Connecting without specifying a database

Can PQconnectdb(), or something else, be used without specifying the
dbname in the connection string? I want to connect just so that I can
create a database that does not exist yet.

When I don't specify the dbname, PQconnectdb() tries to connect to a
database with the same name as the user, and then complains that it does
not exist. Is it really necessary for each user to have an empty
database like this?

-- 
Murray Cumming
murrayc@murrayc.com
www.murrayc.com
www.openismus.com