diff --git a/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TableDescriptorBuilder.java b/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TableDescriptorBuilder.java
index 53703211979..7301315e60b 100644
--- a/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TableDescriptorBuilder.java
+++ b/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TableDescriptorBuilder.java
@@ -1068,6 +1068,10 @@ public class TableDescriptorBuilder {
       if (family.getName() == null || family.getName().length <= 0) {
         throw new IllegalArgumentException("Family name cannot be null or empty");
       }
+      int flength = family.getName() == null ? 0 : family.getName().length;
+      if (flength > Byte.MAX_VALUE) {
+        throw new IllegalArgumentException("The length of family name is bigger than " + Byte.MAX_VALUE);
+      }
       if (hasColumnFamily(family.getName())) {
         throw new IllegalArgumentException("Family '"
                 + family.getNameAsString() + "' already exists so cannot be added");