diff --git a/repos/gems/src/app/sculpt_manager/graph.h b/repos/gems/src/app/sculpt_manager/graph.h
index 67369da1a6..56ea94f85a 100644
--- a/repos/gems/src/app/sculpt_manager/graph.h
+++ b/repos/gems/src/app/sculpt_manager/graph.h
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 #include <model/capacity.h>
 #include <model/popup.h>
 #include <model/runtime_config.h>
+#include <string.h>
 
 namespace Sculpt { struct Graph; }
 
@@ -127,6 +128,7 @@ struct Sculpt::Graph
 				_runtime_config.for_each_component([&] (Component const &component) {
 
 					Start_name const name = component.name;
+					Start_name const pretty_name { Pretty(name) };
 
 					/* omit sculpt's helpers from the graph */
 					bool const blacklisted = (name == "runtime_view"
@@ -158,7 +160,7 @@ struct Sculpt::Graph
 									xml.attribute("selected", "yes");
 
 								xml.node("label", [&] () {
-									xml.attribute("text", name);
+									xml.attribute("text", pretty_name);
 								});
 							});
 
diff --git a/repos/gems/src/app/sculpt_manager/model/route.h b/repos/gems/src/app/sculpt_manager/model/route.h
index ac5a28d76c..e24a39e178 100644
--- a/repos/gems/src/app/sculpt_manager/model/route.h
+++ b/repos/gems/src/app/sculpt_manager/model/route.h
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ struct Sculpt::Route : List_model<Route>::Element
 	{
 		Genode::print(out, _pretty_name(required));
 		if (required_label.valid())
-			Genode::print(out, " (", required_label, ") ");
+			Genode::print(out, " (", Pretty(required_label), ") ");
 	}
 
 	void gen_xml(Xml_generator &xml) const
diff --git a/repos/gems/src/app/sculpt_manager/model/service.h b/repos/gems/src/app/sculpt_manager/model/service.h
index 241181c5b4..c117d6d5ba 100644
--- a/repos/gems/src/app/sculpt_manager/model/service.h
+++ b/repos/gems/src/app/sculpt_manager/model/service.h
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
 #ifndef _MODEL__SERVICE_H_
 #define _MODEL__SERVICE_H_
 
-#include "types.h"
+#include <string.h>
 
 namespace Sculpt { struct Service; }
 
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ struct Sculpt::Service
 	 * Constructor for child service
 	 */
 	Service(Start_name const &server, Type type, Label const &label)
-	: server(server), type(type), label(label), info(server) { }
+	: server(server), type(type), label(label), info(Subst("_", " ", server)) { }
 
 	/**
 	 * Constructor for parent service
diff --git a/repos/gems/src/app/sculpt_manager/string.h b/repos/gems/src/app/sculpt_manager/string.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..36e33f428a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/repos/gems/src/app/sculpt_manager/string.h
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+/*
+ * \brief  Utilities for string handling
+ * \author Norman Feske
+ * \date   2019-03-01
+ */
+
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2019 Genode Labs GmbH
+ *
+ * This file is part of the Genode OS framework, which is distributed
+ * under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License version 3.
+ */
+
+#ifndef _STRING_H_
+#define _STRING_H_
+
+/* Genode includes */
+#include <util/string.h>
+#include <base/output.h>
+
+/* local includes */
+#include "types.h"
+
+namespace Sculpt {
+
+	class Subst;
+	class Pretty;
+}
+
+
+class Sculpt::Subst
+{
+	private:
+
+		char const * const _pattern;
+		size_t       const _pattern_len = strlen(_pattern);
+		char const * const _replacement;
+		char const * const _input;
+
+	public:
+
+		/*
+		 * This utility is currently limited to strings. It should better
+		 * act as a filter that accepts any printable type as 'input'
+		 * argument. However the automatic deduction of class template
+		 * arguments from a constuctor calls is not suppored before C++17.
+		 */
+
+		Subst(char const *pattern, char const *replacement, char const *input)
+		: _pattern(pattern), _replacement(replacement), _input(input) { }
+
+		template <size_t N>
+		Subst(char const *pattern, char const *replacement, String<N> const &input)
+		: Subst(pattern, replacement, input.string()) { }
+
+		void print(Output &out) const
+		{
+			for (char const *curr = _input; *curr; ) {
+				if (_pattern_len && strcmp(curr, _pattern, _pattern_len) == 0) {
+					Genode::print(out, _replacement);
+					curr += _pattern_len;
+				} else {
+					Genode::print(out, Char(*curr));
+					curr++;
+				}
+			}
+		}
+};
+
+
+struct Sculpt::Pretty : Subst
+{
+	template <size_t N>
+	Pretty(String<N> const &input) : Subst("_", " ", input) { }
+};
+
+#endif /* _XML_H_ */
diff --git a/repos/gems/src/app/sculpt_manager/view/popup_dialog.cc b/repos/gems/src/app/sculpt_manager/view/popup_dialog.cc
index 6cac254d55..67cb7730fd 100644
--- a/repos/gems/src/app/sculpt_manager/view/popup_dialog.cc
+++ b/repos/gems/src/app/sculpt_manager/view/popup_dialog.cc
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
  */
 
 #include <view/popup_dialog.h>
+#include <string.h>
 
 using namespace Sculpt;
 
@@ -32,7 +33,7 @@ void Popup_dialog::_gen_pkg_elements(Xml_generator &xml,
 {
 	typedef Component::Info Info;
 
-	_gen_sub_menu_title(xml, "back", Menu::Name("Add ", _construction_name));
+	_gen_sub_menu_title(xml, "back", Menu::Name("Add ", Pretty(_construction_name)));
 
 	_gen_pkg_info(xml, component);
 
@@ -107,7 +108,7 @@ void Popup_dialog::_gen_menu_elements(Xml_generator &xml) const
 			if (_runtime_info.present_in_runtime(info.path))
 				return;
 
-			_gen_menu_entry(xml, info.path, info.path, false);
+			_gen_menu_entry(xml, info.path, Pretty(info.path), false);
 		});
 
 		_gen_menu_entry(xml, "depot", "Depot ...", false);
@@ -197,7 +198,7 @@ void Popup_dialog::_gen_menu_elements(Xml_generator &xml) const
 						selected = true;
 				});
 
-				String<100> const text(name, " " "(", version, ")",
+				String<100> const text(Pretty(name), " " "(", version, ")",
 				                       installing ? " installing... " : "...");
 
 				_gen_menu_entry(xml, id, text, selected);