diff --git a/lib/OpenLayers/Popup.js b/lib/OpenLayers/Popup.js
index adaa52a43c..6e3282ddbd 100644
--- a/lib/OpenLayers/Popup.js
+++ b/lib/OpenLayers/Popup.js
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@
  */
 OpenLayers.Popup = Class.create();
 
-OpenLayers.Popup.count = 0;
 OpenLayers.Popup.WIDTH = 200;
 OpenLayers.Popup.HEIGHT = 200;
 OpenLayers.Popup.COLOR = "white";
@@ -56,8 +55,11 @@ OpenLayers.Popup.prototype = {
     * @param {String} contentHTML
     */
     initialize:function(id, lonlat, size, contentHTML) {
-        OpenLayers.Popup.count += 1;
-        this.id = (id != null) ? id : "Popup" + OpenLayers.Popup.count;
+        if (id == null) {
+            id = OpenLayers.Util.createUniqueID(this.CLASS_NAME + "_");
+        }
+
+        this.id = id;
         this.lonlat = lonlat;
         this.size = (size != null) ? size 
                                   : new OpenLayers.Size(
diff --git a/tests/test_Popup.html b/tests/test_Popup.html
index 01d7e17ff5..a717e27f69 100644
--- a/tests/test_Popup.html
+++ b/tests/test_Popup.html
@@ -12,7 +12,8 @@
         popup = new OpenLayers.Popup();
 
         t.ok( popup instanceof OpenLayers.Popup, "new OpenLayers.Popup returns Popup object" );
-        t.ok(popup.id.startsWith("Popup"), "good default popup.id");
+        t.ok(popup.id.startsWith("OpenLayers.Popup"), "valid default popupid");
+        var firstID = popup.id;
         t.ok(popup.size.equals(size), "good default popup.size");
         t.eq(popup.contentHTML, "", "good default popup.contentHTML");
         t.eq(popup.backgroundColor, OpenLayers.Popup.COLOR, "good default popup.backgroundColor");
@@ -20,12 +21,9 @@
         t.eq(popup.border, OpenLayers.Popup.BORDER, "good default popup.border");
 
         
-        var oldIndex = parseInt(popup.id.slice("Popup".length));
-
         popup = new OpenLayers.Popup();
-        var newIndex = parseInt(popup.id.slice("Popup".length));
-        
-        t.eq(newIndex, oldIndex + 1, "default id generator incrementing correctly");
+        var newID = popup.id;
+        t.ok(newID != firstID, "default id generator creating unique ids");
     }
     
     function test_02_Popup_constructor (t) {