diff --git a/changelogs/unreleased/26470-branch-names-with-reference-prefixes-results-in-buggy-branches.yml b/changelogs/unreleased/26470-branch-names-with-reference-prefixes-results-in-buggy-branches.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..e82cbf00cfbbcfc5f31d1a41e945555026598a84
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/unreleased/26470-branch-names-with-reference-prefixes-results-in-buggy-branches.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+---
+title: Strip reference prefixes on branch creation
+merge_request: 8498
+author: Matthieu Tardy
diff --git a/lib/gitlab/git_ref_validator.rb b/lib/gitlab/git_ref_validator.rb
index 4d83d8e72a8b3674c3fdb30e689a3b05f5c5b277..0e87ee30c985d7bf225674475fe31812bd77fae9 100644
--- a/lib/gitlab/git_ref_validator.rb
+++ b/lib/gitlab/git_ref_validator.rb
@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@ module GitRefValidator
     #
     # Returns true for a valid reference name, false otherwise
     def validate(ref_name)
+      return false if ref_name.start_with?('refs/heads/')
+      return false if ref_name.start_with?('refs/remotes/')
+
       Gitlab::Utils.system_silent(
         %W(#{Gitlab.config.git.bin_path} check-ref-format refs/#{ref_name}))
     end
diff --git a/spec/lib/git_ref_validator_spec.rb b/spec/lib/git_ref_validator_spec.rb
index dc57e94f193b0e5992c4f3ee0e193c5842d95be7..cc8daa535d6ba12b2b8b7193da6e9f779dd299a9 100644
--- a/spec/lib/git_ref_validator_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/lib/git_ref_validator_spec.rb
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
   it { expect(Gitlab::GitRefValidator.validate('implement_@all')).to be_truthy }
   it { expect(Gitlab::GitRefValidator.validate('my_new_feature')).to be_truthy }
   it { expect(Gitlab::GitRefValidator.validate('#1')).to be_truthy }
+  it { expect(Gitlab::GitRefValidator.validate('feature/refs/heads/foo')).to be_truthy }
   it { expect(Gitlab::GitRefValidator.validate('feature/~new/')).to be_falsey }
   it { expect(Gitlab::GitRefValidator.validate('feature/^new/')).to be_falsey }
   it { expect(Gitlab::GitRefValidator.validate('feature/:new/')).to be_falsey }
@@ -17,4 +18,8 @@
   it { expect(Gitlab::GitRefValidator.validate('feature\new')).to be_falsey }
   it { expect(Gitlab::GitRefValidator.validate('feature//new')).to be_falsey }
   it { expect(Gitlab::GitRefValidator.validate('feature new')).to be_falsey }
+  it { expect(Gitlab::GitRefValidator.validate('refs/heads/')).to be_falsey }
+  it { expect(Gitlab::GitRefValidator.validate('refs/remotes/')).to be_falsey }
+  it { expect(Gitlab::GitRefValidator.validate('refs/heads/feature')).to be_falsey }
+  it { expect(Gitlab::GitRefValidator.validate('refs/remotes/origin')).to be_falsey }
 end