diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/IndicesService.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/IndicesService.java
index 48973bca5bd..61aaf551610 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/IndicesService.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/IndicesService.java
@@ -681,8 +681,8 @@ public class IndicesService extends AbstractLifecycleComponent<IndicesService> i
      */
     @Nullable
     public IndexMetaData verifyIndexIsDeleted(final Index index, final ClusterState clusterState) {
-        // this method should only be called when we know the index is not part of the cluster state
-        if (clusterState.metaData().hasIndex(index.getName())) {
+        // this method should only be called when we know the index (name + uuid) is not part of the cluster state
+        if (clusterState.metaData().index(index) != null) {
             throw new IllegalStateException("Cannot delete index [" + index + "], it is still part of the cluster state.");
         }
         if (nodeEnv.hasNodeFile() && FileSystemUtils.exists(nodeEnv.indexPaths(index))) {
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/IndicesServiceTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/IndicesServiceTests.java
index 02c415c247a..76f7a30e078 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/IndicesServiceTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/IndicesServiceTests.java
@@ -21,8 +21,10 @@ package org.elasticsearch.indices;
 import org.apache.lucene.store.LockObtainFailedException;
 import org.elasticsearch.Version;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.indices.alias.IndicesAliasesRequest;
+import org.elasticsearch.cluster.ClusterName;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.ClusterState;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.AliasAction;
+import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.IndexGraveyard;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.IndexMetaData;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.MetaData;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.service.ClusterService;
@@ -283,6 +285,36 @@ public class IndicesServiceTests extends ESSingleNodeTestCase {
         indicesService.deleteIndex(test.index(), "finished with test");
     }
 
+    /**
+     * This test checks an edge case where, if a node had an index (lets call it A with UUID 1), then
+     * deleted it (so a tombstone entry for A will exist in the cluster state), then created
+     * a new index A with UUID 2, then shutdown, when the node comes back online, it will look at the
+     * tombstones for deletions, and it should proceed with trying to delete A with UUID 1 and not
+     * throw any errors that the index still exists in the cluster state.  This is a case of ensuring
+     * that tombstones that have the same name as current valid indices don't cause confusion by
+     * trying to delete an index that exists.
+     * See https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/issues/18054
+     */
+    public void testIndexAndTombstoneWithSameNameOnStartup() throws Exception {
+        final String indexName = "test";
+        final Index index = new Index(indexName, UUIDs.randomBase64UUID());
+        final IndicesService indicesService = getIndicesService();
+        final Settings idxSettings = Settings.builder().put(IndexMetaData.SETTING_VERSION_CREATED, Version.CURRENT)
+                                         .put(IndexMetaData.SETTING_INDEX_UUID, index.getUUID())
+                                         .build();
+        final IndexMetaData indexMetaData = new IndexMetaData.Builder(index.getName())
+                                                .settings(idxSettings)
+                                                .numberOfShards(1)
+                                                .numberOfReplicas(0)
+                                                .build();
+        final Index tombstonedIndex = new Index(indexName, UUIDs.randomBase64UUID());
+        final IndexGraveyard graveyard = IndexGraveyard.builder().addTombstone(tombstonedIndex).build();
+        final MetaData metaData = MetaData.builder().put(indexMetaData, true).indexGraveyard(graveyard).build();
+        final ClusterState clusterState = new ClusterState.Builder(new ClusterName("testCluster")).metaData(metaData).build();
+        // if all goes well, this won't throw an exception, otherwise, it will throw an IllegalStateException
+        indicesService.verifyIndexIsDeleted(tombstonedIndex, clusterState);
+    }
+
     private static class DanglingListener implements LocalAllocateDangledIndices.Listener {
         final CountDownLatch latch = new CountDownLatch(1);