diff --git a/builtin/symbolic-ref.c b/builtin/symbolic-ref.c
index 9c29a64e43..96eed94468 100644
--- a/builtin/symbolic-ref.c
+++ b/builtin/symbolic-ref.c
@@ -56,6 +56,8 @@ int cmd_symbolic_ref(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		ret = check_symref(argv[0], 1, 0, 0);
 		if (ret)
 			die("Cannot delete %s, not a symbolic ref", argv[0]);
+		if (!strcmp(argv[0], "HEAD"))
+			die("deleting '%s' is not allowed", argv[0]);
 		return delete_ref(argv[0], NULL, REF_NODEREF);
 	}
 
diff --git a/t/t1401-symbolic-ref.sh b/t/t1401-symbolic-ref.sh
index ca3fa406c3..eec3e90f9c 100755
--- a/t/t1401-symbolic-ref.sh
+++ b/t/t1401-symbolic-ref.sh
@@ -33,18 +33,25 @@ test_expect_success 'symbolic-ref refuses bare sha1' '
 '
 reset_to_sane
 
-test_expect_success 'symbolic-ref deletes HEAD' '
-	git symbolic-ref -d HEAD &&
+test_expect_success 'HEAD cannot be removed' '
+	test_must_fail git symbolic-ref -d HEAD
+'
+
+reset_to_sane
+
+test_expect_success 'symbolic-ref can be deleted' '
+	git symbolic-ref NOTHEAD refs/heads/foo &&
+	git symbolic-ref -d NOTHEAD &&
 	test_path_is_file .git/refs/heads/foo &&
-	test_path_is_missing .git/HEAD
+	test_path_is_missing .git/NOTHEAD
 '
 reset_to_sane
 
-test_expect_success 'symbolic-ref deletes dangling HEAD' '
-	git symbolic-ref HEAD refs/heads/missing &&
-	git symbolic-ref -d HEAD &&
+test_expect_success 'symbolic-ref can delete dangling symref' '
+	git symbolic-ref NOTHEAD refs/heads/missing &&
+	git symbolic-ref -d NOTHEAD &&
 	test_path_is_missing .git/refs/heads/missing &&
-	test_path_is_missing .git/HEAD
+	test_path_is_missing .git/NOTHEAD
 '
 reset_to_sane