diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index a05235375..49320fc99 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 # Changelog
 
-## version 2.48.0 - 2023/08/31
 
+* Allow the tip label key to be defined in the JSON via `display_defaults.tip_label`, in addition to being settable via a URL query.
+See [the docs](https://docs.nextstrain.org/projects/auspice/en/stable/advanced-functionality/view-settings.html) or [PR #1668](https://github.com/nextstrain/auspice/pull/1668) for more.
 
+## version 2.48.0 - 2023/08/31
 
 * Root sequence data may be inlined in the main dataset JSON
 ([Auspice PR #1688](https://github.com/nextstrain/auspice/pull/1688) and [Augur PR #1295](https://github.com/nextstrain/augur/pull/1295)).
@@ -32,8 +34,6 @@ detailed in [augur PR #1281](https://github.com/nextstrain/augur/pull/1281).
 * Dependencies updated. See [PR #1669](https://github.com/nextstrain/auspice/pull/1669) for more.
 
 ## version 2.46.0 - 2023/05/15
-
-
 * Fixed a bug where narratives with multiple datasets that had measurements panels would error when switching datasets. ([#1603](https://github.com/nextstrain/auspice/issues/1603))
 
 _There have been a number of internal changes with this release, most of which should not result in any different behavior while using Auspice._
diff --git a/docs/advanced-functionality/view-settings.rst b/docs/advanced-functionality/view-settings.rst
index 3750ce740..eabb3c280 100644
--- a/docs/advanced-functionality/view-settings.rst
+++ b/docs/advanced-functionality/view-settings.rst
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ Auspice has some hardcoded defaults, largely for historical reasons. Each of the
 -  Default geographic resolution is "country", if available.
 -  Default colouring is "country", if available.
 -  Default branch labelling is "clade", if available.
+-  Default tip labelling is the sample / strain name (`node.name`)
 
 Dataset (JSON) configurable defaults
 ------------------------------------
@@ -36,6 +37,8 @@ These are exported as the (optional) property of the dataset JSON ``meta.display
 +---------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------+
 | ``layout``                | Tree layout                                                           | "rect", "radial", "unrooted", "clock" or "scatter" |
 +---------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------+
+| ``tip_label``             | What attribute (in 'node_attrs') to use as tip (node) labels          | "country"                                          |
++---------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------+
 | ``branch_label``          | Which set of branch labels are to be displayed                        | "aa", "lineage"                                    |
 +---------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------+
 | ``sidebar``               | Should the sidebar start open or closed?                              | "open" or "closed"                                 |
@@ -103,6 +106,8 @@ URL queries are the part of the URL coming after the ``?`` character, and typica
 +----------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
 | ``s``                | Selected strain                                           | ``s=1_0199_PF``                                   |
 +----------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
+| ``tl``               | Tip label to display                                      | ``tl=country``                                    |
++----------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
 | ``branchLabel``      | Branch labels to display                                  | ``branchLabel=aa``                                |
 +----------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
 | ``showBranchLabels`` | Force all branch labels to be displayed                   | ``showBranchLabels=all``                          |
diff --git a/src/actions/recomputeReduxState.js b/src/actions/recomputeReduxState.js
index e1168b1e7..cc00d3547 100644
--- a/src/actions/recomputeReduxState.js
+++ b/src/actions/recomputeReduxState.js
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import { isColorByGenotype, decodeColorByGenotype, encodeColorByGenotype, decode
 import { getTraitFromNode, getDivFromNode, collectGenotypeStates } from "../util/treeMiscHelpers";
 import { collectAvailableTipLabelOptions } from "../components/controls/choose-tip-label";
 import { hasMultipleGridPanels } from "./panelDisplay";
+import { strainSymbolUrlString } from "../middleware/changeURL";
 
 export const doesColorByHaveConfidence = (controlsState, colorBy) =>
   controlsState.coloringsPresentOnTreeWithConfidence.has(colorBy);
@@ -89,7 +90,7 @@ const modifyStateViaURLQuery = (state, query) => {
     state["panelLayout"] = query.p;
   }
   if (query.tl) {
-    state["tipLabelKey"] = query.tl;
+    state["tipLabelKey"] = query.tl===strainSymbolUrlString ? strainSymbol : query.tl;
   }
   if (query.dmin) {
     state["dateMin"] = query.dmin;
@@ -238,8 +239,8 @@ const modifyStateViaMetadata = (state, metadata, genomeMap) => {
   state.filters[strainSymbol] = [];
   state.filters[genotypeSymbol] = []; // this doesn't necessitate that mutations are defined
   if (metadata.displayDefaults) {
-    const keysToCheckFor = ["geoResolution", "colorBy", "distanceMeasure", "layout", "mapTriplicate", "selectedBranchLabel", 'sidebar', "showTransmissionLines", "normalizeFrequencies"];
-    const expectedTypes =  ["string",        "string",  "string",          "string", "boolean",       "string",              'string',  "boolean"              , "boolean"];
+    const keysToCheckFor = ["geoResolution", "colorBy", "distanceMeasure", "layout", "mapTriplicate", "selectedBranchLabel", "tipLabelKey", 'sidebar', "showTransmissionLines", "normalizeFrequencies"];
+    const expectedTypes =  ["string",        "string",  "string",          "string", "boolean",       "string",              'string',      'string',  "boolean"              , "boolean"];
 
