diff --git a/frappe/core/doctype/doctype/doctype.py b/frappe/core/doctype/doctype/doctype.py
index 5c558f3bd6..5a148c826f 100644
--- a/frappe/core/doctype/doctype/doctype.py
+++ b/frappe/core/doctype/doctype/doctype.py
@@ -634,13 +634,15 @@ class DocType(Document):
 		if not name:
 			name = self.name
 
+		flags = {"flags": re.ASCII} if six.PY3 else {}
+
+		# a DocType name should not start or end with an empty space
+		if re.match("^[ \t\n\r]+|[ \t\n\r]+$", name, **flags):
+			frappe.throw(_("DocType's name should not start or end with whitespace"), frappe.NameError)
+
 		# a DocType's name should not start with a number or underscore
 		# and should only contain letters, numbers and underscore
-		if six.PY2:
-			is_a_valid_name = re.match("^(?![\W])[^\d_\s][\w ]+$", name)
-		else:
-			is_a_valid_name = re.match("^(?![\W])[^\d_\s][\w ]+$", name, flags = re.ASCII)
-		if not is_a_valid_name:
+		if not re.match("^(?![\W])[^\d_\s][\w ]+$", name, **flags):
 			frappe.throw(_("DocType's name should start with a letter and it can only consist of letters, numbers, spaces and underscores"), frappe.NameError)