diff --git a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/ExtensionSpec.scala b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/ExtensionSpec.scala
index 1996020497..90deed788a 100644
--- a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/ExtensionSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/ExtensionSpec.scala
@@ -34,16 +34,17 @@ object FailingTestExtension extends ExtensionId[FailingTestExtension] with Exten
   class TestException extends IllegalArgumentException("ERR") with NoStackTrace
 }
 
-object InstanceCountingExtension extends ExtensionId[DummyExtensionImpl] with ExtensionIdProvider {
+object InstanceCountingExtension extends ExtensionId[InstanceCountingExtension] with ExtensionIdProvider {
   val createCount = new AtomicInteger(0)
-  override def createExtension(system: ExtendedActorSystem): DummyExtensionImpl = {
-    createCount.addAndGet(1)
-    new DummyExtensionImpl
+  override def createExtension(system: ExtendedActorSystem): InstanceCountingExtension = {
+    new InstanceCountingExtension
   }
   override def lookup(): ExtensionId[_ <: Extension] = this
 }
 
-class DummyExtensionImpl extends Extension
+class InstanceCountingExtension extends Extension {
+  InstanceCountingExtension.createCount.incrementAndGet()
+}
 
 // Dont't place inside ActorSystemSpec object, since it will not be garbage collected and reference to system remains
 class FailingTestExtension(val system: ExtendedActorSystem) extends Extension {
@@ -111,12 +112,33 @@ class ExtensionSpec extends AnyWordSpec with Matchers {
       shutdownActorSystem(system)
     }
 
-    "allow for auto-loading of library-extensions" in {
+    "allow for auto-loading of library-extensions from reference.conf" in {
+      import akka.util.ccompat.JavaConverters._
+      // could be initialized by other tests, but assuming tests are not running in parallel
+      val countBefore = InstanceCountingExtension.createCount.get()
       val system = ActorSystem("extensions")
-      val listedExtensions = system.settings.config.getStringList("akka.library-extensions")
-      listedExtensions.size should be > 0
-      // could be initialized by other tests, so at least once
-      InstanceCountingExtension.createCount.get() should be > 0
+      val listedExtensions = system.settings.config.getStringList("akka.library-extensions").asScala
+      listedExtensions.count(_.contains("InstanceCountingExtension")) should ===(1)
+
+      InstanceCountingExtension.createCount.get() - countBefore should ===(1)
+
+      shutdownActorSystem(system)
+    }
+
+    "not create duplicate instances when auto-loading of library-extensions" in {
+      import akka.util.ccompat.JavaConverters._
+      // could be initialized by other tests, but assuming tests are not running in parallel
+      val countBefore = InstanceCountingExtension.createCount.get()
+      val system = ActorSystem(
+        "extensions",
+        ConfigFactory.parseString(
+          """
+      akka.library-extensions = ["akka.actor.InstanceCountingExtension", "akka.actor.InstanceCountingExtension", "akka.actor.InstanceCountingExtension$"]
+      """))
+      val listedExtensions = system.settings.config.getStringList("akka.library-extensions").asScala
+      listedExtensions.count(_.contains("InstanceCountingExtension")) should ===(3) // testing duplicate names
+
+      InstanceCountingExtension.createCount.get() - countBefore should ===(1)
 
       shutdownActorSystem(system)
     }
diff --git a/akka-actor-typed/src/main/resources/reference.conf b/akka-actor-typed/src/main/resources/reference.conf
index f3f36a1f40..3cb166b939 100644
--- a/akka-actor-typed/src/main/resources/reference.conf
+++ b/akka-actor-typed/src/main/resources/reference.conf
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ akka.actor.typed {
   library-extensions = ${?akka.actor.typed.library-extensions} []
 
   # Receptionist is started eagerly to allow clustered receptionist to gather remote registrations early on.
-  library-extensions += "akka.actor.typed.receptionist.Receptionist"
+  library-extensions += "akka.actor.typed.receptionist.Receptionist$"
 
   # While an actor is restarted (waiting for backoff to expire and children to stop)
   # incoming messages and signals are stashed, and delivered later to the newly restarted
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/resources/reference.conf b/akka-actor/src/main/resources/reference.conf
index 9d3ba13270..76f4eceef8 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/resources/reference.conf
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/resources/reference.conf
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ akka {
   #
   # Should not be set by end user applications in 'application.conf', use the extensions property for that
   #
-  library-extensions = ${?akka.library-extensions} ["akka.serialization.SerializationExtension"]
+  library-extensions = ${?akka.library-extensions} ["akka.serialization.SerializationExtension$"]
 
   # List FQCN of extensions which shall be loaded at actor system startup.
   # Should be on the format: 'extensions = ["foo", "bar"]' etc.
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorSystem.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorSystem.scala
index d7e358a452..ea63ad7591 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorSystem.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorSystem.scala
@@ -1178,9 +1178,11 @@ private[akka] class ActorSystemImpl(
      *    when the extension cannot be found at all we throw regardless of this setting)
      */
     def loadExtensions(key: String, throwOnLoadFail: Boolean): Unit = {
+
       immutableSeq(settings.config.getStringList(key)).foreach { fqcn =>
         dynamicAccess.getObjectFor[AnyRef](fqcn).recoverWith {
-          case _ => dynamicAccess.createInstanceFor[AnyRef](fqcn, Nil)
+          case firstProblem =>
+            dynamicAccess.createInstanceFor[AnyRef](fqcn, Nil).recoverWith { case _ => Failure(firstProblem) }
         } match {
           case Success(p: ExtensionIdProvider) =>
             registerExtension(p.lookup())
diff --git a/akka-stream/src/main/resources/reference.conf b/akka-stream/src/main/resources/reference.conf
index 8cf220c6c8..dd982714a1 100644
--- a/akka-stream/src/main/resources/reference.conf
+++ b/akka-stream/src/main/resources/reference.conf
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 #####################################
 
 # eager creation of the system wide materializer
-akka.library-extensions += "akka.stream.SystemMaterializer"
+akka.library-extensions += "akka.stream.SystemMaterializer$"
 akka {
   stream {