diff a/src/hotspot/share/runtime/thread.cpp b/src/hotspot/share/runtime/thread.cpp
--- a/src/hotspot/share/runtime/thread.cpp
+++ b/src/hotspot/share/runtime/thread.cpp
@@ -1327,11 +1327,10 @@
   _gc_id(GCId::undefined())
 {}
 
 NamedThread::~NamedThread() {
   FREE_C_HEAP_ARRAY(char, _name);
-  _name = NULL;
 }
 
 void NamedThread::set_name(const char* format, ...) {
   guarantee(_name == NULL, "Only get to set name once.");
   _name = NEW_C_HEAP_ARRAY(char, max_name_len, mtThread);