Bad value “” for attribute “name” on element “form”: Must not be empty.

The HTML specification requires that if the name attribute is used on a <form> element, its value must be a non-empty string. An empty name="" attribute serves no practical purpose — it doesn’t register the form in the document.forms named collection, and it can’t be used as a valid reference in scripts. The W3C validator flags this as an error because it violates the content model defined in the WHATWG HTML Living Standard.

The name attribute on a form is primarily used to access the form programmatically through document.forms["formName"]. When the value is empty, this lookup mechanism doesn’t work, so the attribute becomes meaningless. This is different from the id attribute, which also identifies elements but participates in fragment navigation and CSS targeting. The name attribute on <form> is specifically for the legacy document.forms named getter interface.

It’s worth noting that the name attribute value on a form must not equal an empty string, and it should be unique among the form elements in the forms collection. While duplicate names won’t cause a validation error, they can lead to unexpected behavior when accessing forms by name in JavaScript.

How to fix

You have two options:

1. Remove the attribute entirely. If you’re not referencing the form by name in JavaScript, the name attribute is unnecessary. You can use id instead for CSS or JavaScript targeting.
2. Provide a meaningful, non-empty value. If you need to reference the form through document.forms, give it a descriptive name that reflects its purpose.

Examples

❌ Invalid: empty name attribute

<form name="">
  <label for="email">Email</label>
  <input type="email" id="email" name="email">
  <button type="submit">Subscribe</button>
</form>

This triggers the validator error because the name attribute is present but has an empty string value.

✅ Fixed: attribute removed

<form>
  <label for="email">Email</label>
  <input type="email" id="email" name="email">
  <button type="submit">Subscribe</button>
</form>

If you don’t need to reference the form by name, simply remove the attribute.

✅ Fixed: meaningful name provided

<form name="subscriptionForm">
  <label for="email">Email</label>
  <input type="email" id="email" name="email">
  <button type="submit">Subscribe</button>
</form>

With a non-empty name, you can now access the form in JavaScript using document.forms["subscriptionForm"] or document.forms.subscriptionForm.

✅ Alternative: using id instead

<form id="subscription-form">
  <label for="email">Email</label>
  <input type="email" id="email" name="email">
  <button type="submit">Subscribe</button>
</form>

In modern development, using id with document.getElementById() or document.querySelector() is often preferred over the name attribute for form identification. The name attribute on <form> is a legacy feature that remains valid but isn’t required for most use cases.

Learn more:

MDN Reference

MDN Web Docs: form name

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MDN Reference

HTML form element - name attribute

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WHATWG Spec

WHATWG HTML Standard - Forms

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web.dev Article

Learn HTML: Forms

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