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
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright (C) 2015-2017  The Software Heritage developers
+# Copyright (C) 2015-2021  The Software Heritage developers
 # See the AUTHORS file at the top-level directory of this distribution
 # License: GNU General Public License version 3, or any later version
 # See top-level LICENSE file for more information
@@ -28,3 +28,27 @@
         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
+    }
+
+    actual_branches = {b for b in branches if not utils.ignore_branch_name(b)}
+
+    assert actual_branches == set(
+        [
+            b"HEAD",
+            b"refs/heads/master",
+            b"refs/{}",
+            b"refs/pull/10/head",
+            b"refs/pull/100/head",
+        ]
+    )