hibernate/hibernate-orm · error · HibernateException

Could not determine primary table name for entity: <classNam

Error message

Could not determine primary table name for entity: <className>

What it means

Error "Could not determine primary table name for entity: <className>" thrown in hibernate/hibernate-orm.

Source

Thrown at hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/boot/model/naming/ImplicitNamingStrategyJpaCompliantImpl.java:38

 * preferring to conform to JPA standards.
 * <p>
 * For the legacy JPA-based naming standards initially implemented by Hibernate,
 * see/use {@link ImplicitNamingStrategyLegacyJpaImpl}.
 *
 * @author Steve Ebersole
 */
public class ImplicitNamingStrategyJpaCompliantImpl implements ImplicitNamingStrategy, Serializable {
	public static final ImplicitNamingStrategy INSTANCE = new ImplicitNamingStrategyJpaCompliantImpl();

	public ImplicitNamingStrategyJpaCompliantImpl() {
	}

	@Override
	public Identifier determinePrimaryTableName(ImplicitEntityNameSource source) {
		assert source != null;
		final String tableName = transformEntityName( source.getEntityNaming() );
		if ( tableName == null ) {
			throw new HibernateException( "Could not determine primary table name for entity: "
											+ source.getEntityNaming().getClassName() );
		}
		return toIdentifier( tableName, source.getBuildingContext() );
	}

	protected String transformEntityName(EntityNaming entityNaming) {
		return isNotEmpty( entityNaming.getJpaEntityName() )
				// prefer the JPA entity name, if specified
				? entityNaming.getJpaEntityName()
				// otherwise, use the unqualified Hibernate entity name
				: unqualify( entityNaming.getEntityName() );
	}


	/**
	 * JPA states we should use the following as default:
	 * <blockquote>The concatenated names of the two associated primary entity
	 * tables (owning side first), separated by an underscore.</blockquote>

View on GitHub (pinned to fad1729dce)

Solutions

1. Give the entity an explicit table name via @Table(name=...) or supply a custom ImplicitNamingStrategy that returns a table name.

Example fix

Give the entity an explicit table name via @Table(name=...) or supply a custom ImplicitNamingStrategy that returns a table name.

When it happens

Trigger: An entity mapping annotation or bootstrap configuration violates a Hibernate mapping rule.

Common situations: Annotation mapping mistakes: inverse-side @Id associations, @Column on @OneToOne, unmapped association targets, mismatched @EnumeratedValue/@Temporal usage, duplicate sequence generators.

AI-assisted analysis of hibernate/hibernate-orm@fad1729dce (2026-08-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e919f65464f07708. Report an issue: GitHub.