diff --git a/src/Mod/PartDesign/Gui/ReferenceSelection.cpp b/src/Mod/PartDesign/Gui/ReferenceSelection.cpp
index ba2abaf0b7..5c86f5ec23 100644
--- a/src/Mod/PartDesign/Gui/ReferenceSelection.cpp
+++ b/src/Mod/PartDesign/Gui/ReferenceSelection.cpp
@@ -370,14 +370,20 @@ QString getRefStr(const App::DocumentObject* obj, const std::vector<std::string>
         return {};
     }
 
-    if (PartDesign::Feature::isDatum(obj) || obj->isDerivedFrom<Part::Part2DObject>()) {
+    if (PartDesign::Feature::isDatum(obj)) {
         return QString::fromLatin1(obj->getNameInDocument());
     }
-    else if (!sub.empty()) {
+
+    if (!sub.empty() && !sub.front().empty()) {
         return QString::fromLatin1(obj->getNameInDocument()) + QStringLiteral(":")
             + QString::fromLatin1(sub.front().c_str());
     }
 
+    if (obj->isDerivedFrom<Part::Part2DObject>()) {
+        // only return bare name for sketches when no subelement is specified
+        return QString::fromLatin1(obj->getNameInDocument());
+    }
+
     return {};
 }