diff --git a/phpcs.xml.dist b/phpcs.xml.dist
index 2c4546c7..e7b29566 100644
--- a/phpcs.xml.dist
+++ b/phpcs.xml.dist
@@ -37,6 +37,14 @@
 		</properties>
 	</rule>
 
+	<!-- Allow for theme specific exceptions to the file name rules based
+		 on the theme hierarchy. -->
+	<rule ref="WordPress.Files.FileName">
+		<properties>
+			<property name="is_theme" value="true" />
+		</properties>
+	</rule>
+
 	<!-- Include sniffs for PHP cross-version compatibility. -->
 	<config name="testVersion" value="5.2-99.0"/>
 	<rule ref="PHPCompatibility"/>