diff --git a/src/gui/gui-nicklist.c b/src/gui/gui-nicklist.c
index b1e1abe2d..2432cb049 100644
--- a/src/gui/gui-nicklist.c
+++ b/src/gui/gui-nicklist.c
@@ -803,6 +803,9 @@ gui_nicklist_get_group_start (const char *name)
 {
     const char *ptr_name;
 
+    if (!name)
+        return NULL;
+
     ptr_name = name;
     while (isdigit ((unsigned char)ptr_name[0]))
     {