diff --git a/doc/source/whatsnew/v0.18.1.txt b/doc/source/whatsnew/v0.18.1.txt
index e664020946baf..7701bc66b8b92 100644
--- a/doc/source/whatsnew/v0.18.1.txt
+++ b/doc/source/whatsnew/v0.18.1.txt
@@ -165,3 +165,4 @@ Bug Fixes
 
 
 - Bug in ``pivot_table`` when ``margins=True`` and ``dropna=True`` where nulls still contributed to margin count (:issue:`12577`)
+- Bug in ``Series.name`` when ``name`` attribute can be a hashable type (:issue:`12610`)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/pandas/core/generic.py b/pandas/core/generic.py
index 24b883b90cf5d..cbcd949dd5c36 100644
--- a/pandas/core/generic.py
+++ b/pandas/core/generic.py
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ class NDFrame(PandasObject):
     copy : boolean, default False
     """
     _internal_names = ['_data', '_cacher', '_item_cache', '_cache', 'is_copy',
-                       '_subtyp', '_index', '_default_kind',
+                       '_subtyp', '_name', '_index', '_default_kind',
                        '_default_fill_value', '_metadata', '__array_struct__',
                        '__array_interface__']
     _internal_names_set = set(_internal_names)
diff --git a/pandas/core/series.py b/pandas/core/series.py
index b25cd63acaff6..cc58b32de999a 100644
--- a/pandas/core/series.py
+++ b/pandas/core/series.py
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@ def __init__(self, data=None, index=None, dtype=None, name=None,
 
         generic.NDFrame.__init__(self, data, fastpath=True)
 
-        object.__setattr__(self, 'name', name)
+        self.name = name
         self._set_axis(0, index, fastpath=True)
 
     @classmethod
@@ -301,6 +301,16 @@ def _update_inplace(self, result, **kwargs):
         # we want to call the generic version and not the IndexOpsMixin
         return generic.NDFrame._update_inplace(self, result, **kwargs)
 
+    @property
+    def name(self):
+        return self._name
+
+    @name.setter
+    def name(self, value):
+        if value is not None and not com.is_hashable(value):
+            raise TypeError('Series.name must be a hashable type')
+        object.__setattr__(self, '_name', value)
+
     # ndarray compatibility
     @property
     def dtype(self):
diff --git a/pandas/tests/series/test_alter_axes.py b/pandas/tests/series/test_alter_axes.py
index 4f9a55908fe96..ee054437e60a8 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/series/test_alter_axes.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/series/test_alter_axes.py
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 # coding=utf-8
 # pylint: disable-msg=E1101,W0612
 
+from datetime import datetime
+
 import numpy as np
 import pandas as pd
 
@@ -64,7 +66,7 @@ def test_rename_by_series(self):
 
     def test_rename_set_name(self):
         s = Series(range(4), index=list('abcd'))
-        for name in ['foo', ['foo'], ('foo',)]:
+        for name in ['foo', 123, 123., datetime(2001, 11, 11), ('foo',)]:
             result = s.rename(name)
             self.assertEqual(result.name, name)
             self.assert_numpy_array_equal(result.index.values, s.index.values)
@@ -72,12 +74,18 @@ def test_rename_set_name(self):
 
     def test_rename_set_name_inplace(self):
         s = Series(range(3), index=list('abc'))
-        for name in ['foo', ['foo'], ('foo',)]:
+        for name in ['foo', 123, 123., datetime(2001, 11, 11), ('foo',)]:
             s.rename(name, inplace=True)
             self.assertEqual(s.name, name)
             self.assert_numpy_array_equal(s.index.values,
                                           np.array(['a', 'b', 'c']))
 
+    def test_set_name_attribute(self):
+        s = Series([1, 2, 3])
+        for name in [7, 7., 'name', datetime(2001, 1, 1), (1,), u"\u05D0"]:
+            s.name = name
+            self.assertEqual(s.name, name)
+
     def test_set_name(self):
         s = Series([1, 2, 3])
         s2 = s._set_name('foo')
diff --git a/pandas/tests/series/test_constructors.py b/pandas/tests/series/test_constructors.py
index 356267630b274..89793018b5193 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/series/test_constructors.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/series/test_constructors.py
@@ -725,3 +725,14 @@ def f():
         self.assertEqual(s.dtype, 'timedelta64[ns]')
         s = Series([pd.NaT, np.nan, '1 Day'])
         self.assertEqual(s.dtype, 'timedelta64[ns]')
+
+    def test_constructor_name_hashable(self):
+        for n in [777, 777., 'name', datetime(2001, 11, 11), (1, ), u"\u05D0"]:
+            for data in [[1, 2, 3], np.ones(3), {'a': 0, 'b': 1}]:
+                s = Series(data, name=n)
+                self.assertEqual(s.name, n)
+
+    def test_constructor_name_unhashable(self):
+        for n in [['name_list'], np.ones(2), {1: 2}]:
+            for data in [['name_list'], np.ones(2), {1: 2}]:
+                self.assertRaises(TypeError, Series, data, name=n)
diff --git a/pandas/tests/series/test_io.py b/pandas/tests/series/test_io.py
index beb023215e6ce..2cdd6b22afc74 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/series/test_io.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/series/test_io.py
@@ -146,8 +146,9 @@ def test_timeseries_periodindex(self):
         self.assertEqual(new_ts.index.freq, 'M')
 
     def test_pickle_preserve_name(self):
-        unpickled = self._pickle_roundtrip_name(self.ts)
-        self.assertEqual(unpickled.name, self.ts.name)
+        for n in [777, 777., 'name', datetime(2001, 11, 11), (1, 2)]:
+            unpickled = self._pickle_roundtrip_name(tm.makeTimeSeries(name=n))
+            self.assertEqual(unpickled.name, n)
 
     def _pickle_roundtrip_name(self, obj):
 
diff --git a/pandas/tests/series/test_repr.py b/pandas/tests/series/test_repr.py
index ec2efdcf40705..68ad29f1418c3 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/series/test_repr.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/series/test_repr.py
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ def test_repr(self):
         rep_str = repr(ser)
         self.assertIn("Name: 0", rep_str)
 
-        ser = Series(["a\n\r\tb"], name=["a\n\r\td"], index=["a\n\r\tf"])
+        ser = Series(["a\n\r\tb"], name="a\n\r\td", index=["a\n\r\tf"])
         self.assertFalse("\t" in repr(ser))
         self.assertFalse("\r" in repr(ser))
         self.assertFalse("a\n" in repr(ser))