diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 6298f0413e..081504c782 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 # ggplot2 (development version)
 
+* When discrete breaks have names, they'll be used as labels by default 
+  (@teunbrand, #6147).
 * The helper function `is.waiver()` is now exported to help extensions to work
   with `waiver()` objects (@arcresu, #6173).
 * Date(time) scales now throw appropriate errors when `date_breaks`, 
diff --git a/R/axis-secondary.R b/R/axis-secondary.R
index 401dd5a663..23d36092b6 100644
--- a/R/axis-secondary.R
+++ b/R/axis-secondary.R
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ AxisSecondary <- ggproto("AxisSecondary", NULL,
     if (is.derived(self$breaks)) self$breaks <- scale$breaks
     if (is.waiver(self$breaks)) {
       if (scale$is_discrete()) {
-        self$breaks <- scale$get_breaks()
+        self$breaks <- setNames(nm = scale$get_breaks())
       } else {
         breaks <- scale$get_transformation()$breaks
         n_breaks <- scale$n.breaks
@@ -235,7 +235,7 @@ AxisSecondary <- ggproto("AxisSecondary", NULL,
       self$mono_test(scale)
       breaks <- self$breaks
     } else {
-      breaks <- scale$map(self$breaks)
+      breaks <- setNames(scale$map(self$breaks), names(self$breaks))
     }
 
     # Get scale's original range before transformation
diff --git a/R/scale-.R b/R/scale-.R
index 94887df365..b8c03571bd 100644
--- a/R/scale-.R
+++ b/R/scale-.R
@@ -1031,7 +1031,8 @@ ScaleDiscrete <- ggproto("ScaleDiscrete", Scale,
     }
 
     # Breaks only occur only on values in domain
-    in_domain <- intersect(breaks, limits)
+    breaks <- setNames(as.character(breaks), names(breaks))
+    in_domain <- vec_set_intersect(breaks, as.character(limits))
     structure(in_domain, pos = match(in_domain, breaks))
   },
 
@@ -1085,6 +1086,9 @@ ScaleDiscrete <- ggproto("ScaleDiscrete", Scale,
     }
 
     if (is.waiver(self$labels)) {
+      if (!is.null(names(breaks))) {
+        return(names(breaks))
+      }
       if (is.numeric(breaks)) {
         # Only format numbers, because on Windows, format messes up encoding
         format(breaks, justify = "none")
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-scales-breaks-labels.R b/tests/testthat/test-scales-breaks-labels.R
index 899c048e71..42e3d67bb3 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-scales-breaks-labels.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-scales-breaks-labels.R
@@ -289,6 +289,17 @@ test_that("equal length breaks and labels can be passed to ViewScales with limit
   expect_identical(test_view_scale_rev$get_labels(), c(c("0", "20", "40")))
 })
 
+test_that("break names are returned as labels", {
+
+  sc <- scale_x_continuous(breaks = c(A = 10, B = 20, C = 30))
+  sc$train(c(10, 30))
+  expect_equal(sc$get_labels(), c("A", "B", "C"))
+
+  sc <- scale_x_discrete(breaks = c(foo = "A", bar = "B", qux = "C"))
+  sc$train(c(LETTERS[1:3]))
+  expect_equal(sc$get_labels(), c("foo", "bar", "qux"))
+})
+
 # Visual tests ------------------------------------------------------------
 
 test_that("minor breaks draw correctly", {