diff --git a/Source/cmFindBase.cxx b/Source/cmFindBase.cxx
index 191d7bb1bc..cdc5f63216 100644
--- a/Source/cmFindBase.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmFindBase.cxx
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ bool cmFindBase::ParseArguments(std::vector<std::string> const& argsIn)
 
   // look for old style
   // FIND_*(VAR name path1 path2 ...)
-  if (!newStyle) {
+  if (!newStyle && !this->Names.empty()) {
     // All the short-hand arguments have been recorded as names.
     std::vector<std::string> shortArgs = this->Names;
     this->Names.clear(); // clear out any values in Names
diff --git a/Tests/RunCMake/find_path/EmptyOldStyle-stdout.txt b/Tests/RunCMake/find_path/EmptyOldStyle-stdout.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8f21eb85c6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Tests/RunCMake/find_path/EmptyOldStyle-stdout.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+-- VAR-NOTFOUND
diff --git a/Tests/RunCMake/find_path/EmptyOldStyle.cmake b/Tests/RunCMake/find_path/EmptyOldStyle.cmake
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d78bb65e03
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Tests/RunCMake/find_path/EmptyOldStyle.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+find_path(VAR ONLY_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH)
+message(STATUS "${VAR}")
diff --git a/Tests/RunCMake/find_path/RunCMakeTest.cmake b/Tests/RunCMake/find_path/RunCMakeTest.cmake
index 8b5b5b7d85..ed55f51077 100644
--- a/Tests/RunCMake/find_path/RunCMakeTest.cmake
+++ b/Tests/RunCMake/find_path/RunCMakeTest.cmake
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 include(RunCMake)
 
+run_cmake(EmptyOldStyle)
 run_cmake(FromPATHEnv)
 run_cmake(PrefixInPATH)