diff --git a/templates/repo/branch_dropdown.tmpl b/templates/repo/branch_dropdown.tmpl
index 79eff1c53..d826eee4f 100644
--- a/templates/repo/branch_dropdown.tmpl
+++ b/templates/repo/branch_dropdown.tmpl
@@ -3,12 +3,12 @@
 * ContainerClasses
 * (TODO: search "branch_dropdown" in the template direcotry)
 */}}
-{{$defaultBranch := $.root.BranchName}}
+{{$defaultSelectedRefName := $.root.BranchName}}
 {{if and .root.IsViewTag (not .noTag)}}
-	{{$defaultBranch = .root.TagName}}
+	{{$defaultSelectedRefName = .root.TagName}}
 {{end}}
-{{if eq $defaultBranch ""}}
-	{{$defaultBranch = $.root.Repository.DefaultBranch}}
+{{if eq $defaultSelectedRefName ""}}
+	{{$defaultSelectedRefName = $.root.Repository.DefaultBranch}}
 {{end}}
 
 {{$type := ""}}
@@ -45,7 +45,8 @@
 		'tagName': {{.root.TagName}},
 		'branchName': {{.root.BranchName}},
 		'noTag': {{.noTag}},
-		'defaultBranch': {{$defaultBranch}},
+		'defaultSelectedRefName': {{$defaultSelectedRefName}},
+		'repoDefaultBranch': {{.root.Repository.DefaultBranch}},
 		'enableFeed': {{.root.EnableFeed}},
 		'rssURLPrefix': '{{$.root.RepoLink}}/rss/branch/',
 		'branchURLPrefix': '{{if .branchURLPrefix}}{{.branchURLPrefix}}{{else}}{{$.root.RepoLink}}/{{if $.root.PageIsCommits}}commits{{else}}src{{end}}/branch/{{end}}',
diff --git a/web_src/js/components/RepoBranchTagSelector.vue b/web_src/js/components/RepoBranchTagSelector.vue
index b64b66d18..30bff6d23 100644
--- a/web_src/js/components/RepoBranchTagSelector.vue
+++ b/web_src/js/components/RepoBranchTagSelector.vue
@@ -190,16 +190,15 @@ const sfc = {
       }
       this.isLoading = true;
       try {
-        // the "data.defaultBranch" is ambiguous, it could be "branch name" or "tag name"
         const reqUrl = `${this.repoLink}/${this.mode}/list`;
         const resp = await fetch(reqUrl);
         const {results} = await resp.json();
         for (const result of results) {
           let selected = false;
           if (this.mode === 'branches') {
-            selected = result === this.defaultBranch;
+            selected = result === this.defaultSelectedRefName;
           } else {
-            selected = result === (this.release ? this.release.tagName : this.defaultBranch);
+            selected = result === (this.release ? this.release.tagName : this.defaultSelectedRefName);
           }
           this.items.push({name: result, url: pathEscapeSegments(result), branch: this.mode === 'branches', tag: this.mode === 'tags', selected});
         }
@@ -276,7 +275,7 @@ export default sfc; // activate IDE's Vue plugin
         <div class="loading-indicator is-loading" v-if="isLoading"/>
         <div v-for="(item, index) in filteredItems" :key="item.name" class="item" :class="{selected: item.selected, active: active === index}" @click="selectItem(item)" :ref="'listItem' + index">
           {{ item.name }}
-          <div class="ui label" v-if="item.name===defaultBranch && mode === 'branches'">
+          <div class="ui label" v-if="item.name===repoDefaultBranch && mode === 'branches'">
             {{ textDefaultBranchLabel }}
           </div>
           <a v-show="enableFeed && mode === 'branches'" role="button" class="rss-icon gt-float-right" :href="rssURLPrefix + item.url" target="_blank" @click.stop>