diff --git a/lib/_http_client.js b/lib/_http_client.js
index 201593e61da5ac..02d6e7ed374a98 100644
--- a/lib/_http_client.js
+++ b/lib/_http_client.js
@@ -22,6 +22,9 @@ function ClientRequest(options, cb) {
 
   if (typeof options === 'string') {
     options = url.parse(options);
+    if (!options.hostname) {
+      throw new Error('Unable to determine the domain name');
+    }
   } else {
     options = util._extend({}, options);
   }
diff --git a/lib/https.js b/lib/https.js
index edf0aa4432f82d..90b6346bd95f20 100644
--- a/lib/https.js
+++ b/lib/https.js
@@ -163,6 +163,9 @@ exports.Agent = Agent;
 exports.request = function(options, cb) {
   if (typeof options === 'string') {
     options = url.parse(options);
+    if (!options.hostname) {
+      throw new Error('Unable to determine the domain name');
+    }
   } else {
     options = util._extend({}, options);
   }
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-http-invalid-urls.js b/test/parallel/test-http-invalid-urls.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..678e8eceeb2d46
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/parallel/test-http-invalid-urls.js
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+'use strict';
+
+require('../common');
+const assert = require('assert');
+const http = require('http');
+const https = require('https');
+const error = 'Unable to determine the domain name';
+
+function test(host) {
+  ['get', 'request'].forEach((method) => {
+    [http, https].forEach((module) => {
+      assert.throws(() => module[method](host, () => {
+        throw new Error(`${module}.${method} should not connect to ${host}`);
+      }), error);
+    });
+  });
+}
+
+['www.nodejs.org', 'localhost', '127.0.0.1', 'http://:80/'].forEach(test);