diff --git a/src/db/db/dbNet.h b/src/db/db/dbNet.h
index 39227c3a7..ada3e98e2 100644
--- a/src/db/db/dbNet.h
+++ b/src/db/db/dbNet.h
@@ -467,6 +467,15 @@ public:
     return m_cluster_id;
   }
 
+  /**
+   *  @brief Provided for API compatibility with the other objects
+   *  This ID is not well-formed like for other objects.
+   */
+  size_t id () const
+  {
+    return m_cluster_id;
+  }
+
   /**
    *  @brief Adds a pin to this net
    */
diff --git a/src/laybasic/laybasic/layIndexedNetlistModel.cc b/src/laybasic/laybasic/layIndexedNetlistModel.cc
index 522bbae61..3a1ba56cd 100644
--- a/src/laybasic/laybasic/layIndexedNetlistModel.cc
+++ b/src/laybasic/laybasic/layIndexedNetlistModel.cc
@@ -46,7 +46,16 @@ namespace {
   {
     inline bool operator() (const Obj *a, const Obj *b) const
     {
-      return a->expanded_name () < b->expanded_name ();
+      //  NOTE: we don't use expanded_name () for performance
+      if (a->name ().empty () != b->name ().empty ()) {
+        //  named ones first
+        return a->name ().empty () < b->name ().empty ();
+      }
+      if (a->name ().empty ()) {
+        return a->id () < b->id ();
+      } else {
+        return a->name () < b->name ();
+      }
     }
   };
 
@@ -55,7 +64,7 @@ namespace {
   {
     inline bool operator() (const Obj *a, const Obj *b) const
     {
-      return a->pin ()->expanded_name () < b->pin ()->expanded_name ();
+      return sort_single_by_expanded_name<db::Pin> () (a->pin (), b->pin ());
     }
   };