diff --git a/libnm-core/nm-utils.c b/libnm-core/nm-utils.c
index 17ecafed72..9358b90ebb 100644
--- a/libnm-core/nm-utils.c
+++ b/libnm-core/nm-utils.c
@@ -3737,8 +3737,11 @@ _nm_utils_generate_mac_address_mask_parse (const char *value,
 /*****************************************************************************/
 
 /**
- * nm_utils_iface_valid_name:
+ * nm_utils_is_valid_iface_name:
  * @name: Name of interface
+ * @error: location to store the error occurring, or %NULL to ignore
+ *
+ * Validate the network interface name.
  *
  * This function is a 1:1 copy of the kernel's interface validation
  * function in net/core/dev.c.
@@ -3746,28 +3749,54 @@ _nm_utils_generate_mac_address_mask_parse (const char *value,
  * Returns: %TRUE if interface name is valid, otherwise %FALSE is returned.
  */
 gboolean
-nm_utils_iface_valid_name (const char *name)
+nm_utils_is_valid_iface_name (const char *name, GError **error)
 {
 	g_return_val_if_fail (name != NULL, FALSE);
 
-	if (*name == '\0')
+	if (*name == '\0') {
+		g_set_error_literal (error, NM_UTILS_ERROR, NM_UTILS_ERROR_UNKNOWN,
+		                     _("interface name is too short"));
 		return FALSE;
+	}
 
-	if (strlen (name) >= 16)
+	if (strlen (name) >= 16) {
+		g_set_error_literal (error, NM_UTILS_ERROR, NM_UTILS_ERROR_UNKNOWN,
+		                     _("interface name is longer than 15 characters"));
 		return FALSE;
+	}
 
-	if (!strcmp (name, ".") || !strcmp (name, ".."))
+	if (!strcmp (name, ".") || !strcmp (name, "..")) {
+		g_set_error_literal (error, NM_UTILS_ERROR, NM_UTILS_ERROR_UNKNOWN,
+		                     _("interface name is reserved"));
 		return FALSE;
+	}
 
 	while (*name) {
-		if (*name == '/' || g_ascii_isspace (*name))
+		if (*name == '/' || g_ascii_isspace (*name)) {
+			g_set_error_literal (error, NM_UTILS_ERROR, NM_UTILS_ERROR_UNKNOWN,
+			                     _("interface name contains an invalid character"));
 			return FALSE;
+		}
 		name++;
 	}
 
 	return TRUE;
 }
 
+/**
+ * nm_utils_iface_valid_name:
+ * @name: Name of interface
+ *
+ * Validate the network interface name.
+ *
+ * Returns: %TRUE if interface name is valid, otherwise %FALSE is returned.
+ */
+gboolean
+nm_utils_iface_valid_name (const char *name)
+{
+	return nm_utils_is_valid_iface_name (name, NULL);
+}
+
 /**
  * nm_utils_is_uuid:
  * @str: a string that might be a UUID
diff --git a/libnm-core/nm-utils.h b/libnm-core/nm-utils.h
index dfffb33506..b322dda890 100644
--- a/libnm-core/nm-utils.h
+++ b/libnm-core/nm-utils.h
@@ -177,7 +177,9 @@ gboolean    nm_utils_hwaddr_matches   (gconstpointer hwaddr1,
 char *nm_utils_bin2hexstr (gconstpointer src, gsize len, int final_len);
 GBytes *nm_utils_hexstr2bin (const char *hex);
 
-gboolean    nm_utils_iface_valid_name(const char *name);
+gboolean    nm_utils_iface_valid_name (const char *name);
+NM_AVAILABLE_IN_1_6
+gboolean    nm_utils_is_valid_iface_name (const char *name, GError **error);
 
 gboolean nm_utils_is_uuid (const char *str);
 
diff --git a/libnm/libnm.ver b/libnm/libnm.ver
index aaafe536e3..309c4b82d8 100644
--- a/libnm/libnm.ver
+++ b/libnm/libnm.ver
@@ -1108,4 +1108,5 @@ global:
 	nm_setting_proxy_get_pac_script;
 	nm_utils_is_json_object;
 	nm_utils_version;
+	nm_utils_is_valid_iface_name;
 } libnm_1_4_0;