diff --git a/project.py b/project.py
index 3870ad379..caeaa5211 100644
--- a/project.py
+++ b/project.py
@@ -3945,6 +3945,24 @@ class Project:
                     return self.rev_parse(HEAD)
                 return symbolic_head
             except GitError as e:
+                # `git rev-parse --symbolic-full-name HEAD` will fail for unborn
+                # branches, so try symbolic-ref before falling back to raw file
+                # parsing.
+                try:
+                    p = GitCommand(
+                        self._project,
+                        ["symbolic-ref", "-q", HEAD],
+                        bare=True,
+                        gitdir=self._gitdir,
+                        capture_stdout=True,
+                        capture_stderr=True,
+                        log_as_error=False,
+                    )
+                    if p.Wait() == 0:
+                        return p.stdout.rstrip("\n")
+                except GitError:
+                    pass
+
                 logger.warning(
                     "project %s: unparseable HEAD; trying to recover.\n"
                     "Check that HEAD ref in .git/HEAD is valid. The error "
diff --git a/tests/test_project.py b/tests/test_project.py
index 7c50ad52a..501707eaf 100644
--- a/tests/test_project.py
+++ b/tests/test_project.py
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import os
 from pathlib import Path
 import subprocess
 import tempfile
+from typing import Optional
 import unittest
 
 import utils_for_test
@@ -45,6 +46,9 @@ class FakeProject:
         )
         self.config = git_config.GitConfig.ForRepository(gitdir=self.gitdir)
 
+    def RelPath(self, local: Optional[bool] = None) -> str:
+        return self.name
+
 
 class ReviewableBranchTests(unittest.TestCase):
     """Check ReviewableBranch behavior."""
@@ -98,6 +102,29 @@ class ProjectTests(unittest.TestCase):
             "abcd00%21%21_%2b",
         )
 
+    @unittest.skipUnless(
+        utils_for_test.supports_reftable(),
+        "git reftable support is required for this test",
+    )
+    def test_get_head_unborn_reftable(self):
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory(prefix="repo-tests") as tempdir:
+            subprocess.check_call(
+                [
+                    "git",
+                    "-c",
+                    "init.defaultRefFormat=reftable",
+                    "init",
+                    "-q",
+                    tempdir,
+                ]
+            )
+            fakeproj = FakeProject(tempdir)
+            expected = subprocess.check_output(
+                ["git", "-C", tempdir, "symbolic-ref", "-q", "HEAD"],
+                encoding="utf-8",
+            ).strip()
+            self.assertEqual(expected, fakeproj.work_git.GetHead())
+
 
 class CopyLinkTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
     """TestCase for stub repo client checkouts.