diff --git a/dev-packages/application-package/package.json b/dev-packages/application-package/package.json
index 914f0aeda70de..12364a87c9a41 100644
--- a/dev-packages/application-package/package.json
+++ b/dev-packages/application-package/package.json
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@
     "@types/semver": "^5.4.0",
     "@types/write-json-file": "^2.2.1",
     "changes-stream": "^2.2.0",
+    "deepmerge": "2.0.1",
     "fs-extra": "^4.0.2",
     "is-electron": "^2.1.0",
     "request": "^2.82.0",
diff --git a/dev-packages/application-package/src/application-package.ts b/dev-packages/application-package/src/application-package.ts
index 0824bf722aa5e..79c81a30c9f24 100644
--- a/dev-packages/application-package/src/application-package.ts
+++ b/dev-packages/application-package/src/application-package.ts
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import { NpmRegistry, NodePackage, PublishedNodePackage, sortByKey } from './npm
 import { Extension, ExtensionPackage, RawExtensionPackage } from './extension-package';
 import { ExtensionPackageCollector } from './extension-package-collector';
 import { ApplicationProps } from './application-props';
+const merge = require('deepmerge');
 
 // tslint:disable:no-implicit-dependencies
 
@@ -87,7 +88,7 @@ export class ApplicationPackage {
             theia.target = defaultTarget;
         }
 
-        return this._props = { ...ApplicationProps.DEFAULT, ...theia };
+        return this._props = merge(ApplicationProps.DEFAULT, theia);
     }
 
     protected _pck: NodePackage | undefined;
diff --git a/dev-packages/application-package/src/application-props.ts b/dev-packages/application-package/src/application-props.ts
index 6832583556612..ccb36f36e1935 100644
--- a/dev-packages/application-package/src/application-props.ts
+++ b/dev-packages/application-package/src/application-props.ts
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ export interface FrontendApplicationConfig extends ApplicationConfig {
     readonly defaultTheme?: string;
 
     /**
-     * The name of the application. `Theia` by default.
+     * The name of the application. `Eclipse Theia` by default.
      */
     readonly applicationName: string;