diff --git a/pkg/template/controller/templateinstance_controller.go b/pkg/template/controller/templateinstance_controller.go
index 0dca1e036d7a..f2055f65ff93 100644
--- a/pkg/template/controller/templateinstance_controller.go
+++ b/pkg/template/controller/templateinstance_controller.go
@@ -401,6 +401,17 @@ func (c *TemplateInstanceController) instantiate(templateInstance *templateapi.T
 		}
 	}
 
+	for i, param := range template.Parameters {
+		switch {
+		case param.Name == "NAMESPACE" && param.Value == "":
+			template.Parameters[i].Value = templateInstance.Namespace
+			template.Parameters[i].Generate = ""
+		case param.Name == "OPENSHIFT_USERNAME" && param.Value == "":
+			template.Parameters[i].Value = templateInstance.Spec.Requester.Username
+			template.Parameters[i].Generate = ""
+		}
+	}
+
 	if err := util.Authorize(c.kc.Authorization().SubjectAccessReviews(), u, &authorization.ResourceAttributes{
 		Namespace: templateInstance.Namespace,
 		Verb:      "create",
diff --git a/test/extended/templates/templateinstance_parameters.go b/test/extended/templates/templateinstance_parameters.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..40f24de6f61f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/extended/templates/templateinstance_parameters.go
@@ -0,0 +1,115 @@
+package templates
+
+import (
+	"errors"
+	"time"
+
+	g "github.com/onsi/ginkgo"
+	o "github.com/onsi/gomega"
+
+	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
+	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime"
+	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/wait"
+	kapi "k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/api"
+	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/api/v1"
+
+	"github.com/openshift/origin/pkg/api/latest"
+	templateapi "github.com/openshift/origin/pkg/template/apis/template"
+	exutil "github.com/openshift/origin/test/extended/util"
+)
+
+// ensure that template parameters NAMESPACE and OPENSHIFT_USERNAME are
+// automatically filled out when empty, and overridden when not
+var _ = g.Describe("[templates] templateinstance parameter test", func() {
+	defer g.GinkgoRecover()
+
+	var (
+		cli = exutil.NewCLI("templates", exutil.KubeConfigPath())
+	)
+
+	g.It("should fill out NAMESPACE and OPENSHIFT_USERNAME parameters appropriately", func() {
+		templateinstance := &templateapi.TemplateInstance{
+			ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
+				Name: "templateinstance",
+			},
+			Spec: templateapi.TemplateInstanceSpec{
+				Template: templateapi.Template{
+					ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
+						Name:      "template",
+						Namespace: cli.Namespace(),
+					},
+					Parameters: []templateapi.Parameter{
+						{
+							Name: "NAMESPACE",
+						},
+						{
+							Name: "OPENSHIFT_USERNAME",
+						},
+					},
+				},
+			},
+		}
+
+		err := templateapi.AddObjectsToTemplate(&templateinstance.Spec.Template, []runtime.Object{
+			&v1.Secret{
+				ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
+					Name: "secret",
+				},
+				StringData: map[string]string{
+					"namespace": "${NAMESPACE}",
+					"username":  "${OPENSHIFT_USERNAME}",
+				},
+			},
+		}, latest.Versions...)
+		o.Expect(err).NotTo(o.HaveOccurred())
+
+		g.By("instantiating the templateinstance")
+		_, err = cli.TemplateClient().Template().TemplateInstances(cli.Namespace()).Create(templateinstance)
+		o.Expect(err).NotTo(o.HaveOccurred())
+
+		g.By("waiting for templateinstance")
+		err = waitForTemplateInstance(cli, cli.Namespace(), "templateinstance")
+		o.Expect(err).NotTo(o.HaveOccurred())
+
+		secret, err := cli.KubeClient().CoreV1().Secrets(cli.Namespace()).Get("secret", metav1.GetOptions{})
+		o.Expect(err).NotTo(o.HaveOccurred())
+		o.Expect(string(secret.Data["namespace"])).To(o.Equal(cli.Namespace()))
+		o.Expect(string(secret.Data["username"])).To(o.Equal(cli.Username()))
+
+		err = cli.KubeClient().CoreV1().Secrets(cli.Namespace()).Delete("secret", nil)
+		o.Expect(err).NotTo(o.HaveOccurred())
+
+		err = cli.TemplateClient().Template().TemplateInstances(cli.Namespace()).Delete("templateinstance", nil)
+		o.Expect(err).NotTo(o.HaveOccurred())
+
+		g.By("instantiating the templateinstance with overrides")
+		templateinstance.Spec.Template.Parameters[0].Value = "namespace-override"
+		templateinstance.Spec.Template.Parameters[1].Value = "username-override"
+		_, err = cli.TemplateClient().Template().TemplateInstances(cli.Namespace()).Create(templateinstance)
+		o.Expect(err).NotTo(o.HaveOccurred())
+
+		g.By("waiting for templateinstance")
+		err = waitForTemplateInstance(cli, cli.Namespace(), "templateinstance")
+		o.Expect(err).NotTo(o.HaveOccurred())
+
+		secret, err = cli.KubeClient().CoreV1().Secrets(cli.Namespace()).Get("secret", metav1.GetOptions{})
+		o.Expect(err).NotTo(o.HaveOccurred())
+		o.Expect(string(secret.Data["namespace"])).To(o.Equal("namespace-override"))
+		o.Expect(string(secret.Data["username"])).To(o.Equal("username-override"))
+	})
+})
+
+func waitForTemplateInstance(cli *exutil.CLI, namespace, name string) error {
+	return wait.Poll(time.Second, 30*time.Second, func() (bool, error) {
+		templateinstance, err := cli.TemplateClient().Template().TemplateInstances(namespace).Get(name, metav1.GetOptions{})
+		if err != nil {
+			return false, err
+		}
+
+		if templateinstance.HasCondition(templateapi.TemplateInstanceInstantiateFailure, kapi.ConditionTrue) {
+			return false, errors.New("templateinstance unexpectedly reported failure")
+		}
+
+		return templateinstance.HasCondition(templateapi.TemplateInstanceReady, kapi.ConditionTrue), nil
+	})
+}