diff --git a/django/db/models/fields/related.py b/django/db/models/fields/related.py
index ef3de8f139f..67bf3b88dc7 100644
--- a/django/db/models/fields/related.py
+++ b/django/db/models/fields/related.py
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ class RelatedField(Field):
         import re
         import keyword
         related_name = self.remote_field.related_name
-        if not related_name:
+        if related_name is None:
             return []
         is_valid_id = True
         if keyword.iskeyword(related_name):
diff --git a/django/db/models/fields/reverse_related.py b/django/db/models/fields/reverse_related.py
index 015fa02165c..304e688d5aa 100644
--- a/django/db/models/fields/reverse_related.py
+++ b/django/db/models/fields/reverse_related.py
@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ class ForeignObjectRel(object):
 
     def is_hidden(self):
         "Should the related object be hidden?"
-        return self.related_name is not None and self.related_name[-1] == '+'
+        return bool(self.related_name) and self.related_name[-1] == '+'
 
     def get_joining_columns(self):
         return self.field.get_reverse_joining_columns()
diff --git a/tests/invalid_models_tests/test_relative_fields.py b/tests/invalid_models_tests/test_relative_fields.py
index 3ba95fdbe41..bfdd2b7d7af 100644
--- a/tests/invalid_models_tests/test_relative_fields.py
+++ b/tests/invalid_models_tests/test_relative_fields.py
@@ -662,6 +662,7 @@ class RelativeFieldTests(IsolatedModelsTestCase):
             'ends_with_whitespace_%s' % whitespace,
             'with',  # a Python keyword
             'related_name\n',
+            '',
         ]
         # Python 2 crashes on non-ASCII strings.
         if six.PY3: