diff --git a/api/baseapi.cpp b/api/baseapi.cpp
index 59380e3917..546570909f 100644
--- a/api/baseapi.cpp
+++ b/api/baseapi.cpp
@@ -1490,8 +1490,10 @@ char* TessBaseAPI::GetHOCRText(int page_number) {
     hocr_str.add_str_int(" ", bottom);
     hocr_str.add_str_int("; x_wconf ", res_it->Confidence(RIL_WORD));
     if (font_info) {
-      hocr_str += "; x_font ";
-      hocr_str += HOcrEscape(font_name);
+      if (font_name) {
+        hocr_str += "; x_font ";
+        hocr_str += HOcrEscape(font_name);
+      }
       hocr_str.add_str_int("; x_fsize ", pointsize);
     }
     hocr_str += "'";