diff --git a/graphics/src/ColladaLoader.cc b/graphics/src/ColladaLoader.cc
index 7812b36cc..7bf473576 100644
--- a/graphics/src/ColladaLoader.cc
+++ b/graphics/src/ColladaLoader.cc
@@ -477,6 +477,31 @@ void ColladaLoaderPrivate::LoadNode(tinyxml2::XMLElement *_elem, Mesh *_mesh,
   {
     this->currentNodeName = _elem->Attribute("name");
   }
+  else
+  {
+    // if node does not have a name, then append the mesh in this node
+    // to the first ancestor node that has a name, i.e. this mesh becomes
+    // part of the parent / ancestor mesh
+    tinyxml2::XMLElement *parent =
+        dynamic_cast<tinyxml2::XMLElement *>(_elem->Parent());
+    std::string nodeName;
+    while (parent && std::string(parent->Value()) == "node")
+    {
+      const char *name = parent->Attribute("name");
+      if (name)
+      {
+        nodeName = name;
+        break;
+      }
+    }
+    if (nodeName.empty())
+    {
+      // if none of the ancestor node has a name, then create a custom name
+      static int nodeCounter = 0;
+      nodeName = "unnamed_submesh_" + std::to_string(nodeCounter++);
+    }
+    this->currentNodeName = nodeName;
+  }
 
   if (_elem->FirstChildElement("instance_node"))
   {
diff --git a/graphics/src/ColladaLoader_TEST.cc b/graphics/src/ColladaLoader_TEST.cc
index 8c360e80f..45eca5228 100644
--- a/graphics/src/ColladaLoader_TEST.cc
+++ b/graphics/src/ColladaLoader_TEST.cc
@@ -365,6 +365,32 @@ TEST_F(ColladaLoader, LoadBoxWithMultipleGeoms)
   EXPECT_EQ(0u, mesh->SubMeshByIndex(1).lock()->NodeAssignmentsCount());
 }
 
+/////////////////////////////////////////////////
+TEST_F(ColladaLoader, LoadBoxWithHierarchicalNodes)
+{
+  common::ColladaLoader loader;
+  common::Mesh *mesh = loader.Load(
+      std::string(PROJECT_SOURCE_PATH) +
+      "/test/data/box_with_hierarchical_nodes.dae");
+
+  ASSERT_EQ(5u, mesh->SubMeshCount());
+
+  // node by itself
+  EXPECT_EQ("StaticCube", mesh->SubMeshByIndex(0).lock()->Name());
+
+  // nested node with no name so it takes the parent's name instead
+  EXPECT_EQ("StaticCubeParent", mesh->SubMeshByIndex(1).lock()->Name());
+
+  // parent node containing child node with no name
+  EXPECT_EQ("StaticCubeParent", mesh->SubMeshByIndex(2).lock()->Name());
+
+  // nested node with name
+  EXPECT_EQ("StaticCubeNested", mesh->SubMeshByIndex(3).lock()->Name());
+
+  // Parent of nested node with name
+  EXPECT_EQ("StaticCubeParent2", mesh->SubMeshByIndex(4).lock()->Name());
+}
+
 /////////////////////////////////////////////////
 TEST_F(ColladaLoader, MergeBoxWithDoubleSkeleton)
 {
diff --git a/test/data/box_with_hierarchical_nodes.dae b/test/data/box_with_hierarchical_nodes.dae
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0f4950ce4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/data/box_with_hierarchical_nodes.dae
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
+<COLLADA xmlns="http://www.collada.org/2005/11/COLLADASchema" version="1.4.1" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
+  <asset>
+    <contributor>
+      <author>Blender User</author>
+      <authoring_tool>Blender 2.80.75 commit date:2019-07-29, commit time:14:47, hash:f6cb5f54494e</authoring_tool>
+    </contributor>
+    <created>2019-09-13T12:07:34</created>
+    <modified>2019-09-13T12:07:34</modified>
+    <unit name="meter" meter="1"/>
+    <up_axis>Z_UP</up_axis>
+  </asset>
+  <library_images/>
+  <library_geometries>
+    <geometry id="StaticCube-mesh" name="StaticCube">
+      <mesh>
+        <source id="StaticCube-mesh-positions">
+          <float_array id="StaticCube-mesh-positions-array" count="24">-1 -3.545556 0 -1 -3.545556 2 -1 -1.545556 0 -1 -1.545556 2 1 -3.545556 0 1 -3.545556 2 1 -1.545556 0 1 -1.545556 2</float_array>
