diff --git a/core/core-configuration-layer.el b/core/core-configuration-layer.el
index d4d43cb7c..cbb7e8752 100644
--- a/core/core-configuration-layer.el
+++ b/core/core-configuration-layer.el
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+;; -*- nameless-current-name: "configuration-layer" -*-
 ;;; core-configuration-layer.el --- Spacemacs Core File
 ;;
 ;; Copyright (c) 2012-2017 Sylvain Benner & Contributors
diff --git a/layers/+lang/emacs-lisp/README.org b/layers/+lang/emacs-lisp/README.org
index 6c79b093a..4d127d39f 100644
--- a/layers/+lang/emacs-lisp/README.org
+++ b/layers/+lang/emacs-lisp/README.org
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 - [[#working-with-lisp-files-barfage-slurpage--more][Working with lisp files (barfage, slurpage & more)]]
 - [[#debugging-elisp][Debugging Elisp]]
 - [[#nameless][Nameless]]
+  - [[#aliases][Aliases]]
 - [[#key-bindings][Key bindings]]
   - [[#additional-testing-functions-with-overseer][Additional testing functions with overseer]]
   - [[#additional-evaluation-functions][Additional evaluation functions]]
@@ -98,13 +99,32 @@ function or press ~o~ to go out of it.
 7) Press ~a~ to stop debugging.
 
 * Nameless
-Nameless hides package namespaces in your emacs-lisp code, and replaces it by leading ~:~
-It can be toggled by ~SPC m :~.
+Nameless hides package namespaces in your emacs-lisp code, and replaces it by
+leading ~>~ It can be toggled with ~SPC m >~.
 
-To have it automatically on, you need to define a layer variable:
-=(emacs-lisp :variables emacs-lisp-nameless-mode t)= in =.spacemacs= =dotspacemacs/layers=
+To have it automatically on set the layer variable
+=emacs-lisp-hide-namespace-prefix= to =t=
 
-Further configuration can be done with the custom variable =nameless-global-aliases=, cf [[https://github.com/Malabarba/Nameless#requiring-other-packages-as-aliases][original library documentation]]
+#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
+  (setq-default dotspacemacs-configuration-layers '(
+    (emacs-lisp :variables emacs-lisp-hide-namespace-prefix t)))
+#+END_SRC
+
+** Aliases
+This layer defines some global aliases for Spacemacs:
+
+| alias | namespace           |
+|-------+---------------------|
+| S     | spacemacs           |
+| SB    | spacemacs-buffer    |
+| CL    | configuration-layer |
+
+You can define additional alias in function =dotspacemacs/user-config= of your
+dotfile:
+
+#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
+(add-to-list 'nameless-global-aliases '("N" . "nameless"))
+#+END_SRC
 
 * Key bindings
 
diff --git a/layers/+lang/emacs-lisp/config.el b/layers/+lang/emacs-lisp/config.el
index facc5c7a8..2c9644f68 100644
--- a/layers/+lang/emacs-lisp/config.el
+++ b/layers/+lang/emacs-lisp/config.el
@@ -14,5 +14,5 @@
 (spacemacs|define-jump-handlers emacs-lisp-mode)
 (spacemacs|define-jump-handlers lisp-interaction-mode)
 
-(defvar emacs-lisp-nameless-mode nil
-  "If non-nil, nameless-mode is automatically turn on for emacs-lisp buffers.")
+(defvar emacs-lisp-hide-namespace-prefix nil
+  "If non-nil, hide namespace prefixes using nameless-mode.")
diff --git a/layers/+lang/emacs-lisp/packages.el b/layers/+lang/emacs-lisp/packages.el
index e6c5e3cb8..74d2a60b1 100644
--- a/layers/+lang/emacs-lisp/packages.el
+++ b/layers/+lang/emacs-lisp/packages.el
@@ -184,13 +184,28 @@
     :defer t
     :init
     (progn
-      (when emacs-lisp-nameless-mode
+      (when emacs-lisp-hide-namespace-prefix
         (add-hook 'emacs-lisp-mode-hook 'nameless-mode-from-hook))
+      (setq
+       ;; always show the separator since it can have a semantic purpose
+       ;; like in Spacemacs where - is variable and / is a function.
+       ;; moreover it makes nameless work for all kind of separators.
+       nameless-separator nil
+       ;; Use > as the defautl prefix : is already used for
+       ;; keywords
+       nameless-prefix ">")
+      ;; some default aliases for Spacemacs source code
+      (setq nameless-global-aliases '(("SB" . "spacemacs-buffer")
+                                      ("S"  . "spacemacs")
+                                      ("CL" . "configuration-layer")))
+      ;; make `nameless-current-name' safe as a local variable for string values
+      (put 'nameless-current-name 'safe-local-variable #'stringp)
+      (spacemacs|diminish nameless-mode " ⧁" " >")
       (spacemacs|add-toggle nameless
         :status nameless-mode
         :on (nameless-mode)
         :off (nameless-mode -1)
-        :evil-leader-for-mode (emacs-lisp-mode . ":")))))
+        :evil-leader-for-mode (emacs-lisp-mode . ">")))))
 
 (defun emacs-lisp/init-overseer ()
   (use-package overseer