diff --git a/swh/loader/git/tests/test_utils.py b/swh/loader/git/tests/test_utils.py
--- a/swh/loader/git/tests/test_utils.py
+++ b/swh/loader/git/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
 # License: GNU General Public License version 3, or any later version
 # See top-level LICENSE file for more information
 
+from random import shuffle
+
 import pytest
 
 from swh.loader.git import utils
@@ -28,3 +30,30 @@
         timestamp = 2 ** exp
         with pytest.raises(ValueError, match=".*is out of range.*"):
             utils.check_date_time(timestamp)
+
+
+def test_ignore_branch_name():
+    branches = [
+        b"HEAD",
+        b"refs/heads/master",
+        b"refs/{}",
+        b"refs/pull/10/head",
+        b"refs/pull/100/head",
+        b"refs/pull/xyz/merge",  # auto-merged GitHub pull requests filtered out
+        b"refs/^{}",  # Peeled refs filtered out
+    ]
+
+    # order is not interesting
+    shuffle(branches)
+
+    actual_branches = [b for b in branches if not utils.ignore_branch_name(b)]
+
+    assert sorted(actual_branches) == sorted(
+        [
+            b"HEAD",
+            b"refs/heads/master",
+            b"refs/{}",
+            b"refs/pull/10/head",
+            b"refs/pull/100/head",
+        ]
+    )