpec
+	factory          *resource.Factory
 }
 
 var _ Transformer = &namespaceTransformer{}
 
 // NewNamespaceTransformer construct a namespaceTransformer.
-func NewNamespaceTransformer(ns string, cf []config.FieldSpec) Transformer {
+func NewNamespaceTransformer(ns string, cf []config.FieldSpec, f *resource.Factory) Transformer {
 	if len(ns) == 0 {
 		return NewNoOpTransformer()
 	}
@@ -43,11 +46,13 @@ func NewNamespaceTransformer(ns string, cf []config.FieldSpec) Transformer {
 		namespace:        ns,
 		fieldSpecsToUse:  cf,
 		fieldSpecsToSkip: skip,
+		factory:          f,
 	}
 }
 
 // Transform adds the namespace.
 func (o *namespaceTransformer) Transform(m resmap.ResMap) error {
+	o.createNamespaceIfNotFound(m)
 	mf := resmap.ResMap{}
 
 	for id := range m {
@@ -119,3 +124,22 @@ func (o *namespaceTransformer) updateClusterRoleBinding(m resmap.ResMap) {
 		objMap["subjects"] = subjects
 	}
 }
+
+func (o *namespaceTransformer) createNamespaceIfNotFound(m resmap.ResMap) {
+	id := resid.NewResId(gvk.Gvk{
+		Version: "v1",
+		Kind:    "Namespace",
+	}, o.namespace)
+	ids := m.FindByGVKN(id)
+	if len(ids) == 0 {
+		m[id] = o.factory.FromMap(
+			map[string]interface{}{
+				"apiVersion": "v1",
+				"kind":       "Namespace",
+				"metadata": map[string]interface{}{
+					"name": o.namespace,
+				},
+			},
+		)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/pkg/transformers/namespace_test.go b/pkg/transformers/namespace_test.go
index 7b63e0dcc..6f73cdae5 100644
--- a/pkg/transformers/namespace_test.go
+++ b/pkg/transformers/namespace_test.go
@@ -47,12 +47,12 @@ func TestNamespaceRun(t *testing.T) {
 					"namespace": "foo",
 				},
 			}),
-		resid.NewResId(ns, "ns1"): rf.FromMap(
+		resid.NewResId(ns, "test"): rf.FromMap(
 			map[string]interface{}{
 				"apiVersion": "v1",
 				"kind":       "Namespace",
 				"metadata": map[string]interface{}{
-					"name": "ns1",
+					"name": "test",
 				},
 			}),
 		resid.NewResId(sa, "default"): rf.FromMap(
@@ -108,12 +108,12 @@ func TestNamespaceRun(t *testing.T) {
 			}),
 	}
 	expected := resmap.ResMap{
-		resid.NewResIdWithPrefixNamespace(ns, "ns1", "", ""): rf.FromMap(
+		resid.NewResIdWithPrefixNamespace(ns, "test", "", ""): rf.FromMap(
 			map[string]interface{}{
 				"apiVersion": "v1",
 				"kind":       "Namespace",
 				"metadata": map[string]interface{}{
-					"name": "ns1",
+					"name": "test",
 				},
 			}),
 		resid.NewResIdWithPrefixNamespace(cmap, "cm1", "", "test"): rf.FromMap(
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ func TestNamespaceRun(t *testing.T) {
 			}),
 	}
 
-	nst := NewNamespaceTransformer("test", defaultTransformerConfig.NameSpace)
+	nst := NewNamespaceTransformer("test", defaultTransformerConfig.NameSpace, rf)
 	err := nst.Transform(m)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected error: %v", err)
@@ -243,7 +243,7 @@ func TestNamespaceRunForClusterLevelKind(t *testing.T) {
 
 	expected := m.DeepCopy(rf)
 
-	nst := NewNamespaceTransformer("test", defaultTransformerConfig.NameSpace)
+	nst := NewNamespaceTransformer("ns1", defaultTransformerConfig.NameSpace, rf)
 
 	err := nst.Transform(m)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -254,3 +254,30 @@ func TestNamespaceRunForClusterLevelKind(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("actual doesn't match expected: %v", err)
 	}
 }
+
+func TestNamespaceNotFound(t *testing.T) {
+	rf := resource.NewFactory(
+		kunstruct.NewKunstructuredFactoryImpl())
+
+	m := resmap.ResMap{}
+	expected := resmap.ResMap{
+		resid.NewResId(ns, "test"): rf.FromMap(
+			map[string]interface{}{
+				"apiVersion": "v1",
+				"kind":       "Namespace",
+				"metadata": map[string]interface{}{
+					"name": "test",
+				},
+			}),
+	}
+
+	nst := NewNamespaceTransformer("test", defaultTransformerConfig.NameSpace, rf)
+	err := nst.Transform(m)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected error: %v", err)
+	}
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(m, expected) {
+		err = expected.ErrorIfNotEqual(m)
+		t.Fatalf("actual doesn't match expected: %v", err)
+	}
+}