diff --git a/bin/generate-names.pl b/bin/generate-names.pl
index 1b6f34ebe4..ce13ea0fb7 100755
--- a/bin/generate-names.pl
+++ b/bin/generate-names.pl
@@ -38,15 +38,6 @@ =head1 OPTIONS
 built.  If not passed, tries to estimate this based on the size of the
 input names files.
 
-=item --incremental
-
-Add new entries to the names index, not deleting the old ones.  When
-using this option, it is best to pass the --totalNames parameter as
-well.  Otherwise, the first call to generate-names.pl will initialize
-the names index to be optimal for the number of names added just in
-that first call, which could lead to the names index being constructed
-non-optimally.
-
 =item --verbose
 
 Print more progress messages.
@@ -82,13 +73,10 @@ =head1 OPTIONS
 
 use GenomeDB;
 
-my %trackHash;
 my @includedTrackNames;
-my @tracksWithNames;
 
 my $outDir = "data";
 my $verbose = 0;
-my $incremental;
 my $help;
 my $max_completions = 20;
 my $max_locations = 100;
@@ -100,7 +88,6 @@ =head1 OPTIONS
            "locationLimit=i" => \$max_locations,
            "verbose+" => \$verbose,
            "thresh=i" => \$thresh,
-           "incremental" => \$incremental,
            "totalNames=i" => \$est_total_name_records,
            'tracks=s' => \@includedTrackNames,
            'hashBits=i' => \$hash_bits,
@@ -148,17 +135,15 @@ =head1 OPTIONS
 
 #print STDERR "Names files:\n", map "    $_->{fullpath}\n", @names_files;
 
-unless( $incremental ) {
-    # estimate the total number of name records we probably have based on the input file sizes
-    $est_total_name_records ||= int( (sum( map { -s $_->{fullpath} } @names_files )||0) / 70 );
-    if( $verbose ) {
-        print STDERR "Estimated $est_total_name_records total name records to index.\n";
-    }
+# estimate the total number of name records we probably have based on the input file sizes
+$est_total_name_records ||= int( (sum( map { -s $_->{fullpath} } @names_files )||0) / 70 );
+if( $verbose ) {
+    print STDERR "Estimated $est_total_name_records total name records to index.\n";
 }
 
 my $nameStore = Bio::JBrowse::HashStore->open(
     dir   => catdir( $outDir, "names" ),
-    empty => !$incremental,
+    empty => 1,
 
     # set the hash size to try to get about 10 name records per file
     # (does not count prefix completions) if the store has existing
@@ -181,7 +166,11 @@ =head1 OPTIONS
 for my $ref ( @refSeqs ) {
     push @namerecord_buffer, [ @{$ref}{ qw/ name length name seqDir start end seqChunkSize/ }];
 }
-my $record_stream = $nameStore->sort_stream( sub {
+
+
+my %trackHash;
+my @tracksWithNames;
+my $record_stream = sub {
     while( ! @namerecord_buffer ) {
         my $nameinfo = $name_records_iterator->() || do {
             my $file = shift @names_files;
@@ -204,8 +193,12 @@ =head1 OPTIONS
         }
     }
     return shift @namerecord_buffer;
-});
+};
+
+# sort the stream by hash key to improve cache locality
+$record_stream = $nameStore->sort_stream( $record_stream );
 
+# now write it to the store
 while( my $record = $record_stream->() ) {
     insert( $nameStore, $record );
 }
@@ -213,6 +206,7 @@ =head1 OPTIONS
 # store the list of tracks that have names
 $nameStore->{meta}{track_names} = \@tracksWithNames;
 
+
 # set up the name store in the trackList.json
 $gdb->modifyTrackList( sub {
     my ( $data ) = @_;
diff --git a/src/perl5/Bio/JBrowse/HashStore.pm b/src/perl5/Bio/JBrowse/HashStore.pm
index cd8be10b5f..7cd3914b6e 100644
--- a/src/perl5/Bio/JBrowse/HashStore.pm
+++ b/src/perl5/Bio/JBrowse/HashStore.pm
@@ -55,10 +55,11 @@ sub open {
 
     %$self = (
         %$self,
-        %{$self->_read_meta}
+        meta => $self->_read_meta
     );
 
-    $self->{hash_bits} ||= 16;
+    $self->{hash_bits} ||= $self->{meta}{hash_bits} || 16;
+    $self->{meta}{hash_bits} = $self->{hash_bits};
     $self->{hash_characters} = int( $self->{hash_bits}/4 );
     $self->{file_extension} = '.json';
 
