diff --git a/akka-remote/src/main/resources/reference.conf b/akka-remote/src/main/resources/reference.conf
index b1900a237e..fb5b843e17 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/main/resources/reference.conf
+++ b/akka-remote/src/main/resources/reference.conf
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ akka {
 
   cluster {
     name = "default-cluster"
-    nodename = ""
+    nodename = "default"
     seed-nodes = []
   }
 }
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/Remote.scala b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/Remote.scala
index b1425a2754..d9de67c473 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/Remote.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/Remote.scala
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ class Remote(val settings: ActorSystem.Settings, val remoteSettings: RemoteSetti
       }
     }
 
-    log.info("Starting remote server on [{}]", remoteAddress)
+    log.info("Starting remote server on [{}] with node name [{}]", remoteAddress, provider.nodename)
   }
 }
 
@@ -142,9 +142,9 @@ class RemoteSystemDaemon(system: ActorSystemImpl, remote: Remote, _path: ActorPa
 
     val full = Vector() ++ names
     rec(full.mkString("/"), 0) match {
-      case (Nobody, _)        ⇒ Nobody
-      case (ref, n) if n == 0 ⇒ ref
-      case (ref, n)           ⇒ ref.getChild(full.takeRight(n).iterator)
+      case (Nobody, _) ⇒ Nobody
+      case (ref, 0)    ⇒ ref
+      case (ref, n)    ⇒ ref.getChild(full.takeRight(n).iterator)
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteExtension.scala b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteExtension.scala
index 5c5d41b0d4..80e870c076 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteExtension.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteExtension.scala
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ class RemoteSettings(val config: Config, val systemName: String) extends Extensi
   }
 
   val NodeName: String = config.getString("akka.cluster.nodename") match {
-    case ""    ⇒ throw new ConfigurationException("akka.cluster.nodename configuration property must be defined")
+    case ""    ⇒ throw new ConfigurationException("Configuration option 'akka.cluster.nodename' must be non-empty.")
     case value ⇒ value
   }