diff --git a/gitdiff/parser.go b/gitdiff/parser.go
index e59547c..961f88c 100644
--- a/gitdiff/parser.go
+++ b/gitdiff/parser.go
@@ -49,6 +49,8 @@ const (
 	fileHeaderPrefix = "diff --git "
 	oldFilePrefix    = "--- "
 	newFilePrefix    = "+++ "
+
+	devNull = "/dev/null"
 )
 
 var (
@@ -224,91 +226,98 @@ func parseFragmentHeader(f *Fragment, header string) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-func parseGitHeaderLine(f *File, line string) (more bool, err error) {
+func parseGitHeaderLine(f *File, line string) (next bool, err error) {
 	match := func(s string) bool {
 		if strings.HasPrefix(line, s) {
-			// TODO(bkeyes): strip final line separator too
 			line = line[len(s):]
 			return true
 		}
 		return false
 	}
 
+	if line[len(line)-1] == '\n' {
+		line = line[:len(line)-1]
+	}
+
 	switch {
 	case match(fragmentHeaderPrefix):
 		// start of a fragment indicates the end of the header
 		return false, nil
 
 	case match(oldFilePrefix):
+		existing := f.OldName
+
+		f.OldName, _, err = parseName(line, '\t')
+		if err == nil {
+			err = verifyName(f.OldName, existing, f.IsNew, "old")
+		}
 
 	case match(newFilePrefix):
+		existing := f.NewName
+
+		f.NewName, _, err = parseName(line, '\t')
+		if err == nil {
+			err = verifyName(f.NewName, existing, f.IsDelete, "new")
+		}
 
 	case match("old mode "):
-		if f.OldMode, err = parseModeLine(line); err != nil {
-			return false, err
-		}
+		f.OldMode, err = parseModeLine(line)
 
 	case match("new mode "):
-		if f.NewMode, err = parseModeLine(line); err != nil {
-			return false, err
-		}
+		f.NewMode, err = parseModeLine(line)
 
 	case match("deleted file mode "):
 		// TODO(bkeyes): maybe set old name from default?
 		f.IsDelete = true
-		if f.OldMode, err = parseModeLine(line); err != nil {
-			return false, err
-		}
+		f.OldMode, err = parseModeLine(line)
 
 	case match("new file mode "):
+		// TODO(bkeyes): maybe set new name from default?
 		f.IsNew = true
-		if f.NewMode, err = parseModeLine(line); err != nil {
-			return false, err
-		}
+		f.NewMode, err = parseModeLine(line)
 
 	case match("copy from "):
 		f.IsCopy = true
-		// TODO(bkeyes): set old name
+		f.OldName, _, err = parseName(line, 0)
 
 	case match("copy to "):
 		f.IsCopy = true
-		// TODO(bkeyes): set new name
+		f.NewName, _, err = parseName(line, 0)
 
 	case match("rename old "):
 		f.IsRename = true
-		// TODO(bkeyes): set old name
+		f.OldName, _, err = parseName(line, 0)
 
 	case match("rename new "):
 		f.IsRename = true
-		// TODO(bkeyes): set new name
+		f.NewName, _, err = parseName(line, 0)
 
 	case match("rename from "):
 		f.IsRename = true
-		// TODO(bkeyes): set old name
+		f.OldName, _, err = parseName(line, 0)
 
 	case match("rename to "):
 		f.IsRename = true
-		// TODO(bkeyes): set new name
+		f.NewName, _, err = parseName(line, 0)
 
 	case match("similarity index "):
-		f.Score = parseScoreLine(line)
+		f.Score, err = parseScoreLine(line)
 
 	case match("dissimilarity index "):
-		f.Score = parseScoreLine(line)
+		f.Score, err = parseScoreLine(line)
 
 	case match("index "):
 
 	default:
 		// unknown line also indicates the end of the header
+		// this usually happens if the diff is empty
 		return false, nil
 	}
 
-	return true, nil
+	return err == nil, err
 }
 
 func parseModeLine(s string) (os.FileMode, error) {
-	s = strings.TrimSuffix(s, "\n")
-
 	mode, err := strconv.ParseInt(s, 8, 32)
 	if err != nil {
 		nerr := err.(*strconv.NumError)
@@ -318,13 +327,68 @@ func parseModeLine(s string) (os.FileMode, error) {
 	return os.FileMode(mode), nil
 }
 
-func parseScoreLine(s string) int {
-	s = strings.TrimSuffix(s, "\n")
-
-	// gitdiff_similarity / gitdiff_dissimilarity ignore invalid scores
-	score, _ := strconv.ParseInt(s, 10, 32)
-	if score <= 100 {
-		return int(score)
+func parseScoreLine(s string) (int, error) {
+	score, err := strconv.ParseInt(s, 10, 32)
+	if err != nil {
+		nerr := err.(*strconv.NumError)
+		return 0, fmt.Errorf("invalid score line: %v", nerr.Err)
 	}
-	return 0
+
+	if score >= 100 {
+		score = 0
+	}
+	return int(score), nil
+}
+
+// parseName extracts a file name from the start of a string and returns the
+// name and the index of the first character after the name. If the name is
+// unquoted and term is non-0, parsing stops at the first occurance of term.
+// Otherwise parsing of unquoted names stops at the first space or tab.
+func parseName(s string, term byte) (name string, n int, err error) {
+	// TODO(bkeyes): remove double forward slashes in parsed named
+
+	if len(s) > 0 && s[0] == '"' {
+		// find matching end quote and then unquote the section
+		for n = 1; n < len(s); n++ {
+			if s[n] == '"' && s[n-1] != '\\' {
+				break
+			}
+		}
+		if n == 1 {
+			err = fmt.Errorf("missing name")
+			return
+		}
+		n++
+		name, err = strconv.Unquote(s[:n])
+		return
+	}
+
+	for n = 0; n < len(s); n++ {
+		if term > 0 && s[n] == term {
+			break
+		}
+		if term == 0 && (s[n] == ' ' || s[n] == '\t') {
+			break
+		}
+	}
+	if n == 0 {
+		err = fmt.Errorf("missing name")
+	}
+	return
+}
+
+// verifyName checks parsed names against state set by previous header lines
+func verifyName(parsed, existing string, isNull bool, side string) error {
+	if existing != "" {
+		if isNull {
+			return fmt.Errorf("expected %s, got %s", devNull, existing)
+		}
+		if existing != parsed {
+			return fmt.Errorf("inconsistent %s filename", side)
+		}
+	}
+	if isNull && parsed != devNull {
+		return fmt.Errorf("expected %s", devNull)
+	}
+	return nil
 }