diff --git a/doc/manual/rl-next/empty-attr-paths.md b/doc/manual/rl-next/empty-attr-paths.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..726c61f41
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/rl-next/empty-attr-paths.md
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+---
+synopsis: "libexpr: allow empty attr-names in parseAttrPath if they are quoted"
+cls: [5375]
+category: "Miscellany"
+credits: [ma27]
+---
+
+Empty strings are now allowed in attribute paths as consumed by e.g. `nix-build`.
+I.e. `nix-build -A 'foo."".bar'` works now.
+The quotes are necessary, i.e. `nix-build -A foo..bar` will throw an error.
diff --git a/lix/libexpr/attr-path.cc b/lix/libexpr/attr-path.cc
index 9051123d9..67aa78260 100644
--- a/lix/libexpr/attr-path.cc
+++ b/lix/libexpr/attr-path.cc
@@ -16,6 +16,22 @@ std::vector<std::string> parseAttrPath(std::string_view const s)
     auto i = s.begin();
     while (i != s.end()) {
         if (*i == '.') {
+            if (!haveData) {
+                if (res.empty()) {
+                    throw ParseError(
+                        "Leading dot in attribute selection path '%1%' is not allowed! If the attribute name "
+                        "is an empty string, use '\"\".foo.bar'",
+                        s
+                    );
+                } else {
+                    throw ParseError(
+                        "consecutive dots not allowed in selection path '%1%', use 'foo.\"\".bar' to denote "
+                        "an "
+                        "empty attribute name",
+                        s
+                    );
+                }
+            }
             res.push_back(cur);
             haveData = false;
             cur.clear();
@@ -90,9 +106,6 @@ findAlongAttrPath(EvalState & state, const std::string & attrPath, Bindings & au
            according to what is specified in the attrPath. */
 
         if (!attrIndex) {
-            if (attr.empty())
-                throw Error("empty attribute name in selection path '%1%'", attrPath);
-
             if (v.type() != nAttrs) {
                 auto pathPart =
                     std::vector<std::string>(tokens.begin(), tokens.begin() + attrPathIdx);
diff --git a/tests/functional2/eval/test_attr_paths.py b/tests/functional2/eval/test_attr_paths.py
index c3197c7c9..5b5923fa7 100644
--- a/tests/functional2/eval/test_attr_paths.py
+++ b/tests/functional2/eval/test_attr_paths.py
@@ -23,12 +23,15 @@ ERR_CASES: list[ShouldError] = [
         "1",
         """error: the expression selected by the selection path '1' should be a list but is a set: { }""",
     ),
-    ShouldError("{}", ".", """error: empty attribute name in selection path '.'"""),
     ShouldError(
-        '{ x."" = 2; }', 'x.""', """error: empty attribute name in selection path 'x.""'"""
+        "{}",
+        ".",
+        """error: Leading dot in attribute selection path '.' is not allowed! If the attribute name is an empty string, use '\"\".foo.bar'""",
     ),
     ShouldError(
-        '{ x."".y = 2; }', 'x."".y', """error: empty attribute name in selection path 'x."".y'"""
+        "{}",
+        "bla..blub",
+        """error: consecutive dots not allowed in selection path 'bla..blub', use 'foo."".bar' to denote an empty attribute name""",
     ),
     ShouldError(
         "[]", "1", """error: list index 1 in selection path '1' is out of range for list [ ]"""
diff --git a/tests/unit/libexpr/attr-path.cc b/tests/unit/libexpr/attr-path.cc
index 1c0d3f8fe..94487bd85 100644
--- a/tests/unit/libexpr/attr-path.cc
+++ b/tests/unit/libexpr/attr-path.cc
@@ -38,12 +38,56 @@ std::pair<Value, PosIdx> AttrPathEval::testFindAlongAttrPath(std::string expr, s
 
 // n.b. I do not know why we throw for empty attrs but they are apparently
 // disallowed.
-TEST_F(AttrPathEval, emptyAttrsThrows)
+TEST_F(AttrPathEval, emptyAttrsThrowsWithoutQuotes)
 {
     std::string expr = "{a.\"\".b = 2;}";
     ASSERT_NO_THROW(testFindAlongAttrPath(expr, "a"));
-    ASSERT_THROW(testFindAlongAttrPath(expr, "a.\"\".b"), Error);
-    ASSERT_THROW(testFindAlongAttrPath(expr, "a.\"\""), Error);
+    ASSERT_NO_THROW(testFindAlongAttrPath(expr, "a.\"\".b"));
+    ASSERT_THROW(testFindAlongAttrPath(expr, "a..b"), Error);
+    ASSERT_NO_THROW(testFindAlongAttrPath(expr, "a.\"\""));
 }
 
+TEST(attr_path_eval, quotes)
+{
+    auto p1 = parseAttrPath("foo.\"foo bar\".baz");
+    ASSERT_EQ(3, p1.size());
+    ASSERT_EQ("foo", p1[0]);
+    ASSERT_EQ("foo bar", p1[1]);
+    ASSERT_EQ("baz", p1[2]);
+
+    auto p2 = parseAttrPath("foo.\"foo bar\"");
+    ASSERT_EQ(2, p2.size());
+    ASSERT_EQ("foo", p2[0]);
+    ASSERT_EQ("foo bar", p2[1]);
+
+    auto p3 = parseAttrPath("\"foo bar\"");
+    ASSERT_EQ(1, p3.size());
+    ASSERT_EQ("foo bar", p3[0]);
+}
+
+TEST(attr_path_eval, quotes_empty)
+{
+    auto p1 = parseAttrPath("foo.\"\".bar");
+    ASSERT_EQ(3, p1.size());
+    ASSERT_EQ("foo", p1[0]);
+    ASSERT_EQ("", p1[1]);
+    ASSERT_EQ("bar", p1[2]);
+
+    auto p2 = parseAttrPath("foo.\"\"");
+    ASSERT_EQ(2, p2.size());
+    ASSERT_EQ("foo", p2[0]);
+    ASSERT_EQ("", p2[1]);
+
+    auto p3 = parseAttrPath("\"\"");
+    ASSERT_EQ(1, p3.size());
+    ASSERT_EQ("", p3[0]);
+}
+
+TEST(attr_path_eval, quotes_syntax)
+{
+    ASSERT_THROW(parseAttrPath("foo.\"bar"), ParseError);
+
+    // escaped quotes (\") are not supported
+    ASSERT_THROW(parseAttrPath("foo.\"bar\\\"\""), ParseError);
+}
 }