diff --git a/docs/api/v2/descriptors.go b/docs/api/v2/descriptors.go
index c5630fed..ef37997a 100644
--- a/docs/api/v2/descriptors.go
+++ b/docs/api/v2/descriptors.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"regexp"
 
 	"github.com/docker/distribution/digest"
+	"github.com/docker/distribution/reference"
 	"github.com/docker/distribution/registry/api/errcode"
 )
 
@@ -12,7 +13,7 @@ var (
 	nameParameterDescriptor = ParameterDescriptor{
 		Name:        "name",
 		Type:        "string",
-		Format:      RepositoryNameRegexp.String(),
+		Format:      reference.RepositoryNameRegexp.String(),
 		Required:    true,
 		Description: `Name of the target repository.`,
 	}
@@ -20,7 +21,7 @@ var (
 	referenceParameterDescriptor = ParameterDescriptor{
 		Name:        "reference",
 		Type:        "string",
-		Format:      TagNameRegexp.String(),
+		Format:      reference.TagRegexp.String(),
 		Required:    true,
 		Description: `Tag or digest of the target manifest.`,
 	}
@@ -389,7 +390,7 @@ var routeDescriptors = []RouteDescriptor{
 	},
 	{
 		Name:        RouteNameTags,
-		Path:        "/v2/{name:" + RepositoryNameRegexp.String() + "}/tags/list",
+		Path:        "/v2/{name:" + reference.RepositoryNameRegexp.String() + "}/tags/list",
 		Entity:      "Tags",
 		Description: "Retrieve information about tags.",
 		Methods: []MethodDescriptor{
@@ -517,7 +518,7 @@ var routeDescriptors = []RouteDescriptor{
 	},
 	{
 		Name:        RouteNameManifest,
-		Path:        "/v2/{name:" + RepositoryNameRegexp.String() + "}/manifests/{reference:" + TagNameRegexp.String() + "|" + digest.DigestRegexp.String() + "}",
+		Path:        "/v2/{name:" + reference.RepositoryNameRegexp.String() + "}/manifests/{reference:" + reference.TagRegexp.String() + "|" + digest.DigestRegexp.String() + "}",
 		Entity:      "Manifest",
 		Description: "Create, update, delete and retrieve manifests.",
 		Methods: []MethodDescriptor{
@@ -782,7 +783,7 @@ var routeDescriptors = []RouteDescriptor{
 
 	{
 		Name:        RouteNameBlob,
-		Path:        "/v2/{name:" + RepositoryNameRegexp.String() + "}/blobs/{digest:" + digest.DigestRegexp.String() + "}",
+		Path:        "/v2/{name:" + reference.RepositoryNameRegexp.String() + "}/blobs/{digest:" + digest.DigestRegexp.String() + "}",
 		Entity:      "Blob",
 		Description: "Operations on blobs identified by `name` and `digest`. Used to fetch or delete layers by digest.",
 		Methods: []MethodDescriptor{
@@ -1006,7 +1007,7 @@ var routeDescriptors = []RouteDescriptor{
 
 	{
 		Name:        RouteNameBlobUpload,
-		Path:        "/v2/{name:" + RepositoryNameRegexp.String() + "}/blobs/uploads/",
+		Path:        "/v2/{name:" + reference.RepositoryNameRegexp.String() + "}/blobs/uploads/",
 		Entity:      "Initiate Blob Upload",
 		Description: "Initiate a blob upload. This endpoint can be used to create resumable uploads or monolithic uploads.",
 		Methods: []MethodDescriptor{
@@ -1128,7 +1129,7 @@ var routeDescriptors = []RouteDescriptor{
 
