diff --git a/docs/source/changes.md b/docs/source/changes.md
index ecbe2459..3202775e 100644
--- a/docs/source/changes.md
+++ b/docs/source/changes.md
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ releases are available on [PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/pytask) and
   with path nodes.
 - {pull}`485` adds missing steps to unconfigure pytask after the job is done which
   caused flaky tests.
+- {pull}`486` adds default names to {class}`~pytask.PPathNode`.
 
 ## 0.4.2 - 2023-11-8
 
diff --git a/src/_pytask/collect.py b/src/_pytask/collect.py
index be9d4d3d..719ef174 100644
--- a/src/_pytask/collect.py
+++ b/src/_pytask/collect.py
@@ -344,7 +344,7 @@ def pytask_collect_node(session: Session, path: Path, node_info: NodeInfo) -> PN
             node.path, session.config["check_casing_of_paths"]
         )
 
-    if isinstance(node, PathNode) and (
+    if isinstance(node, PPathNode) and (
         not node.name or node.name == node.path.as_posix()
     ):
         # Shorten name of PathNodes.
diff --git a/src/_pytask/nodes.py b/src/_pytask/nodes.py
index a296fd47..5897af9d 100644
--- a/src/_pytask/nodes.py
+++ b/src/_pytask/nodes.py
@@ -157,8 +157,8 @@ class PathNode(PPathNode):
 
     """
 
-    name: str
     path: Path
+    name: str = ""
 
     @property
     def signature(self) -> str:
@@ -298,8 +298,8 @@ class PickleNode:
 
     """
 
-    name: str
     path: Path
+    name: str = ""
 
     @property
     def signature(self) -> str:
diff --git a/tests/test_collect.py b/tests/test_collect.py
index c10b493d..7cb78ce5 100644
--- a/tests/test_collect.py
+++ b/tests/test_collect.py
@@ -578,8 +578,8 @@ def task_example(path: Annotated[Path, Path("file.txt"), Product]) -> None: ...
     "node",
     [
         "Path(__file__).parent",
-        "PathNode(name='path', path=Path(__file__).parent)",
-        "PickleNode(name='', path=Path(__file__).parent)",
+        "PathNode(path=Path(__file__).parent)",
+        "PickleNode(path=Path(__file__).parent)",
     ],
 )
 def test_error_when_path_dependency_is_directory(runner, tmp_path, node):
@@ -599,8 +599,8 @@ def task_example(path = {node}): ...
     "node",
     [
         "Path(__file__).parent",
-        "PathNode(name='path', path=Path(__file__).parent)",
-        "PickleNode(name='', path=Path(__file__).parent)",
+        "PathNode(path=Path(__file__).parent)",
+        "PickleNode(path=Path(__file__).parent)",
     ],
 )
 def test_error_when_path_product_is_directory(runner, tmp_path, node):
@@ -616,3 +616,28 @@ def task_example(path: Annotated[Any, Product] = {node}): ...
     result = runner.invoke(cli, [tmp_path.as_posix()])
     assert result.exit_code == ExitCode.COLLECTION_FAILED
     assert all(i in result.output for i in ("only", "files", "are", "allowed"))
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "node",
+    [
+        "Path(__file__).parent / 'file.txt'",
+        "PathNode(path=Path(__file__).parent / 'file.txt')",
+        "PickleNode(path=Path(__file__).parent / 'file.txt')",
+    ],
+)
+def test_default_name_of_path_nodes(tmp_path, node):
+    source = f"""
+    from pathlib import Path
+    from pytask import PickleNode, Product, PathNode
+    from typing_extensions import Annotated
+    from typing import Any
+
+    def task_example() -> Annotated[str, {node}]:
+        return "Hello, World!"
+    """
+    tmp_path.joinpath("task_example.py").write_text(textwrap.dedent(source))
+    session = build(paths=tmp_path)
+    assert session.exit_code == ExitCode.OK
+    assert tmp_path.joinpath("file.txt").exists()
+    assert session.tasks[0].produces["return"].name == tmp_path.name + "/file.txt"