diff --git a/doc/man/wl_display_connect.xml b/doc/man/wl_display_connect.xml
index ded3cbd3..7e6e05c6 100644
--- a/doc/man/wl_display_connect.xml
+++ b/doc/man/wl_display_connect.xml
@@ -57,8 +57,9 @@
           that was previously opened by a Wayland server. The server socket must
           be placed in <envar>XDG_RUNTIME_DIR</envar> for this function to
           find it. The <varname>name</varname> argument specifies the name of
-          the socket or <constant>NULL</constant> to use the default
-          (which is the value of <envar>WAYLAND_DISPLAY</envar>). If
+          the socket or <constant>NULL</constant> to use the default (which is
+          <constant>"wayland-0"</constant>). The environment variable
+          <envar>WAYLAND_DISPLAY</envar> replaces the default value. If
           <envar>WAYLAND_SOCKET</envar> is set, this function behaves like
           <function>wl_display_connect_to_fd</function> with the file-descriptor
           number taken from the environment variable.</para>
diff --git a/doc/publican/sources/Protocol.xml b/doc/publican/sources/Protocol.xml
index 9464953b..477063be 100644
--- a/doc/publican/sources/Protocol.xml
+++ b/doc/publican/sources/Protocol.xml
@@ -60,10 +60,10 @@
     <title>Wire Format</title>
     <para>
       The protocol is sent over a UNIX domain stream socket, where the endpoint
-      name is determined by the <emphasis>WAYLAND_DISPLAY</emphasis>
-      environment variable.  Its value will usually be
-      <systemitem class="service">wayland-0</systemitem>.  The protocol is message-based.
-      A message sent by a client to the server is called request.  A message
+      usually is named <systemitem class="service">wayland-0</systemitem>
+      (although it can be changed via <emphasis>WAYLAND_DISPLAY</emphasis>
+      in the environment).  The protocol is message-based.  A
+      message sent by a client to the server is called request.  A message
       from the server to a client is called event.  Every message is
       structured as 32-bit words, values are represented in the host's
       byte-order.
diff --git a/src/wayland-client.c b/src/wayland-client.c
index ffbca4b0..09c594ae 100644
--- a/src/wayland-client.c
+++ b/src/wayland-client.c
@@ -764,11 +764,8 @@ connect_to_socket(const char *name)
 
 	if (name == NULL)
 		name = getenv("WAYLAND_DISPLAY");
-	if (name == NULL) {
-		wl_log("error: WAYLAND_DISPLAY not set in the environment.\n");
-		errno = ENOENT;
-		return -1;
-	}
+	if (name == NULL)
+		name = "wayland-0";
 
 	fd = wl_os_socket_cloexec(PF_LOCAL, SOCK_STREAM, 0);
 	if (fd < 0)
@@ -872,7 +869,8 @@ wl_display_connect_to_fd(int fd)
  * \return A \ref wl_display object or \c NULL on failure
  *
  * Connect to the Wayland display named \c name. If \c name is \c NULL,
- * its value will be replaced with the WAYLAND_DISPLAY environment variable.
+ * its value will be replaced with the WAYLAND_DISPLAY environment
+ * variable if it is set, otherwise display "wayland-0" will be used.
  *
  * \memberof wl_display
  */