 	{
 		Name:        RouteNameBlobUploadChunk,
-		Path:        "/v2/{name:" + RepositoryNameRegexp.String() + "}/blobs/uploads/{uuid:[a-zA-Z0-9-_.=]+}",
+		Path:        "/v2/{name:" + reference.RepositoryNameRegexp.String() + "}/blobs/uploads/{uuid:[a-zA-Z0-9-_.=]+}",
 		Entity:      "Blob Upload",
 		Description: "Interact with blob uploads. Clients should never assemble URLs for this endpoint and should only take it through the `Location` header on related API requests. The `Location` header and its parameters should be preserved by clients, using the latest value returned via upload related API calls.",
 		Methods: []MethodDescriptor{
diff --git a/docs/api/v2/names.go b/docs/api/v2/names.go
deleted file mode 100644
index 5f340793..00000000
--- a/docs/api/v2/names.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,96 +0,0 @@
-package v2
-
-import (
-	"fmt"
-	"regexp"
-	"strings"
-)
-
-// TODO(stevvooe): Move these definitions to the future "reference" package.
-// While they are used with v2 definitions, their relevance expands beyond.
-
-const (
-	// RepositoryNameTotalLengthMax is the maximum total number of characters in
-	// a repository name
-	RepositoryNameTotalLengthMax = 255
-)
-
-// domainLabelRegexp represents the following RFC-2396 BNF construct:
-//   domainlabel   = alphanum | alphanum *( alphanum | "-" ) alphanum
-var domainLabelRegexp = regexp.MustCompile(`[a-z0-9](?:-*[a-z0-9])*`)
-
-// RepositoryNameComponentRegexp restricts registry path component names to
-// the allow valid hostnames according to: https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2396.txt
-// with the following differences:
-//  1) It DOES NOT allow for fully-qualified domain names, which include a
-//    trailing '.', e.g. "google.com."
-//  2) It DOES NOT restrict 'top-level' domain labels to start with just alpha
-//    characters.
-//  3) It DOES allow for underscores to appear in the same situations as dots.
-//
-// RFC-2396 uses the BNF construct:
-//   hostname      = *( domainlabel "." ) toplabel [ "." ]
-var RepositoryNameComponentRegexp = regexp.MustCompile(
-	domainLabelRegexp.String() + `(?:[._]` + domainLabelRegexp.String() + `)*`)
-
-// RepositoryNameComponentAnchoredRegexp is the version of
-// RepositoryNameComponentRegexp which must completely match the content
-var RepositoryNameComponentAnchoredRegexp = regexp.MustCompile(`^` + RepositoryNameComponentRegexp.String() + `$`)
-
-// RepositoryNameRegexp builds on RepositoryNameComponentRegexp to allow
-// multiple path components, separated by a forward slash.
-var RepositoryNameRegexp = regexp.MustCompile(`(?:` + RepositoryNameComponentRegexp.String() + `/)*` + RepositoryNameComponentRegexp.String())
-
-// TagNameRegexp matches valid tag names. From docker/docker:graph/tags.go.
-var TagNameRegexp = regexp.MustCompile(`[\w][\w.-]{0,127}`)
-
-// TagNameAnchoredRegexp matches valid tag names, anchored at the start and
-// end of the matched string.
-var TagNameAnchoredRegexp = regexp.MustCompile("^" + TagNameRegexp.String() + "$")
-
-var (
-	// ErrRepositoryNameEmpty is returned for empty, invalid repository names.
-	ErrRepositoryNameEmpty = fmt.Errorf("repository name must have at least one component")
-
-	// ErrRepositoryNameLong is returned when a repository name is longer than
-	// RepositoryNameTotalLengthMax
-	ErrRepositoryNameLong = fmt.Errorf("repository name must not be more than %v characters", RepositoryNameTotalLengthMax)
-
-	// ErrRepositoryNameComponentInvalid is returned when a repository name does
-	// not match RepositoryNameComponentRegexp
-	ErrRepositoryNameComponentInvalid = fmt.Errorf("repository name component must match %q", RepositoryNameComponentRegexp.String())
-)
-
-// ValidateRepositoryName ensures the repository name is valid for use in the
-// registry. This function accepts a superset of what might be accepted by
-// docker core or docker hub. If the name does not pass validation, an error,
-// describing the conditions, is returned.
-//
-// Effectively, the name should comply with the following grammar:
-//
-// 	alpha-numeric := /[a-z0-9]+/
-//	separator := /[._-]/
-//	component := alpha-numeric [separator alpha-numeric]*
-//	namespace := component ['/' component]*
-//
-// The result of the production, known as the "namespace", should be limited
-// to 255 characters.
-func ValidateRepositoryName(name string) error {
-	if name == "" {
-		return ErrRepositoryNameEmpty
-	}
-
-	if len(name) > RepositoryNameTotalLengthMax {
-		return ErrRepositoryNameLong
-	}
-
-	components := strings.Split(name, "/")
-
-	for _, component := range components {
-		if !RepositoryNameComponentAnchoredRegexp.MatchString(component) {
-			return ErrRepositoryNameComponentInvalid
-		}
-	}
-
-	return nil
-}
diff --git a/docs/api/v2/names_test.go b/docs/api/v2/names_test.go
deleted file mode 100644
index f4daf2e7..00000000
--- a/docs/api/v2/names_test.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,256 +0,0 @@
-package v2
-
-import (
-	"strconv"
-	"strings"
-	"testing"
-)
-
-var (
-	// regexpTestcases is a unified set of testcases for
-	// TestValidateRepositoryName and TestRepositoryNameRegexp.
-	// Some of them are valid inputs for one and not the other.
-	regexpTestcases = []struct {
-		// input is the repository name or name component testcase
-		input string
-		// err is the error expected from ValidateRepositoryName, or nil
-		err error
-		// invalid should be true if the testcase is *not* expected to
-		// match RepositoryNameRegexp
-		invalid bool
-	}{
-		{
-			input: "",
-			err:   ErrRepositoryNameEmpty,
-		},
-		{
-			input: "short",
-		},
-		{
