diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index 7f43d777b2b..043eb5a0d1f 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ v 8.9.0 (unreleased)
   - Use gitlab-shell v3.0.0
   - Fixed alignment of download dropdown in merge requests
   - Upgrade to jQuery 2
+  - Adds selected branch name to the dropdown toggle
   - Use Knapsack to evenly distribute tests across multiple nodes
   - Add `sha` parameter to MR merge API, to ensure only reviewed changes are merged
   - Don't allow MRs to be merged when commits were added since the last review / page load
diff --git a/app/views/projects/merge_requests/_new_compare.html.haml b/app/views/projects/merge_requests/_new_compare.html.haml
index b08524574e4..de39964fca8 100644
--- a/app/views/projects/merge_requests/_new_compare.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/projects/merge_requests/_new_compare.html.haml
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
                   selected: f.object.source_project_id
           .merge-request-select.dropdown
             = f.hidden_field :source_branch
-            = dropdown_toggle "Select source branch", { toggle: "dropdown", field_name: "#{f.object_name}[source_branch]" }, { toggle_class: "js-compare-dropdown js-source-branch" }
+            = dropdown_toggle f.object.source_branch || "Select source branch", { toggle: "dropdown", field_name: "#{f.object_name}[source_branch]" }, { toggle_class: "js-compare-dropdown js-source-branch" }
             .dropdown-menu.dropdown-menu-selectable.dropdown-source-branch
               = dropdown_title("Select source branch")
               = dropdown_filter("Search branches")