diff --git a/src/conf/network_conf.c b/src/conf/network_conf.c
index aa397768c9c43441d425db2ad844b288ca57c126..aabf315c93935739ba750f7083a850134a29a677 100644
--- a/src/conf/network_conf.c
+++ b/src/conf/network_conf.c
@@ -2117,11 +2117,8 @@ virNetworkDefParseXML(xmlXPathContextPtr ctxt)
         goto error;
     }
 
-    if (strchr(def->name, '/')) {
-        virReportError(VIR_ERR_XML_ERROR,
-                       _("name %s cannot contain '/'"), def->name);
+    if (virXMLCheckIllegalChars("name", def->name, "/") < 0)
         goto error;
-    }
 
     /* Extract network uuid */
     tmp = virXPathString("string(./uuid[1])", ctxt);