diff --git a/doc/source/whatsnew/v0.15.1.txt b/doc/source/whatsnew/v0.15.1.txt
index 0755931bed990..c666a19bcd133 100644
--- a/doc/source/whatsnew/v0.15.1.txt
+++ b/doc/source/whatsnew/v0.15.1.txt
@@ -171,3 +171,5 @@ Bug Fixes
 
 
 - Fixed a bug where plotting a column ``y`` and specifying a label would mutate the index name of the original DataFrame (:issue:`8494`)
+
+- Bug in ``date_range`` where partially-specified dates would incorporate current date (:issue:`6961`)
diff --git a/pandas/tseries/tests/test_daterange.py b/pandas/tseries/tests/test_daterange.py
index b109f6585092a..500e19d36fff6 100644
--- a/pandas/tseries/tests/test_daterange.py
+++ b/pandas/tseries/tests/test_daterange.py
@@ -470,6 +470,12 @@ def test_range_closed(self):
             self.assertTrue(expected_left.equals(left))
             self.assertTrue(expected_right.equals(right))
 
+    def test_years_only(self):
+        # GH 6961
+        dr = date_range('2014', '2015', freq='M')
+        self.assertEqual(dr[0], datetime(2014, 1, 31))
+        self.assertEqual(dr[-1], datetime(2014, 12, 31))
+
 
 class TestCustomDateRange(tm.TestCase):