diff --git a/src/bin/pg_basebackup/streamutil.c b/src/bin/pg_basebackup/streamutil.c
index 30b3d9a377..d074b5ddd7 100644
--- a/src/bin/pg_basebackup/streamutil.c
+++ b/src/bin/pg_basebackup/streamutil.c
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ GetConnection(void)
 		keywords = pg_malloc0((argcount + 1) * sizeof(*keywords));
 		values = pg_malloc0((argcount + 1) * sizeof(*values));
 		keywords[i] = "dbname";
-		values[i] = dbname;
+		values[i] = (dbname == NULL) ? "replication" : dbname;
 		i++;
 	}