diff --git a/src/plugins/qmldesigner/designercore/model/texttomodelmerger.cpp b/src/plugins/qmldesigner/designercore/model/texttomodelmerger.cpp
index 48a56838eb325fe5e5222f0a25d090918903acfd..a28f1b830e00f4a707757c704c468e083c58d30c 100644
--- a/src/plugins/qmldesigner/designercore/model/texttomodelmerger.cpp
+++ b/src/plugins/qmldesigner/designercore/model/texttomodelmerger.cpp
@@ -992,7 +992,7 @@ void TextToModelMerger::syncNode(ModelNode &modelNode,
             if (property->name.isEmpty() || property->memberType.isEmpty())
                 continue; // better safe than sorry.
 
-            const QString &astName = property->name.toString();
+            const QStringRef astName = property->name;
             QString astValue;
             if (property->statement)
                 astValue = textAt(context->doc(),