-			input: "simple/name",
-		},
-		{
-			input: "library/ubuntu",
-		},
-		{
-			input: "docker/stevvooe/app",
-		},
-		{
-			input: "aa/aa/aa/aa/aa/aa/aa/aa/aa/bb/bb/bb/bb/bb/bb",
-		},
-		{
-			input: "aa/aa/bb/bb/bb",
-		},
-		{
-			input: "a/a/a/b/b",
-		},
-		{
-			input:   "a/a/a/a/",
-			err:     ErrRepositoryNameComponentInvalid,
-			invalid: true,
-		},
-		{
-			input:   "a//a/a",
-			err:     ErrRepositoryNameComponentInvalid,
-			invalid: true,
-		},
-		{
-			input: "a",
-		},
-		{
-			input: "a/aa",
-		},
-		{
-			input: "aa/a",
-		},
-		{
-			input: "a/aa/a",
-		},
-		{
-			input:   "foo.com/",
-			err:     ErrRepositoryNameComponentInvalid,
-			invalid: true,
-		},
-		{
-			// TODO: this testcase should be valid once we switch to
-			// the reference package.
-			input:   "foo.com:8080/bar",
-			err:     ErrRepositoryNameComponentInvalid,
-			invalid: true,
-		},
-		{
-			input: "foo.com/bar",
-		},
-		{
-			input: "foo.com/bar/baz",
-		},
-		{
-			input: "foo.com/bar/baz/quux",
-		},
-		{
-			input: "blog.foo.com/bar/baz",
-		},
-		{
-			input: "asdf",
-		},
-		{
-			input:   "asdf$$^/aa",
-			err:     ErrRepositoryNameComponentInvalid,
-			invalid: true,
-		},
-		{
-			input: "aa-a/aa",
-		},
-		{
-			input: "aa/aa",
-		},
-		{
-			input: "a-a/a-a",
-		},
-		{
-			input:   "a-/a/a/a",
-			err:     ErrRepositoryNameComponentInvalid,
-			invalid: true,
-		},
-		{
-			input: strings.Repeat("a", 255),
-		},
-		{
-			input: strings.Repeat("a", 256),
-			err:   ErrRepositoryNameLong,
-		},
-		{
-			input:   "-foo/bar",
-			err:     ErrRepositoryNameComponentInvalid,
-			invalid: true,
-		},
-		{
-			input:   "foo/bar-",
-			err:     ErrRepositoryNameComponentInvalid,
-			invalid: true,
-		},
-		{
-			input:   "foo-/bar",
-			err:     ErrRepositoryNameComponentInvalid,
-			invalid: true,
-		},
-		{
-			input:   "foo/-bar",
-			err:     ErrRepositoryNameComponentInvalid,
-			invalid: true,
-		},
-		{
-			input:   "_foo/bar",
-			err:     ErrRepositoryNameComponentInvalid,
-			invalid: true,
-		},
-		{
-			input:   "foo/bar_",
-			err:     ErrRepositoryNameComponentInvalid,
-			invalid: true,
-		},
-		{
-			input:   "____/____",
-			err:     ErrRepositoryNameComponentInvalid,
-			invalid: true,
-		},
-		{
-			input:   "_docker/_docker",
-			err:     ErrRepositoryNameComponentInvalid,
-			invalid: true,
-		},
-		{
-			input:   "docker_/docker_",
-			err:     ErrRepositoryNameComponentInvalid,
-			invalid: true,
-		},
-		{
-			input:   "do__cker/docker",
-			err:     ErrRepositoryNameComponentInvalid,
-			invalid: true,
-		},
-		{
-			input:   "docker./docker",
-			err:     ErrRepositoryNameComponentInvalid,
-			invalid: true,
-		},
-		{
-			input:   ".docker/docker",
-			err:     ErrRepositoryNameComponentInvalid,
-			invalid: true,
-		},
-		{
-			input:   "do..cker/docker",
-			err:     ErrRepositoryNameComponentInvalid,
-			invalid: true,
-		},
-		{
-			input:   "docker-/docker",
-			err:     ErrRepositoryNameComponentInvalid,
-			invalid: true,
-		},
-		{
-			input:   "-docker/docker",
-			err:     ErrRepositoryNameComponentInvalid,
-			invalid: true,
-		},
-		{
-			input: "b.gcr.io/test.example.com/my-app", // embedded domain component
-		},
-		{
-			input: "xn--n3h.com/myimage", // http://☃.com in punycode
-		},
-		{
-			input: "xn--7o8h.com/myimage", // http://🐳.com in punycode
-		},
-		{
-			input: "registry.io/foo/project--id.module--name.ver---sion--name", // image with hostname
-		},
-	}
-)
-
-// TestValidateRepositoryName tests the ValidateRepositoryName function,
-// which uses RepositoryNameComponentAnchoredRegexp for validation
-func TestValidateRepositoryName(t *testing.T) {
-	for _, testcase := range regexpTestcases {
-		failf := func(format string, v ...interface{}) {
-			t.Logf(strconv.Quote(testcase.input)+": "+format, v...)
-			t.Fail()
-		}
-
-		if err := ValidateRepositoryName(testcase.input); err != testcase.err {
-			if testcase.err != nil {
-				if err != nil {
-					failf("unexpected error for invalid repository: got %v, expected %v", err, testcase.err)
-				} else {
-					failf("expected invalid repository: %v", testcase.err)
-				}
-			} else {
-				if err != nil {
-					// Wrong error returned.
-					failf("unexpected error validating repository name: %v, expected %v", err, testcase.err)
-				} else {
-					failf("unexpected error validating repository name: %v", err)
-				}
-			}
-		}
-	}
-}
-
-func TestRepositoryNameRegexp(t *testing.T) {
-	for _, testcase := range regexpTestcases {
-		failf := func(format string, v ...interface{}) {
-			t.Logf(strconv.Quote(testcase.input)+": "+format, v...)
-			t.Fail()
-		}
-
-		matches := RepositoryNameRegexp.FindString(testcase.input) == testcase.input
-		if matches == testcase.invalid {
-			if testcase.invalid {
-				failf("expected invalid repository name %s", testcase.input)
-			} else {
-				failf("expected valid repository name %s", testcase.input)
-			}
-		}
-	}
-}
diff --git a/docs/client/repository.go b/docs/client/repository.go
index 1e189438..db45a464 100644
--- a/docs/client/repository.go
+++ b/docs/client/repository.go
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/docker/distribution/context"
 	"github.com/docker/distribution/digest"
 	"github.com/docker/distribution/manifest/schema1"
+	"github.com/docker/distribution/reference"
 	"github.com/docker/distribution/registry/api/v2"
 	"github.com/docker/distribution/registry/client/transport"
 	"github.com/docker/distribution/registry/storage/cache"
@@ -96,9 +97,9 @@ func (r *registry) Repositories(ctx context.Context, entries []string, last stri
 	return numFilled, returnErr
 }
 
