diff --git a/oak-core/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/name/NamespaceEditor.java b/oak-core/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/name/NamespaceEditor.java
index 886c303549..4f609dacf9 100644
--- a/oak-core/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/name/NamespaceEditor.java
+++ b/oak-core/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/name/NamespaceEditor.java
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ class NamespaceEditor extends DefaultEditor {
                 throw new CommitFailedException(
                         CommitFailedException.NAMESPACE, 2,
                         "Invalid namespace mapping: " + prefix);
-            } else if (prefix.toLowerCase(Locale.ENGLISH).startsWith("xml")) {
+            } else if (prefix.toLowerCase(Locale.ENGLISH).startsWith("xml") && namespaces.hasProperty("xml")) {
                 throw new CommitFailedException(
                         CommitFailedException.NAMESPACE, 3,
                         "XML prefixes are reserved: " + prefix);
diff --git a/oak-it/src/test/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/name/ReadWriteNamespaceRegistryTest.java b/oak-it/src/test/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/name/ReadWriteNamespaceRegistryTest.java
index 48fdedf8da..5bb52c081c 100644
--- a/oak-it/src/test/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/name/ReadWriteNamespaceRegistryTest.java
+++ b/oak-it/src/test/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/name/ReadWriteNamespaceRegistryTest.java
@@ -25,8 +25,13 @@ import org.apache.jackrabbit.oak.OakBaseTest;
 import org.apache.jackrabbit.oak.api.ContentSession;
 import org.apache.jackrabbit.oak.api.Root;
 import org.apache.jackrabbit.oak.fixture.NodeStoreFixture;
+import org.apache.jackrabbit.oak.plugins.memory.MemoryNodeStore;
 import org.apache.jackrabbit.oak.InitialContent;
+import org.apache.jackrabbit.oak.spi.commit.CommitInfo;
+import org.apache.jackrabbit.oak.spi.commit.EditorHook;
 import org.apache.jackrabbit.oak.spi.security.OpenSecurityProvider;
+import org.apache.jackrabbit.oak.spi.state.NodeBuilder;
+import org.apache.jackrabbit.oak.spi.state.NodeStore;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
 public class ReadWriteNamespaceRegistryTest extends OakBaseTest {
@@ -78,4 +83,14 @@ public class ReadWriteNamespaceRegistryTest extends OakBaseTest {
         assertEquals(r.getPrefix("n2"), "p2");
 
     }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testBootstrapXmlNs() throws Exception {
+        NodeStore store = new MemoryNodeStore();
+        EditorHook hook = new EditorHook(new NamespaceEditorProvider());
+
+        NodeBuilder builder = store.getRoot().builder();
+        new InitialContent().initialize(builder);
+        store.merge(builder, hook, CommitInfo.EMPTY);
+    }
 }