+          <technique_common>
+            <accessor source="#StaticCube-mesh-positions-array" count="8" stride="3">
+              <param name="X" type="float"/>
+              <param name="Y" type="float"/>
+              <param name="Z" type="float"/>
+            </accessor>
+          </technique_common>
+        </source>
+        <source id="StaticCube-mesh-normals">
+          <float_array id="StaticCube-mesh-normals-array" count="18">-1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 -1 0 0 1</float_array>
+          <technique_common>
+            <accessor source="#StaticCube-mesh-normals-array" count="6" stride="3">
+              <param name="X" type="float"/>
+              <param name="Y" type="float"/>
+              <param name="Z" type="float"/>
+            </accessor>
+          </technique_common>
+        </source>
+        <source id="StaticCube-mesh-map-0">
+          <float_array id="StaticCube-mesh-map-0-array" count="48">0.375 0 0.625 0 0.625 0.25 0.375 0.25 0.375 0.25 0.625 0.25 0.625 0.5 0.375 0.5 0.375 0.5 0.625 0.5 0.625 0.75 0.375 0.75 0.375 0.75 0.625 0.75 0.625 1 0.375 1 0.125 0.5 0.375 0.5 0.375 0.75 0.125 0.75 0.625 0.5 0.875 0.5 0.875 0.75 0.625 0.75</float_array>
+          <technique_common>
+            <accessor source="#StaticCube-mesh-map-0-array" count="24" stride="2">
+              <param name="S" type="float"/>
+              <param name="T" type="float"/>
+            </accessor>
+          </technique_common>
+        </source>
+        <vertices id="StaticCube-mesh-vertices">
+          <input semantic="POSITION" source="#StaticCube-mesh-positions"/>
+        </vertices>
+        <polylist count="6">
+          <input semantic="VERTEX" source="#StaticCube-mesh-vertices" offset="0"/>
+          <input semantic="NORMAL" source="#StaticCube-mesh-normals" offset="1"/>
+          <input semantic="TEXCOORD" source="#StaticCube-mesh-map-0" offset="2" set="0"/>
+          <vcount>4 4 4 4 4 4 </vcount>
+          <p>0 0 0 1 0 1 3 0 2 2 0 3 2 1 4 3 1 5 7 1 6 6 1 7 6 2 8 7 2 9 5 2 10 4 2 11 4 3 12 5 3 13 1 3 14 0 3 15 2 4 16 6 4 17 4 4 18 0 4 19 7 5 20 3 5 21 1 5 22 5 5 23</p>
+        </polylist>
+      </mesh>
+    </geometry>
+  </library_geometries>
+  <library_visual_scenes>
+    <visual_scene id="Scene" name="Scene">
+      <node id="StaticCube" name="StaticCube" type="NODE">
+        <matrix sid="transform">1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1</matrix>
+        <instance_geometry url="#StaticCube-mesh" name="StaticCube"/>
+      </node>
+      <node id="StaticCubeParent" name="StaticCubeParent" type="NODE">
+        <matrix sid="transform">1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1</matrix>
+        <instance_geometry url="#StaticCube-mesh" name="StaticCube"/>
+        <node id="StaticCubeNestedNoName" type="NODE">
+          <matrix sid="transform">1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1</matrix>
+          <instance_geometry url="#StaticCube-mesh" name="StaticCubeNestedNodeName"/>
+        </node>
+      </node>
+      <node id="StaticCubeParent2" name="StaticCubeParent2" type="NODE">
+        <matrix sid="transform">1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1</matrix>
+        <instance_geometry url="#StaticCube-mesh" name="StaticCube"/>
+        <node id="StaticCubeNested" name="StaticCubeNested" type="NODE">
+          <matrix sid="transform">1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1</matrix>
+          <instance_geometry url="#StaticCube-mesh" name="StaticCubeNested"/>
+        </node>
+      </node>
+    </visual_scene>
+  </library_visual_scenes>
+  <scene>
+    <instance_visual_scene url="#Scene"/>
+  </scene>
+</COLLADA>