diff --git a/scrapy/commands/startproject.py b/scrapy/commands/startproject.py
index c266f75c4..a6d200607 100644
--- a/scrapy/commands/startproject.py
+++ b/scrapy/commands/startproject.py
@@ -43,18 +43,22 @@ class Command(ScrapyCommand):
         elif exists(project_name):
             print("Error: directory %r already exists" % project_name)
             sys.exit(1)
-
-        moduletpl = join(TEMPLATES_PATH, 'module')
-        copytree(moduletpl, join(project_name, project_name), ignore=IGNORE)
-        shutil.copy(join(TEMPLATES_PATH, 'scrapy.cfg'), project_name)
-        for paths in TEMPLATES_TO_RENDER:
-            path = join(*paths)
-            tplfile = join(project_name,
-                string.Template(path).substitute(project_name=project_name))
-            render_templatefile(tplfile, project_name=project_name,
-                ProjectName=string_camelcase(project_name))
-        print("New Scrapy project %r created in:" % project_name)
-        print("    %s\n" % abspath(project_name))
-        print("You can start your first spider with:")
-        print("    cd %s" % project_name)
-        print("    scrapy genspider example example.com")
+        try:
+            __import__(project_name, [], 0)
+            print('Error: Project name can\'t be %r, choose another project name' % project_name)
+            sys.exit(1)
+        except ImportError:
+            moduletpl = join(TEMPLATES_PATH, 'module')
+            copytree(moduletpl, join(project_name, project_name), ignore=IGNORE)
+            shutil.copy(join(TEMPLATES_PATH, 'scrapy.cfg'), project_name)
+            for paths in TEMPLATES_TO_RENDER:
+                path = join(*paths)
+                tplfile = join(project_name,
+                    string.Template(path).substitute(project_name=project_name))
+                render_templatefile(tplfile, project_name=project_name,
+                    ProjectName=string_camelcase(project_name))
+            print("New Scrapy project %r created in:" % project_name)
+            print("    %s\n" % abspath(project_name))
+            print("You can start your first spider with:")
+            print("    cd %s" % project_name)
+            print("    scrapy genspider example example.com")
diff --git a/tests/test_commands.py b/tests/test_commands.py
index f7710f03b..eefda833e 100644
--- a/tests/test_commands.py
+++ b/tests/test_commands.py
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ class StartprojectTest(ProjectTest):
 
         self.assertEqual(1, self.call('startproject', self.project_name))
         self.assertEqual(1, self.call('startproject', 'wrong---project---name'))
+        self.assertEqual(1, self.call('startproject', 'sys'))
 
 
 class CommandTest(ProjectTest):