diff --git a/bin/compose-core b/bin/compose-core
index 43f2d09..273d385 100755
--- a/bin/compose-core
+++ b/bin/compose-core
@@ -3045,15 +3045,19 @@ export -f _save
 
 
 get_default_project_name() {
-    if [ "$DEFAULT_PROJECT_NAME" ]; then
+    local normalized_path compose_yml_location name
+    if [ -n "$DEFAULT_PROJECT_NAME" ]; then
         echo "$DEFAULT_PROJECT_NAME"
         return 0
     fi
     compose_yml_location="$(get_compose_yml_location)" || return 1
-    if [ "$compose_yml_location" ]; then
+    if [ -n "$compose_yml_location" ]; then
         if normalized_path=$(readlink -f "$compose_yml_location"); then
-            name="$(basename "$(dirname "$normalized_path")")"
-            echo "${name%%-deploy}"
+            ## XXX:
+            name="${normalized_path%/*}"  ## dirname
+            name="${name##*/}"            ## basename
+            name="${name%%-deploy}"       ## remove any '-deploy'
+            name="${name,,}"              ## lowercase
             return 0
         fi
     fi