@@ -74,12 +75,8 @@ sub DESTROY {
     File::Path::mkpath( $self->{dir} );
     my $meta_path = $self->_meta_path;
     CORE::open my $out, '>', $meta_path or die "$! writing $meta_path";
-    $out->print( JSON::to_json(
-        {
-            hash_bits => $self->{hash_bits},
-            %{ $self->{meta} || {} }
-        }
-        )) or die "$! writing $meta_path";
+    $out->print( JSON::to_json( $self->{meta} ) )
+        or die "$! writing $meta_path";
 }
 sub _meta_path {
     File::Spec->catfile( shift->{dir}, 'meta.json' );
diff --git a/tests/data/volvox_formatted_names/names/2.json b/tests/data/volvox_formatted_names/names/2.json
index aa019bef62..99fcd8aa55 100644
--- a/tests/data/volvox_formatted_names/names/2.json
+++ b/tests/data/volvox_formatted_names/names/2.json
@@ -1 +1 @@
-{"f0":{"exact":[],"prefix":["f05","f02","f03","f04","f01","f06","f09","f07","f08"]},"ctg":{"exact":[],"prefix":["ctgB","ctgA"]},"ag":{"exact":[],"prefix":["agt767.5","agt221.3","agt830.3","agt221.5","agt767.3","agt830.5"]},"protein":{"exact":[],"prefix":["Protein:HGA","Protein:HGB"]},"f12":{"exact":[["f12",0,"f12","ctgA",49757,50000]],"prefix":[]},"m02":{"exact":[["m02",3,"m02","ctgA",28331,30033]],"prefix":[]},"b10":{"exact":[],"prefix":["b101.2"]},"seg":{"exact":[],"prefix":["seg04","seg14","seg13","seg03","seg12","seg02","seg05","seg15","seg10","seg07","seg08","seg06","seg09","seg11","seg01"]},"agt830.3":{"exact":[["agt830.3",10,"agt830.3","ctgA",5409,7503]],"prefix":[]},"JBROWSE_TRACKS_WITH_NAMES":["ExampleFeatures","NameTest","snps","Motifs","Alignments","Genes","ReadingFrame","CDS","Transcript","Clones","EST"],"seg13":{"exact":[["seg13",4,"seg13","ctgA",49405,49476],["seg13",4,"seg13","ctgA",49761,50000]],"prefix":[]},"agt7":{"exact":[],"prefix":["agt767.5","agt767.3"]}}
\ No newline at end of file
+{"f0":{"exact":[],"prefix":["f05","f02","f03","f04","f01","f06","f09","f07","f08"]},"ctg":{"exact":[],"prefix":["ctgB","ctgA"]},"ag":{"exact":[],"prefix":["agt767.5","agt221.3","agt830.3","agt221.5","agt767.3","agt830.5"]},"protein":{"exact":[],"prefix":["Protein:HGA","Protein:HGB"]},"f12":{"exact":[["f12",0,"f12","ctgA",49757,50000]],"prefix":[]},"m02":{"exact":[["m02",3,"m02","ctgA",28331,30033]],"prefix":[]},"b10":{"exact":[],"prefix":["b101.2"]},"seg":{"exact":[],"prefix":["seg04","seg14","seg13","seg03","seg12","seg02","seg05","seg15","seg10","seg07","seg08","seg06","seg09","seg11","seg01"]},"agt830.3":{"exact":[["agt830.3",10,"agt830.3","ctgA",5409,7503]],"prefix":[]},"seg13":{"exact":[["seg13",4,"seg13","ctgA",49405,49476],["seg13",4,"seg13","ctgA",49761,50000]],"prefix":[]},"agt7":{"exact":[],"prefix":["agt767.5","agt767.3"]}}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/data/volvox_formatted_names/names/meta.json b/tests/data/volvox_formatted_names/names/meta.json
index 2672d751a2..2776b0bcce 100644
--- a/tests/data/volvox_formatted_names/names/meta.json
+++ b/tests/data/volvox_formatted_names/names/meta.json
@@ -1 +1 @@
-{"hash_bits":"4"}
\ No newline at end of file
+{"track_names":["ExampleFeatures","NameTest","snps","Motifs","Alignments","Genes","ReadingFrame","CDS","Transcript","Clones","EST"],"hash_bits":"4","last_changed_entry":"apple2"}
\ No newline at end of file