diff --git a/cql3/KeyspaceElementName.java b/cql3/KeyspaceElementName.java
new file mode 100644
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+++ b/cql3/KeyspaceElementName.java
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.cassandra.cql3;
+
+import java.util.Locale;
+
+/**
+ * Base class for the names of the keyspace elements (e.g. table, index ...)
+ */
+abstract class KeyspaceElementName
+{
+    /**
+     * The keyspace name as stored internally.
+     */
+    private String ksName;
+
+    /**
+     * Sets the keyspace.
+     *
+     * @param ks the keyspace name
+     * @param keepCase <code>true</code> if the case must be kept, <code>false</code> otherwise.
+     */
+    public final void setKeyspace(String ks, boolean keepCase)
+    {
+        ksName = toInternalName(ks, keepCase);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Checks if the keyspace is specified.
+     * @return <code>true</code> if the keyspace is specified, <code>false</code> otherwise.
+     */
+    public final boolean hasKeyspace()
+    {
+        return ksName != null;
+    }
+
+    public final String getKeyspace()
+    {
+        return ksName;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Converts the specified name into the name used internally.
+     *
+     * @param name the name
+     * @param keepCase <code>true</code> if the case must be kept, <code>false</code> otherwise.
+     * @return the name used internally.
+     */
+    protected static String toInternalName(String name, boolean keepCase)
+    {
+        return keepCase ? name : name.toLowerCase(Locale.US);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public String toString()
+    {
+        return hasKeyspace() ? (getKeyspace() + ".") : "";
+    }
+}