diff --git a/README.org b/README.org
index 8fa93d89..b38fdd61 100644
--- a/README.org
+++ b/README.org
@@ -99,6 +99,13 @@ To add your own custom widget is pretty easy, define your widget's callback func
 (add-to-list 'dashboard-items '(custom) t)
  #+END_SRC
 
+To modify the widget heading name:
+#+BEGIN_SRC elisp
+  (setq dashboard-item-names '(("Recent Files:" . "Recently opened files:")
+                               ("Agenda for today:" . "Today's agenda:")
+                               ("Agenda for the coming week:" . "Agenda:"))
+#+END_SRC
+
 To add icons to the widget headings and their items:
 #+BEGIN_SRC elisp
 (setq dashboard-set-heading-icons t)
diff --git a/dashboard-widgets.el b/dashboard-widgets.el
index 920ba0aa..4b711866 100644
--- a/dashboard-widgets.el
+++ b/dashboard-widgets.el
@@ -262,6 +262,18 @@ value is nil, that item's shortcut is disbaled.  See
   :type '(repeat (alist :key-type symbol :value-type string))
   :group 'dashboard)
 
+(defcustom dashboard-item-names nil
+  "Association list of item heading names.
+When an item is nil or not present, the default name is used.
+Will be of the form `(default-name . new-name)'.
+Possible values for default-name are:
+\"Recent Files:\" \"Bookmarks:\" \"Agenda for today:\",
+\"Agenda for the coming week:\" \"Registers:\" \"Projects:\"."
+  :type '(alist :key-type string :value-type string)
+  :options '("Recent Files:" "Bookmarks:" "Agenda for today:"
+             "Agenda for the coming week:" "Registers:" "Projects:")
+  :group 'dashboard)
+
 (defcustom dashboard-items-default-length 20
   "Length used for startup lists with otherwise unspecified bounds.
 Set to nil for unbounded."
@@ -438,6 +450,16 @@ If MESSAGEBUF is not nil then MSG is also written in message buffer."
     (insert " "))
 
   (insert (propertize heading 'face 'dashboard-heading))
+
+  ;; Turn the inserted heading into an overlay, so that we may freely change
+  ;; its name without breaking any of the functions that expect the default name.
+  ;; If there isn't a suitable entry in `dashboard-item-names',
+  ;; we fallback to using HEADING.  In that case we still want it to be an
+  ;; overlay to maintain consistent behavior (such as the point movement)
+  ;; between modified and default headings.
+  (let ((ov (make-overlay (- (point) (length heading)) (point) nil t)))
+    (overlay-put ov 'display (or (cdr (assoc heading dashboard-item-names)) heading))
+    (overlay-put ov 'face 'dashboard-heading))
   (when shortcut (insert (format " (%s)" shortcut))))
 
 (defun dashboard-center-line (string)