diff --git a/src/dict/mdx.cc b/src/dict/mdx.cc
index 874b73245..11b6a7dbd 100644
--- a/src/dict/mdx.cc
+++ b/src/dict/mdx.cc
@@ -317,6 +317,12 @@ MdxDictionary::MdxDictionary( string const & id, string const & indexFile, vecto
     dictionaryName = string( &buf.front(), len );
   }
 
+  //fallback, use filename as dictionary name
+  if ( dictionaryName.empty() ) {
+    QFileInfo f( QString::fromUtf8( dictionaryFiles[ 0 ].c_str() ) );
+    dictionaryName = f.baseName().toStdString();
+  }
+
   // then read the dictionary's encoding
   len = idx.read< uint32_t >();
   if ( len > 0 ) {