diff --git a/babel/messages/catalog.py b/babel/messages/catalog.py
index f72a34fca..ca4a5680c 100644
--- a/babel/messages/catalog.py
+++ b/babel/messages/catalog.py
@@ -673,7 +673,7 @@ def delete(self, id, context=None):
         if key in self._messages:
             del self._messages[key]
 
-    def update(self, template, no_fuzzy_matching=False):
+    def update(self, template, no_fuzzy_matching=False, update_header_comment=False):
         """Update the catalog based on the given template catalog.
 
         >>> from babel.messages import Catalog
@@ -798,9 +798,10 @@ def _merge(message, oldkey, newkey):
             if no_fuzzy_matching or msgid not in fuzzy_matches:
                 self.obsolete[msgid] = remaining[msgid]
 
-        # Allow the updated catalog's header to be rewritten based on the
-        # template's header
-        self.header_comment = template.header_comment
+        if update_header_comment:
+            # Allow the updated catalog's header to be rewritten based on the
+            # template's header
+            self.header_comment = template.header_comment
 
         # Make updated catalog's POT-Creation-Date equal to the template
         # used to update the catalog
diff --git a/babel/messages/frontend.py b/babel/messages/frontend.py
index 5f6b14165..d9919f631 100755
--- a/babel/messages/frontend.py
+++ b/babel/messages/frontend.py
@@ -545,10 +545,12 @@ class update_catalog(Command):
          'whether to omit obsolete messages from the output'),
         ('no-fuzzy-matching', 'N',
          'do not use fuzzy matching'),
+        ('update-header-comment', None,
+         'update target header comment'),
         ('previous', None,
          'keep previous msgids of translated messages')
     ]
-    boolean_options = ['ignore_obsolete', 'no_fuzzy_matching', 'previous']
+    boolean_options = ['ignore_obsolete', 'no_fuzzy_matching', 'previous', 'update_header_comment']
 
     def initialize_options(self):
         self.domain = 'messages'
@@ -560,6 +562,7 @@ def initialize_options(self):
         self.no_wrap = False
         self.ignore_obsolete = False
         self.no_fuzzy_matching = False
+        self.update_header_comment = False
         self.previous = False
 
     def finalize_options(self):
@@ -619,7 +622,10 @@ def run(self):
             finally:
                 infile.close()
 
-            catalog.update(template, self.no_fuzzy_matching)
+            catalog.update(
+                template, self.no_fuzzy_matching,
+                update_header_comment=self.update_header_comment
+            )
 
             tmpname = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(filename),
                                    tempfile.gettempprefix() +
diff --git a/tests/messages/test_catalog.py b/tests/messages/test_catalog.py
index 7d18d80a9..3eeaf64ec 100644
--- a/tests/messages/test_catalog.py
+++ b/tests/messages/test_catalog.py
@@ -440,7 +440,6 @@ def test_catalog_update():
 
     cat.update(template)
     assert len(cat) == 3
-    assert cat.header_comment == template.header_comment  # Header comment also gets updated
 
     msg1 = cat['green']
     msg1.string
@@ -457,6 +456,9 @@ def test_catalog_update():
     assert not 'head' in cat
     assert list(cat.obsolete.values())[0].id == 'head'
 
+    cat.update(template, update_header_comment=True)
+    assert cat.header_comment == template.header_comment  # Header comment also gets updated
+
 
 def test_datetime_parsing():
     val1 = catalog._parse_datetime_header('2006-06-28 23:24+0200')