if foo.csv is a csv file with some empty values and a header row (also with some empty values) you can fill in defaults within octave using this method:
d = csv2cell('foo.csv')
e = cellfun('isempty', d)
eh = false(size(e))
en = false(size(e))
eh(1, :) = e(1, :)
en(2:end, :) = e(2:end, :)
d(eh) = {'No header name'}
d(en) = {NaN}