diff --git a/test/test_option.py b/test/test_option.py
index 0492ed2..4bb31cb 100644
--- a/test/test_option.py
+++ b/test/test_option.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 and to compare them
 """
 import autopath
+from py.test import raises
 
 from tiramisu.option import BoolOption, IntOption
 
@@ -36,3 +37,26 @@ from tiramisu.option import BoolOption, IntOption
 #    assert dummy1 != dummy5
 #    assert dummy1 == dummy6
 #    assert dummy1 != dummy7
+
+
+def test_option_valid_name():
+    IntOption('test', '')
+    raises(ValueError, 'IntOption(1, "")')
+    raises(ValueError, 'IntOption("impl_test", "")')
+    raises(ValueError, 'IntOption("_test", "")')
+    raises(ValueError, 'IntOption("unwrap_from_path", "")')
+
+
+def test_option_get_information():
+    i = IntOption('test', '')
+    string = 'some informations'
+    i.impl_set_information('info', string)
+    assert i.impl_get_information('info') == string
+    raises(ValueError, "i.impl_get_information('noinfo')")
+    assert i.impl_get_information('noinfo', 'default') == 'default'
+
+def test_option_multi():
+    IntOption('test', '', multi=True)
+    IntOption('test', '', multi=True, default_multi=1)
+    IntOption('test', '', default=[1], multi=True, default_multi=1)
+    raises(ValueError, "IntOption('test', '', default_multi=1)")
diff --git a/tiramisu/option.py b/tiramisu/option.py
index 246363c..09e0dbd 100644
--- a/tiramisu/option.py
+++ b/tiramisu/option.py
@@ -40,9 +40,7 @@ forbidden_names = ('iter_all', 'iter_group', 'find', 'find_first',
 
 def valid_name(name):
     "an option's name is a str and does not start with 'impl' or 'cfgimpl'"
-    try:
-        name = str(name)
-    except:
+    if not isinstance(name, str):
         return False
     if re.match(name_regexp, name) is None and not name.startswith('_') \
             and name not in forbidden_names \