diff --git a/clang-tools-extra/clangd/refactor/Rename.cpp b/clang-tools-extra/clangd/refactor/Rename.cpp
--- a/clang-tools-extra/clangd/refactor/Rename.cpp
+++ b/clang-tools-extra/clangd/refactor/Rename.cpp
@@ -96,7 +96,13 @@
   return Result;
 }
 
+// By default, we blacklist C++ standard symbols and protobuf symbols as rename
+// these symbols would change system/generated files which are unlikely to be
+// modified.
 bool isBlacklisted(const NamedDecl &RenameDecl) {
+  if (isProtoFile(RenameDecl.getLocation(),
+                  RenameDecl.getASTContext().getSourceManager()))
+    return true;
   static const auto *StdSymbols = new llvm::DenseSet<llvm::StringRef>({
 #define SYMBOL(Name, NameSpace, Header) {#NameSpace #Name},
 #include "StdSymbolMap.inc"
diff --git a/clang-tools-extra/clangd/unittests/RenameTests.cpp b/clang-tools-extra/clangd/unittests/RenameTests.cpp
--- a/clang-tools-extra/clangd/unittests/RenameTests.cpp
+++ b/clang-tools-extra/clangd/unittests/RenameTests.cpp
@@ -630,6 +630,21 @@
             expectedResult(Code, NewName));
 }
 
+TEST(RenameTest, ProtobufSymbolIsBlacklisted) {
+  Annotations Code("Prot^obuf buf;");
+  auto TU = TestTU::withCode(Code.code());
+  TU.HeaderCode =
+      R"cpp(// Generated by the protocol buffer compiler.  DO NOT EDIT!
+      class Protobuf {};
+      )cpp";
+  TU.HeaderFilename = "protobuf.pb.h";
+  auto AST = TU.build();
+  auto Results = rename({Code.point(), "newName", AST, testPath(TU.Filename)});
+  EXPECT_FALSE(Results);
+  EXPECT_THAT(llvm::toString(Results.takeError()),
+              testing::HasSubstr("not a supported kind"));
+}
+
 TEST(CrossFileRenameTests, DirtyBuffer) {
   Annotations FooCode("class [[Foo]] {};");
   std::string FooPath = testPath("foo.cc");