diff --git a/lang/java/avro/src/main/java/org/apache/avro/Schema.java b/lang/java/avro/src/main/java/org/apache/avro/Schema.java
index f312ecfb6f2..5e62bd1100b 100644
--- a/lang/java/avro/src/main/java/org/apache/avro/Schema.java
+++ b/lang/java/avro/src/main/java/org/apache/avro/Schema.java
@@ -1497,7 +1497,7 @@ public Parser() {
     }
 
     public Parser(final NameValidator validate) {
-      this.validate = validate;
+      this.validate = validate != null ? validate : NameValidator.NO_VALIDATION;
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/lang/java/avro/src/test/java/org/apache/avro/TestSchema.java b/lang/java/avro/src/test/java/org/apache/avro/TestSchema.java
index 805f2b80b2a..41f0474c9da 100644
--- a/lang/java/avro/src/test/java/org/apache/avro/TestSchema.java
+++ b/lang/java/avro/src/test/java/org/apache/avro/TestSchema.java
@@ -621,4 +621,13 @@ void add_types() {
     assertNotNull(f1);
     assertEquals(schemaRecord1, f1.schema());
   }
+
+  /**
+   * Tests the behavior of Schema.Parser if its validation option is set to
+   * `null`. This is then set to the default option `NO_VALIDATION`.
+   */
+  @Test
+  void testParserNullValidate() {
+    new Schema.Parser(null).parse("{\"type\":\"record\",\"name\":\"\",\"fields\":[]}"); // Empty name
+  }
 }