diff --git a/django/db/utils.py b/django/db/utils.py
index e5c4b8371b..20314495e4 100644
--- a/django/db/utils.py
+++ b/django/db/utils.py
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ def load_backend(backend_name):
         try:
             builtin_backends = [
                 name for _, name, ispkg in pkgutil.iter_modules([backend_dir])
-                if ispkg and name != 'dummy']
+                if ispkg and name not in {'base', 'dummy'}]
         except EnvironmentError:
             builtin_backends = []
         if backend_name not in ['django.db.backends.%s' % b for b in
diff --git a/tests/backends/test_utils.py b/tests/backends/test_utils.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..40a9c7b59c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/backends/test_utils.py
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+from django.core.exceptions import ImproperlyConfigured
+from django.db.utils import load_backend
+from django.test import SimpleTestCase
+from django.test.utils import str_prefix
+from django.utils import six
+
+
+class TestLoadBackend(SimpleTestCase):
+    def test_load_backend_invalid_name(self):
+        msg = str_prefix(
+            "'foo' isn't an available database backend.\n"
+            "Try using 'django.db.backends.XXX', where XXX is one of:\n"
+            "    %(_)s'mysql', %(_)s'oracle', %(_)s'postgresql_psycopg2', %(_)s'sqlite3'\n"
+            "Error was: No module named %%s"
+        ) % "foo.base" if six.PY2 else "'foo'"
+        with self.assertRaisesMessage(ImproperlyConfigured, msg):
+            load_backend('foo')