diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/resources/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/JGitText.properties b/org.eclipse.jgit/resources/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/JGitText.properties
index dacdd0542..f626724c4 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/resources/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/JGitText.properties
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/resources/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/JGitText.properties
@@ -457,6 +457,7 @@ noMergeBase=No merge base could be determined. Reason={0}. {1}
 noMergeHeadSpecified=No merge head specified
 nonBareLinkFilesNotSupported=Link files are not supported with nonbare repos
 noSuchRef=no such ref
+noSuchSubmodule=no such submodule {0}
 notABoolean=Not a boolean: {0}
 notABundle=not a bundle
 notADIRCFile=Not a DIRC file.
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/api/SubmoduleInitCommand.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/api/SubmoduleInitCommand.java
index acca02983..6af27d704 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/api/SubmoduleInitCommand.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/api/SubmoduleInitCommand.java
@@ -110,16 +110,17 @@ public class SubmoduleInitCommand extends GitCommand<Collection<String>> {
 					continue;
 
 				String path = generator.getPath();
+				String name = generator.getModuleName();
 				// Copy 'url' and 'update' fields from .gitmodules to config
 				// file
 				String url = generator.getRemoteUrl();
 				String update = generator.getModulesUpdate();
 				if (url != null)
 					config.setString(ConfigConstants.CONFIG_SUBMODULE_SECTION,
-							path, ConfigConstants.CONFIG_KEY_URL, url);
+							name, ConfigConstants.CONFIG_KEY_URL, url);
 				if (update != null)
 					config.setString(ConfigConstants.CONFIG_SUBMODULE_SECTION,
-							path, ConfigConstants.CONFIG_KEY_UPDATE, update);
+							name, ConfigConstants.CONFIG_KEY_UPDATE, update);
 				if (url != null || update != null)
 					initialized.add(path);
 			}
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/JGitText.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/JGitText.java
index 836312276..5241ea232 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/JGitText.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/JGitText.java
@@ -518,6 +518,7 @@ public class JGitText extends TranslationBundle {
 	/***/ public String noMergeHeadSpecified;
 	/***/ public String nonBareLinkFilesNotSupported;
 	/***/ public String noSuchRef;
+	/***/ public String noSuchSubmodule;
 	/***/ public String notABoolean;
 	/***/ public String notABundle;
 	/***/ public String notADIRCFile;
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/submodule/SubmoduleWalk.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/submodule/SubmoduleWalk.java
index 1d970db94..0e4cd904c 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/submodule/SubmoduleWalk.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/submodule/SubmoduleWalk.java
@@ -616,6 +616,15 @@ public class SubmoduleWalk implements AutoCloseable {
 		return path;
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * The module name for the current submodule entry (used for the section name of .git/config)
+	 * @since 4.10
+	 * @return name
+	 */
+	public String getModuleName() {
+		return getModuleName(path);
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Get object id of current submodule entry
 	 *
@@ -636,7 +645,7 @@ public class SubmoduleWalk implements AutoCloseable {
 	public String getModulesPath() throws IOException, ConfigInvalidException {
 		lazyLoadModulesConfig();
 		return modulesConfig.getString(ConfigConstants.CONFIG_SUBMODULE_SECTION,
-				getModuleName(path), ConfigConstants.CONFIG_KEY_PATH);
+				getModuleName(), ConfigConstants.CONFIG_KEY_PATH);
 	}
 
 	/**
@@ -648,12 +657,8 @@ public class SubmoduleWalk implements AutoCloseable {
 	 * @throws java.io.IOException
 	 */
 	public String getConfigUrl() throws IOException, ConfigInvalidException {
-		// SubmoduleInitCommand copies the submodules.*.url and
-		// submodules.*.update values from .gitmodules to the config, and
-		// does so using the path defined in .gitmodules as the subsection
-		// name. So no path-to-name translation is necessary here.
 		return repoConfig.getString(ConfigConstants.CONFIG_SUBMODULE_SECTION,
-				path, ConfigConstants.CONFIG_KEY_URL);
+				getModuleName(), ConfigConstants.CONFIG_KEY_URL);
 	}
 
 	/**
@@ -667,7 +672,7 @@ public class SubmoduleWalk implements AutoCloseable {
 	public String getModulesUrl() throws IOException, ConfigInvalidException {
 		lazyLoadModulesConfig();
 		return modulesConfig.getString(ConfigConstants.CONFIG_SUBMODULE_SECTION,
-				getModuleName(path), ConfigConstants.CONFIG_KEY_URL);
+				getModuleName(), ConfigConstants.CONFIG_KEY_URL);
 	}
 
 	/**
@@ -680,7 +685,7 @@ public class SubmoduleWalk implements AutoCloseable {
 	 */
 	public String getConfigUpdate() throws IOException, ConfigInvalidException {
 		return repoConfig.getString(ConfigConstants.CONFIG_SUBMODULE_SECTION,
-				path, ConfigConstants.CONFIG_KEY_UPDATE);
+				getModuleName(), ConfigConstants.CONFIG_KEY_UPDATE);
 	}
 
 	/**
@@ -694,7 +699,7 @@ public class SubmoduleWalk implements AutoCloseable {
 	public String getModulesUpdate() throws IOException, ConfigInvalidException {
 		lazyLoadModulesConfig();
 		return modulesConfig.getString(ConfigConstants.CONFIG_SUBMODULE_SECTION,
-				getModuleName(path), ConfigConstants.CONFIG_KEY_UPDATE);
+				getModuleName(), ConfigConstants.CONFIG_KEY_UPDATE);
 	}
 
 	/**
@@ -710,7 +715,7 @@ public class SubmoduleWalk implements AutoCloseable {
 			ConfigInvalidException {
 		lazyLoadModulesConfig();
 		return modulesConfig.getEnum(IgnoreSubmoduleMode.values(),
-				ConfigConstants.CONFIG_SUBMODULE_SECTION, getModuleName(path),
+				ConfigConstants.CONFIG_SUBMODULE_SECTION, getModuleName(),
 				ConfigConstants.CONFIG_KEY_IGNORE, IgnoreSubmoduleMode.NONE);
 	}