diff --git a/stdlib/REPL/src/Pkg_beforeload.jl b/stdlib/REPL/src/Pkg_beforeload.jl
index 78b76374cf580..56c4e2562f7e6 100644
--- a/stdlib/REPL/src/Pkg_beforeload.jl
+++ b/stdlib/REPL/src/Pkg_beforeload.jl
@@ -69,10 +69,18 @@ function relative_project_path(project_file::String, path::String)
 end
 
 function projname(project_file::String)
-    p = Base.TOML.Parser()
-    Base.TOML.reinit!(p, read(project_file, String); filepath=project_file)
-    proj = Base.TOML.parse(p)
-    name = get(proj, "name", nothing)
+    if isfile(project_file)
+        name = try
+            p = Base.TOML.Parser()
+            Base.TOML.reinit!(p, read(project_file, String); filepath=project_file)
+            proj = Base.TOML.parse(p)
+            get(proj, "name", nothing)
+        catch
+            nothing
+        end
+    else
+        name = nothing
+    end
     if name === nothing
         name = basename(dirname(project_file))
     end
diff --git a/stdlib/REPL/test/repl.jl b/stdlib/REPL/test/repl.jl
index b3a62dbdb4ee5..4de053695e049 100644
--- a/stdlib/REPL/test/repl.jl
+++ b/stdlib/REPL/test/repl.jl
@@ -1836,3 +1836,25 @@ end
     @test_broken isempty(undoc)
     @test undoc == [:AbstractREPL, :BasicREPL, :LineEditREPL, :StreamREPL]
 end
+
+@testset "Dummy Pkg prompt" begin
+    # do this in an empty depot to test default for new users
+    withenv("JULIA_DEPOT_PATH" => mktempdir(), "JULIA_LOAD_PATH" => nothing) do
+        prompt = readchomp(`$(Base.julia_cmd()[1]) --startup-file=no -e "using REPL; print(REPL.Pkg_promptf())"`)
+        @test prompt == "(@v$(VERSION.major).$(VERSION.minor)) pkg> "
+    end
+
+    get_prompt(proj::String) = readchomp(`$(Base.julia_cmd()[1]) --startup-file=no $(proj) -e "using REPL; print(REPL.Pkg_promptf())"`)
+
+    @test get_prompt("--project=$(pkgdir(REPL))") == "(REPL) pkg> "
+
+    tdir = mkpath(joinpath(mktempdir(), "foo"))
+    @test get_prompt("--project=$tdir") == "(foo) pkg> "
+
+    proj_file = joinpath(tdir, "Project.toml")
+    touch(proj_file) # make a bad Project.toml
+    @test get_prompt("--project=$proj_file") == "(foo) pkg> "
+
+    write(proj_file, "name = \"Bar\"\n")
+    @test get_prompt("--project=$proj_file") == "(Bar) pkg> "
+end