diff --git a/meta/git/hooks/pre-push b/meta/git/hooks/pre-push
index 9a345b7..7972c41 100755
--- a/meta/git/hooks/pre-push
+++ b/meta/git/hooks/pre-push
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/bin/sh
+#!/bin/bash
 
 # A hook script to verify what is about to be pushed.  Called by "git push"
 # after it has checked the remote status, but before anything has been pushed.
@@ -26,6 +26,11 @@ url="$2"
 
 zero=$(git hash-object --stdin </dev/null | tr '[0-9a-f]' '0')
 
+# look for WIP at beginning or end of branch name
+git rev-parse --symbolic-full-name --abbrev-ref HEAD \
+	| grep -Eqi '^wip($|[^[:alpha:]])|(^|[^[:alpha:]])wip$'
+is_wip_branch=$((! $?))
+
 while read local_ref local_oid remote_ref remote_oid; do
 	[ "$local_oid" != "$zero" ] || continue
 
@@ -41,7 +46,7 @@ while read local_ref local_oid remote_ref remote_oid; do
 	pattern='^(WIP|(fixup|squash)!)'
 
 	commits="$(git rev-list -E --oneline --grep "$pattern" "$range")"
-	if [ -n "$commits" ]; then
+	if [ -n "$commits" ] && ((!is_wip_branch)); then
 		printf >&2 "$local_ref: Commits in progress:\n"
 		printf >&2 "%s\n" "$commits"
 		printf >&2 "Aborting push\n"