diff --git a/lib/Doctrine/ODM/PHPCR/Mapping/Driver/XmlDriver.php b/lib/Doctrine/ODM/PHPCR/Mapping/Driver/XmlDriver.php
index 2e7d98950..e383fe9b1 100644
--- a/lib/Doctrine/ODM/PHPCR/Mapping/Driver/XmlDriver.php
+++ b/lib/Doctrine/ODM/PHPCR/Mapping/Driver/XmlDriver.php
@@ -269,6 +269,7 @@ private function addReferenceMapping(ClassMetadata $class, $reference, $type)
         $mapping = $attributes["@attributes"];
         $mapping['strategy'] = isset($mapping['strategy']) ? strtolower($mapping['strategy']) : null;
         $mapping['targetDocument'] = isset($mapping['target-document']) ? $mapping['target-document'] : null;
+        $mapping['indexByNodeName'] = isset($mapping['index-by-nodename']) ? $mapping['index-by-nodename'] : null;
         unset($mapping['target-document']);
 
         if ($type === 'many') {
diff --git a/lib/Doctrine/ODM/PHPCR/ReferenceManyCollection.php b/lib/Doctrine/ODM/PHPCR/ReferenceManyCollection.php
index b2b00b964..b4497c589 100644
--- a/lib/Doctrine/ODM/PHPCR/ReferenceManyCollection.php
+++ b/lib/Doctrine/ODM/PHPCR/ReferenceManyCollection.php
@@ -100,13 +100,22 @@ public function initialize()
             $uow = $this->dm->getUnitOfWork();
             $uow->getPrefetchHelper()->prefetch($this->dm, $referencedNodes, $this->locale);
 
+            $metadata = $this->dm->getClassMetadata(get_class($this->document));
+            $metadata = $metadata->mappings[$this->property];
+            $isAssociative = $metadata['index-by-nodename'];
+
             $this->originalReferencePaths = array();
             foreach ($referencedNodes as $referencedNode) {
                 $proxy = $uow->getOrCreateProxyFromNode($referencedNode, $this->locale);
                 if (isset($targetDocument) && !$proxy instanceof $this->targetDocument) {
                     throw new PHPCRException("Unexpected class for referenced document at '{$referencedNode->getPath()}'. Expected '{$this->targetDocument}' but got '".ClassUtils::getClass($proxy)."'.");
                 }
-                $referencedDocs[] = $proxy;
+                if ($isAssociative) {
+                    $index = $referencedNode->getName();
+                    $referencedDocs[$index] = $proxy;
+                } else {
+                    $referencedDocs[] = $proxy;
+                }
                 $this->originalReferencePaths[] = $referencedNode->getPath();
             }