diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/formula.rb b/Library/Homebrew/formula.rb
index 2db3e07824..a898944ee8 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/formula.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/formula.rb
@@ -276,8 +276,8 @@ end
 
 # see flac.rb for example usage
 class GithubGistFormula <ScriptFileFormula
-  def initialize name=nil
-    @version=File.basename(File.dirname(url))[0,6]
+  def initialize name='__UNKNOWN__'
     super name
+    @version=File.basename(File.dirname(url))[0,6]
   end
 end