     for (let i = 0; i < keysToCheckFor.length; i += 1) {
       if (Object.hasOwnProperty.call(metadata.displayDefaults, keysToCheckFor[i])) {
@@ -552,10 +553,21 @@ const checkAndCorrectErrorsInState = (state, metadata, genomeMap, query, tree, v
     state.defaults.selectedBranchLabel = "none";
   }
 
-  /* check tip label is valid. We use the function which generates the options for the dropdown here */
-  if (!collectAvailableTipLabelOptions(metadata.colorings).map((o) => o.value).includes(state.tipLabelKey)) {
-    console.error("Can't set selected tip label to ", state.tipLabelKey);
-    state.tipLabelKey = strainSymbol;
+  /* check tip label is valid. We use the function which generates the options for the dropdown here.
+   * state.defaults.tipLabelKey is set by the JSON's display_defaults (default: strainSymbol)
+   * state.tipLabelKey is first set the JSON and then overridden via the URL query (default: state.defaults.tipLabelKey)
+   */
+  const validTipLabels = collectAvailableTipLabelOptions(metadata.colorings).map((o) => o.value);
+  if (!validTipLabels.includes(state.defaults.tipLabelKey)) {
+    console.error("Invalid JSON-defined tip label:", state.defaults.tipLabelKey);
+    state.defaults.tipLabelKey = strainSymbol;
+  }
+  if (!validTipLabels.includes(state.tipLabelKey)) {
+    if (query.tl) {
+      console.error("Invalid URL-defined tip label:", state.tipLabelKey);
+      delete query.tl;
+    }
+    state.tipLabelKey = state.defaults.tipLabelKey;
   }
 
   /* temporalConfidence */
@@ -745,6 +757,7 @@ const createMetadataStateFromJSON = (json) => {
       geo_resolution: "geoResolution",
       distance_measure: "distanceMeasure",
       branch_label: "selectedBranchLabel",
+      tip_label: "tipLabelKey",
       map_triplicate: "mapTriplicate",
       layout: "layout",
       language: "language",
diff --git a/src/middleware/changeURL.js b/src/middleware/changeURL.js
index 516d5d793..7e08befa9 100644
--- a/src/middleware/changeURL.js
+++ b/src/middleware/changeURL.js
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ import { shouldDisplayTemporalConfidence } from "../reducers/controls";
 import { genotypeSymbol, nucleotide_gene, strainSymbol } from "../util/globals";
 import { encodeGenotypeFilters, decodeColorByGenotype, isColorByGenotype } from "../util/getGenotype";
 
+export const strainSymbolUrlString = "__strain__";
+
 /**
  * This middleware acts to keep the app state and the URL query state in sync by
  * intercepting actions and updating the URL accordingly. Thus, in theory, this
@@ -167,7 +169,9 @@ export const changeURLMiddleware = (store) => (next) => (action) => {
       break;
     }
     case types.CHANGE_TIP_LABEL_KEY: {
-      query.tl = action.key===strainSymbol ? undefined : action.key;
+      query.tl = action.key===state.controls.defaults.tipLabelKey ? undefined :
+        action.key===strainSymbol ? strainSymbolUrlString :
+        action.key;
       break;
     }
     case types.CHANGE_DATES_VISIBILITY_THICKNESS: {
diff --git a/src/reducers/controls.js b/src/reducers/controls.js
index ca186171a..0691f3cba 100644
--- a/src/reducers/controls.js
+++ b/src/reducers/controls.js
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ export const getDefaultControlsState = () => {
     filtersInFooter: [],
     colorBy: defaultColorBy,
     selectedBranchLabel: "none",
+    tipLabelKey: strainSymbol,
     showTransmissionLines: true
   };
   // a default sidebarOpen status is only set via JSON, URL query
@@ -78,7 +79,7 @@ export const getDefaultControlsState = () => {
     panelsAvailable: [],
     panelsToDisplay: [],
     panelLayout: calcBrowserDimensionsInitialState().width > twoColumnBreakpoint ? "grid" : "full",
-    tipLabelKey: strainSymbol,
+    tipLabelKey: defaults.tipLabelKey,
     showTreeToo: undefined,
     showTangle: false,
     zoomMin: undefined,