diff --git a/libs/backends/alsa/alsa_audiobackend.cc b/libs/backends/alsa/alsa_audiobackend.cc
index b5d04fbfe1..e7cf8bd334 100644
--- a/libs/backends/alsa/alsa_audiobackend.cc
+++ b/libs/backends/alsa/alsa_audiobackend.cc
@@ -1366,6 +1366,7 @@ void*
 AlsaAudioBackend::_midi_device_thread (void* arg)
 {
 	AlsaAudioBackend* self = static_cast<AlsaAudioBackend*> (arg);
+	pthread_set_name ("ALSA-MIDI-LIST");
 	self->midi_device_thread ();
 	pthread_exit (0);
 	return 0;
diff --git a/libs/pbd/base_ui.cc b/libs/pbd/base_ui.cc
index 32a0b9557d..34b972b3a4 100644
--- a/libs/pbd/base_ui.cc
+++ b/libs/pbd/base_ui.cc
@@ -93,6 +93,7 @@ BaseUI::set_thread_priority () const
 void
 BaseUI::main_thread ()
 {
+	pthread_set_name (string_compose ("UI:%1", event_loop_name ()).c_str ());
 	DEBUG_TRACE (DEBUG::EventLoop, string_compose ("%1: event loop running in thread %2\n", event_loop_name(), pthread_name()));
 	set_event_loop_for_thread (this);
 	thread_init ();
diff --git a/libs/pbd/file_archive.cc b/libs/pbd/file_archive.cc
index 68d5f0cebf..158ae68e51 100644
--- a/libs/pbd/file_archive.cc
+++ b/libs/pbd/file_archive.cc
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@
 #include "pbd/failed_constructor.h"
 #include "pbd/file_archive.h"
 #include "pbd/file_utils.h"
+#include "pbd/pthread_utils.h"
 
 using namespace PBD;
 
@@ -59,6 +60,7 @@ write_callback (void* buffer, size_t size, size_t nmemb, void* d)
 static void*
 get_url (void* arg)
 {
+	pthread_set_name ("FileArchiveURL");
 	FileArchive::Request* r = (FileArchive::Request*) arg;
 	CURL* curl;