diff --git a/src/conky.cc b/src/conky.cc
index fc6980e3..60e2bf4a 100644
--- a/src/conky.cc
+++ b/src/conky.cc
@@ -2574,7 +2574,6 @@ static void set_default_configurations(void)
 #ifdef OWN_WINDOW
 	window.type = TYPE_NORMAL;
 	window.hints = 0;
-	strcpy(window.class_name, PACKAGE_NAME);
 	sprintf(window.title, PACKAGE_NAME" (%s)", info.uname_s.nodename);
 #ifdef BUILD_ARGB
 	use_argb_visual = 0;
@@ -3243,13 +3242,6 @@ char load_config_file(const char *f)
 		}
 #ifdef BUILD_X11
 #ifdef OWN_WINDOW
-		CONF("own_window_class") {
-			if (value) {
-				memset(window.class_name, 0, sizeof(window.class_name));
-				strncpy(window.class_name, value,
-						sizeof(window.class_name) - 1);
-			}
-		}
 		CONF("own_window_title") {
 			if (value) {
 				memset(window.title, 0, sizeof(window.title));
diff --git a/src/x11.cc b/src/x11.cc
index d0fc2e42..ece605eb 100644
--- a/src/x11.cc
+++ b/src/x11.cc
@@ -356,7 +356,14 @@ void init_window(int w, int h, int set_trans, int back_colour,
 					window.y, w, h, 0, depth, InputOutput, visual,
 					flags, &attrs);
 
-			classHint.res_name = window.class_name;
+			// class_name must be a named local variable, so that c_str() remains valid until we
+			// call XmbSetWMProperties(). We use const_cast because, for whatever reason,
+			// res_name is not declared as const char *. XmbSetWMProperties hopefully doesn't
+			// modify the value (hell, even their own example app assigns a literal string
+			// constant to the field)
+			const std::string &class_name = own_window_class.get(*state);
+
+			classHint.res_name = const_cast<char *>(class_name.c_str());
 			classHint.res_class = classHint.res_name;
 
 			wmHint.flags = InputHint | StateHint;
@@ -931,4 +938,6 @@ conky::config_setting<bool> out_to_x("out_to_x", conky::simple_accessors<bool>(f
 
 #ifdef OWN_WINDOW
 conky::config_setting<bool> own_window("own_window", conky::simple_accessors<bool>(false, false));
+conky::config_setting<std::string> own_window_class("own_window_class",
+									conky::simple_accessors<std::string>(PACKAGE_NAME, false));
 #endif
diff --git a/src/x11.h b/src/x11.h
index a55c5d4f..a008033f 100644
--- a/src/x11.h
+++ b/src/x11.h
@@ -83,7 +83,6 @@ struct conky_window {
 	int width;
 	int height;
 #ifdef OWN_WINDOW
-	char class_name[256];
 	char title[256];
 	int x;
 	int y;
@@ -158,6 +157,7 @@ extern conky::config_setting<bool>      out_to_x;
 
 #ifdef OWN_WINDOW
 extern conky::config_setting<bool>      own_window;
+extern conky::config_setting<std::string> own_window_class;
 #endif
 
 #endif /*X11_H_*/