diff --git a/api/builtins/PatchTransformer.go b/api/builtins/PatchTransformer.go
index fe0eb050c..865d2b73f 100644
--- a/api/builtins/PatchTransformer.go
+++ b/api/builtins/PatchTransformer.go
@@ -143,8 +143,10 @@ func (p *PatchTransformerPlugin) applySMPatch(resource, patch *resource.Resource
 	err = filtersutil.ApplyToJSON(patchstrategicmerge.Filter{
 		Patch: node,
 	}, resource)
-	resource.SetName(n)
-	resource.SetNamespace(ns)
+	if resource.GetName() != "" {
+		resource.SetName(n)
+		resource.SetNamespace(ns)
+	}
 	return err
 }
 
diff --git a/plugin/builtin/patchtransformer/PatchTransformer.go b/plugin/builtin/patchtransformer/PatchTransformer.go
index 9b2a00469..9d7b1e1a5 100644
--- a/plugin/builtin/patchtransformer/PatchTransformer.go
+++ b/plugin/builtin/patchtransformer/PatchTransformer.go
@@ -147,8 +147,10 @@ func (p *plugin) applySMPatch(resource, patch *resource.Resource) error {
 	err = filtersutil.ApplyToJSON(patchstrategicmerge.Filter{
 		Patch: node,
 	}, resource)
-	resource.SetName(n)
-	resource.SetNamespace(ns)
+	if resource.GetName() != "" {
+		resource.SetName(n)
+		resource.SetNamespace(ns)
+	}
 	return err
 }