diff --git a/modules/ui/modeline/autoload/settings.el b/modules/ui/modeline/autoload/settings.el
index f4891edba..3e0441aae 100644
--- a/modules/ui/modeline/autoload/settings.el
+++ b/modules/ui/modeline/autoload/settings.el
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ keep them left and right aligned respectively."
                    (if (eq realvar name)
                        `((defvar-local ,name nil ,docstring)
                          (setq-default ,name ,init))
-                     `((defvar-local ,realvar nil)
+                     `((defvar-local ,realvar ,init)
                        (defvar-local ,name nil ,docstring)
                        (setq-default
                         ,name '(:eval (cond ((active) ,realvar)
diff --git a/modules/ui/modeline/config.el b/modules/ui/modeline/config.el
index 7ad96885e..984e620c4 100644
--- a/modules/ui/modeline/config.el
+++ b/modules/ui/modeline/config.el
@@ -291,6 +291,7 @@ buffers.")
 
 (def-modeline-segment! +modeline-buffer-id
   :on-hooks (find-file-hook after-save-hook after-revert-hook)
+  :init "%b"
   :faces t
   (if buffer-file-name
       (funcall +modeline-buffer-path-function buffer-file-name)