-// NewRepository creates a new Repository for the given repository name and base URL
-func NewRepository(ctx context.Context, name, baseURL string, transport http.RoundTripper) (distribution.Repository, error) {
-	if err := v2.ValidateRepositoryName(name); err != nil {
+// NewRepository creates a new Repository for the given canonical repository name and base URL.
+func NewRepository(ctx context.Context, canonicalName, baseURL string, transport http.RoundTripper) (distribution.Repository, error) {
+	if _, err := reference.NewRepository(canonicalName); err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
@@ -115,7 +116,7 @@ func NewRepository(ctx context.Context, name, baseURL string, transport http.Rou
 	return &repository{
 		client:  client,
 		ub:      ub,
-		name:    name,
+		name:    canonicalName,
 		context: ctx,
 	}, nil
 }
diff --git a/docs/storage/cache/memory/memory.go b/docs/storage/cache/memory/memory.go
index 120a6572..725a68e7 100644
--- a/docs/storage/cache/memory/memory.go
+++ b/docs/storage/cache/memory/memory.go
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/docker/distribution"
 	"github.com/docker/distribution/context"
 	"github.com/docker/distribution/digest"
-	"github.com/docker/distribution/registry/api/v2"
+	"github.com/docker/distribution/reference"
 	"github.com/docker/distribution/registry/storage/cache"
 )
 
