diff --git a/lib/_http_incoming.js b/lib/_http_incoming.js
index 6e66ae6d42a9c0..fc34e95bc55ec3 100644
--- a/lib/_http_incoming.js
+++ b/lib/_http_incoming.js
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 const util = require('util');
 const Stream = require('stream');
+const StorageObject = require('internal/util').StorageObject;
 
 function readStart(socket) {
   if (socket && !socket._paused && socket.readable)
@@ -27,9 +28,9 @@ function IncomingMessage(socket) {
   this.httpVersionMinor = null;
   this.httpVersion = null;
   this.complete = false;
-  this.headers = {};
+  this.headers = new StorageObject();
   this.rawHeaders = [];
-  this.trailers = {};
+  this.trailers = new StorageObject();
   this.rawTrailers = [];
 
   this.readable = true;
diff --git a/lib/_http_outgoing.js b/lib/_http_outgoing.js
index 77bfe4ba77d416..07a5472b1a6d25 100644
--- a/lib/_http_outgoing.js
+++ b/lib/_http_outgoing.js
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ const common = require('_http_common');
 const CRLF = common.CRLF;
 const chunkExpression = common.chunkExpression;
 const debug = common.debug;
+const StorageObject = internalUtil.StorageObject;
 
 const connectionExpression = /^Connection$/i;
 const transferEncodingExpression = /^Transfer-Encoding$/i;
@@ -65,7 +66,7 @@ function OutgoingMessage() {
   this.shouldKeepAlive = true;
   this.useChunkedEncodingByDefault = true;
   this.sendDate = false;
-  this._removedHeader = {};
+  this._removedHeader = new StorageObject();
 
   this._contentLength = null;
   this._hasBody = true;
@@ -78,7 +79,7 @@ function OutgoingMessage() {
   this.connection = null;
   this._header = null;
   this._headers = null;
-  this._headerNames = {};
+  this._headerNames = new StorageObject();
 
   this._onPendingData = null;
 }
@@ -348,7 +349,7 @@ OutgoingMessage.prototype.setHeader = function(name, value) {
     throw new TypeError('The header content contains invalid characters');
   }
   if (this._headers === null)
-    this._headers = {};
+    this._headers = new StorageObject();
 
   var key = name.toLowerCase();
   this._headers[key] = value;
@@ -400,9 +401,10 @@ OutgoingMessage.prototype._renderHeaders = function() {
   }
 
   var headersMap = this._headers;
-  if (!headersMap) return {};
+  var headers = new StorageObject();
+
+  if (!headersMap) return headers;
 
-  var headers = {};
   var keys = Object.keys(headersMap);
   var headerNames = this._headerNames;
 
diff --git a/lib/internal/util.js b/lib/internal/util.js
index 56398ccf9dc2fe..9e7ca617bf86e8 100644
--- a/lib/internal/util.js
+++ b/lib/internal/util.js
@@ -4,6 +4,13 @@ const binding = process.binding('util');
 const prefix = `(${process.release.name}:${process.pid}) `;
 const noDeprecation = process.noDeprecation;
 
+// This constructor is used for creating objects for general storage purposes.
+// Instantiating this is faster than explicitly calling `Object.create(null)`
+// to get a "clean" empty object (tested with v8 v4.9).
+function StorageObject() {}
+StorageObject.prototype = Object.create(null);
+exports.StorageObject = StorageObject;
+
 exports.getHiddenValue = binding.getHiddenValue;
 exports.setHiddenValue = binding.setHiddenValue;
 
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-http-header-special-names.js b/test/parallel/test-http-header-special-names.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..5b71bc1473f7b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/parallel/test-http-header-special-names.js
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+/* eslint-disable no-proto */
+'use strict';
+
+const common = require('../common');
+const http = require('http');
+const assert = require('assert');
+
+const clientHeaders = Object.create(null);
+const serverHeaders = Object.create(null);
+clientHeaders['__proto__'] = serverHeaders['__proto__'] = 'abc';
+clientHeaders['constructor'] = serverHeaders['constructor'] = '123';
+clientHeaders['Foo'] = serverHeaders['Foo'] = '456';
+
+const server = http.createServer(common.mustCall((req, res) => {
+  const headerNames = Object.keys(req.headers);
+  assert.notStrictEqual(headerNames.indexOf('__proto__'), -1);
+  assert.notStrictEqual(headerNames.indexOf('constructor'), -1);
+  assert.notStrictEqual(headerNames.indexOf('foo'), -1);
+  assert.strictEqual(req.headers['__proto__'], 'abc');
+  assert.strictEqual(req.headers['constructor'], '123');
+  assert.strictEqual(req.headers['foo'], '456');
+  res.writeHead(200, serverHeaders);
+  res.end();
+  server.close();
+}));
+server.listen(common.PORT, () => {
+  http.get({
+    port: common.PORT,
+    headers: clientHeaders
+  }, common.mustCall((res) => {
+    const headerNames = Object.keys(res.headers);
+    assert.equal(res.statusCode, 200);
+    assert.notStrictEqual(headerNames.indexOf('__proto__'), -1);
+    assert.notStrictEqual(headerNames.indexOf('constructor'), -1);
+    assert.notStrictEqual(headerNames.indexOf('foo'), -1);
+    assert.strictEqual(res.headers['__proto__'], 'abc');
+    assert.strictEqual(res.headers['constructor'], '123');
+    assert.strictEqual(res.headers['foo'], '456');
+  }));
+});