diff --git a/members/memberentry.pl b/members/memberentry.pl
index 6ec6d8e2ae..eacb2fff09 100755
--- a/members/memberentry.pl
+++ b/members/memberentry.pl
@@ -247,7 +247,7 @@ if ($op eq 'save' || $op eq 'insert'){
     }
   }
   
-    if(C4::Context->preference('uppercasesurnames')) {
+    if($newdata{surname} && C4::Context->preference('uppercasesurnames')) {
         $newdata{'surname'} = uc($newdata{'surname'});
     }