diff --git a/.rive_head b/.rive_head
index 617861ce..dd1b41eb 100644
--- a/.rive_head
+++ b/.rive_head
@@ -1 +1 @@
-8bdedb6b198ad8e0c0ad662a6da20b081edb4b24
+f359c918e0135e8c432f7ba3068fff7dbba0ac07
diff --git a/include/rive/viewmodel/runtime/viewmodel_instance_runtime.hpp b/include/rive/viewmodel/runtime/viewmodel_instance_runtime.hpp
index 7098379b..401ebacb 100644
--- a/include/rive/viewmodel/runtime/viewmodel_instance_runtime.hpp
+++ b/include/rive/viewmodel/runtime/viewmodel_instance_runtime.hpp
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ public:
     ViewModelInstanceRuntime(rcp<ViewModelInstance> instance);
     ~ViewModelInstanceRuntime();
 
-    std::string name() const;
+    const std::string& name() const;
     size_t propertyCount() const;
     ViewModelInstanceNumberRuntime* propertyNumber(
         const std::string& path) const;
diff --git a/src/viewmodel/runtime/viewmodel_instance_runtime.cpp b/src/viewmodel/runtime/viewmodel_instance_runtime.cpp
index 6e38a6d0..2ea11b06 100644
--- a/src/viewmodel/runtime/viewmodel_instance_runtime.cpp
+++ b/src/viewmodel/runtime/viewmodel_instance_runtime.cpp
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-
 #include "rive/viewmodel/runtime/viewmodel_instance_runtime.hpp"
 #include "rive/viewmodel/viewmodel.hpp"
 #include "rive/viewmodel/viewmodel_instance_number.hpp"
@@ -38,7 +37,7 @@ ViewModelInstanceRuntime::~ViewModelInstanceRuntime()
     }
 }
 
-std::string ViewModelInstanceRuntime::name() const
+const std::string& ViewModelInstanceRuntime::name() const
 {
     return m_viewModelInstance->name();
 }