@@ -25,8 +25,8 @@ func NewInMemoryBlobDescriptorCacheProvider() cache.BlobDescriptorCacheProvider
 	}
 }
 
-func (imbdcp *inMemoryBlobDescriptorCacheProvider) RepositoryScoped(repo string) (distribution.BlobDescriptorService, error) {
-	if err := v2.ValidateRepositoryName(repo); err != nil {
+func (imbdcp *inMemoryBlobDescriptorCacheProvider) RepositoryScoped(canonicalName string) (distribution.BlobDescriptorService, error) {
+	if _, err := reference.NewRepository(canonicalName); err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
@@ -34,9 +34,9 @@ func (imbdcp *inMemoryBlobDescriptorCacheProvider) RepositoryScoped(repo string)
 	defer imbdcp.mu.RUnlock()
 
 	return &repositoryScopedInMemoryBlobDescriptorCache{
-		repo:       repo,
+		repo:       canonicalName,
 		parent:     imbdcp,
-		repository: imbdcp.repositories[repo],
+		repository: imbdcp.repositories[canonicalName],
 	}, nil
 }
 
diff --git a/docs/storage/cache/redis/redis.go b/docs/storage/cache/redis/redis.go
index 36370bdd..54138f3d 100644
--- a/docs/storage/cache/redis/redis.go
+++ b/docs/storage/cache/redis/redis.go
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/docker/distribution"
 	"github.com/docker/distribution/context"
 	"github.com/docker/distribution/digest"
-	"github.com/docker/distribution/registry/api/v2"
+	"github.com/docker/distribution/reference"
 	"github.com/docker/distribution/registry/storage/cache"
 	"github.com/garyburd/redigo/redis"
 )
@@ -40,13 +40,13 @@ func NewRedisBlobDescriptorCacheProvider(pool *redis.Pool) cache.BlobDescriptorC
 }
 
 // RepositoryScoped returns the scoped cache.
-func (rbds *redisBlobDescriptorService) RepositoryScoped(repo string) (distribution.BlobDescriptorService, error) {
-	if err := v2.ValidateRepositoryName(repo); err != nil {
+func (rbds *redisBlobDescriptorService) RepositoryScoped(canonicalName string) (distribution.BlobDescriptorService, error) {
+	if _, err := reference.NewRepository(canonicalName); err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
 	return &repositoryScopedRedisBlobDescriptorService{
-		repo:     repo,
+		repo:     canonicalName,
 		upstream: rbds,
 	}, nil
 }
diff --git a/docs/storage/registry.go b/docs/storage/registry.go
index 0b38ea9b..e3b132c5 100644
--- a/docs/storage/registry.go
+++ b/docs/storage/registry.go
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ package storage
 import (
 	"github.com/docker/distribution"
 	"github.com/docker/distribution/context"
-	"github.com/docker/distribution/registry/api/v2"
+	"github.com/docker/distribution/reference"
 	"github.com/docker/distribution/registry/storage/cache"
 	storagedriver "github.com/docker/distribution/registry/storage/driver"
 )
@@ -107,10 +107,10 @@ func (reg *registry) Scope() distribution.Scope {
 // Repository returns an instance of the repository tied to the registry.
 // Instances should not be shared between goroutines but are cheap to
 // allocate. In general, they should be request scoped.
-func (reg *registry) Repository(ctx context.Context, name string) (distribution.Repository, error) {
-	if err := v2.ValidateRepositoryName(name); err != nil {
+func (reg *registry) Repository(ctx context.Context, canonicalName string) (distribution.Repository, error) {
+	if _, err := reference.NewRepository(canonicalName); err != nil {
 		return nil, distribution.ErrRepositoryNameInvalid{
-			Name:   name,
+			Name:   canonicalName,
 			Reason: err,
 		}
 	}
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ func (reg *registry) Repository(ctx context.Context, name string) (distribution.
 	var descriptorCache distribution.BlobDescriptorService
 	if reg.blobDescriptorCacheProvider != nil {
 		var err error
-		descriptorCache, err = reg.blobDescriptorCacheProvider.RepositoryScoped(name)
+		descriptorCache, err = reg.blobDescriptorCacheProvider.RepositoryScoped(canonicalName)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ func (reg *registry) Repository(ctx context.Context, name string) (distribution.
 	return &repository{
 		ctx:             ctx,
 		registry:        reg,
-		name:            name,
+		name:            canonicalName,
 		descriptorCache: descriptorCache,
 	}, nil
 }