diff --git a/packages/nx/src/config/workspaces.ts b/packages/nx/src/config/workspaces.ts
index 0ba9c4f2a7767..804ea4028c33e 100644
--- a/packages/nx/src/config/workspaces.ts
+++ b/packages/nx/src/config/workspaces.ts
@@ -762,6 +762,13 @@ function buildProjectConfigurationFromPackageJson(
 ): ProjectConfiguration & { name: string } {
   const normalizedPath = path.split('\\').join('/');
   const directory = dirname(normalizedPath);
+
+  if (!packageJson.name && directory === '.') {
+    throw new Error(
+      'Nx requires the root package.json to specify a name if it is being used as an Nx project.'
+    );
+  }
+
   let name = packageJson.name ?? toProjectName(normalizedPath);
   if (nxJson?.npmScope) {
     const npmPrefix = `@${nxJson.npmScope}/`;