diff --git a/src/icon.c b/src/icon.c
index 943e2d84..14278d2c 100644
--- a/src/icon.c
+++ b/src/icon.c
@@ -331,6 +331,14 @@ void wIconChangeTitle(WIcon *icon, WWindow *wwin)
 	/* Set the new one, using two methods to identify
 	the icon name or switch back to window name */
 	icon->icon_name = wNETWMGetIconName(wwin->client_win);
+	if (icon->icon_name) {
+		/* treat empty string as unset */
+		if (icon->icon_name[0] == '\0') {
+			XFree(icon->icon_name);
+			icon->icon_name = NULL;
+		}
+	}
+
 	if (!icon->icon_name)
 		if (!wGetIconName(dpy, wwin->client_win, &icon->icon_name))
 			icon->icon_name = wNETWMGetWindowName(wwin->client_win);