diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 2ebf1ed1..4b6db737 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@
 
 * `orchard.namespace` functionality is now parallelized when possible.
 
+### Bugs Fixed
+
+* [#123](https://github.com/clojure-emacs/orchard/pull/123): Fix info lookups from namespaces that don't yet exist
+
 ## 0.7.1 (2021-04-18)
 
 ### Bugs Fixed
diff --git a/src/orchard/info.clj b/src/orchard/info.clj
index 3ce6d09e..e02dec39 100644
--- a/src/orchard/info.clj
+++ b/src/orchard/info.clj
@@ -63,30 +63,34 @@
 
 (defn clj-meta
   {:added "0.5"}
-  [{:keys [dialect ns sym computed-ns unqualified-sym]}]
+  [{:keys [dialect ns sym computed-ns unqualified-sym] :as opts}]
   {:pre [(= dialect :clj)]}
   (let [ns (or ns computed-ns)]
-    (or
-     ;; it's a special (special-symbol?)
-     (m/special-sym-meta sym)
-     ;; it's a var
-     (some-> ns (m/resolve-var sym) (m/var-meta))
-     ;; it's a Java constructor/static member symbol
-     (some-> ns (java/resolve-symbol sym))
-     ;; it's an unqualified sym maybe referred
-     (some-> ns (m/resolve-var unqualified-sym) (m/var-meta))
-     ;; it's a Java class/record type symbol
-     (some-> ns (java/resolve-type unqualified-sym))
-     ;; it's an alias for another ns
-     (some-> ns (m/resolve-aliases) (get sym) (m/ns-meta))
-     ;; We use :unqualified-sym *exclusively* here because because our :ns is
-     ;; too ambiguous.
-     ;;
-     ;; Observe the incorrect behavior (should return nil, there is a test):
-     ;;
-     ;;   (info '{:ns clojure.core :sym non-existing}) ;;=> {:author "Rich Hickey" :ns clojure.core ...}
-     ;;
-     (some-> (find-ns unqualified-sym) (m/ns-meta)))))
+    (if-not (and ns (find-ns ns))
+      ;; Lookups in files whose namespaces don't exist yet should still be able
+      ;; to resolve built-ins and fully-qualified syms
+      (recur (assoc opts :ns 'clojure.core))
+      (or
+       ;; it's a special (special-symbol?)
+       (m/special-sym-meta sym)
+       ;; it's a var
+       (some-> ns (m/resolve-var sym) (m/var-meta))
+       ;; it's a Java constructor/static member symbol
+       (some-> ns (java/resolve-symbol sym))
+       ;; it's an unqualified sym maybe referred
+       (some-> ns (m/resolve-var unqualified-sym) (m/var-meta))
+       ;; it's a Java class/record type symbol
+       (some-> ns (java/resolve-type unqualified-sym))
+       ;; it's an alias for another ns
+       (some-> ns (m/resolve-aliases) (get sym) (m/ns-meta))
+       ;; We use :unqualified-sym *exclusively* here because because our :ns is
+       ;; too ambiguous.
+       ;;
+       ;; Observe the incorrect behavior (should return nil, there is a test):
+       ;;
+       ;;   (info '{:ns clojure.core :sym non-existing}) ;;=> {:author "Rich Hickey" :ns clojure.core ...}
+       ;;
+       (some-> (find-ns unqualified-sym) (m/ns-meta))))))
 
 (defn cljs-meta
   {:added "0.5"}
diff --git a/test/orchard/info_test.clj b/test/orchard/info_test.clj
index c36b92c1..25e7d3a7 100644
--- a/test/orchard/info_test.clj
+++ b/test/orchard/info_test.clj
@@ -467,6 +467,22 @@
                :returns int}))
       (is (re-find #"Returns the greater of two" (:doc i))))))
 
+(deftest info-undefined-namespace-test
+  (testing "Fully qualified sym can still be resolved"
+    (is (= '{:added "1.2"
+             :ns clojure.string
+             :name upper-case
+             :file "clojure/string.clj"}
+           (select-keys (info/info* {:ns 'gibberish :sym 'clojure.string/upper-case})
+                        [:added :ns :name :file]))))
+  (testing "clojure.core syms can still be resolved"
+    (is (= '{:added "1.0"
+             :ns clojure.core
+             :name merge
+             :file "clojure/core.clj"}
+           (select-keys (info/info* {:ns 'gibberish :sym 'merge})
+                        [:added :ns :name :file])))))
+
 (deftest javadoc-info-unit-test
   (testing "Get an HTTP URL for a Sun/Oracle Javadoc"
     (testing "Javadoc 1.7 format"