diff --git a/src/framework/core/ParticleData.xml b/src/framework/core/ParticleData.xml
index e3d63618213a6f5afa33f015a1c58f5af269e1e2..1727681045ba9b15c92a0206607ea758725cc60e 100644
--- a/src/framework/core/ParticleData.xml
+++ b/src/framework/core/ParticleData.xml
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@
 </particle> 
 -->
  
-<particle id="22" name="photon" spinType="3" chargeType="0" colType="0" 
+<particle id="22" name="gamma" spinType="3" chargeType="0" colType="0" 
           m0="0.00000"> 
 </particle> 
  
@@ -9265,7 +9265,7 @@
           m0="0.00000"> 
 </particle> 
  
-<particle id="4900022" name="photonv" spinType="3" chargeType="0" colType="0" 
+<particle id="4900022" name="gammav" spinType="3" chargeType="0" colType="0" 
           m0="0.00000"> 
  <channel onMode="0" bRatio="0.05" meMode="91" products="1 -1"/> 
  <channel onMode="0" bRatio="0.20" meMode="91" products="2 -2"/> 
diff --git a/src/framework/core/pdxml_reader.py b/src/framework/core/pdxml_reader.py
index a099dc427ff835ee6bad75bdd5169513ea100d05..847e3a81f221cf3c8aa65e9edbe3f00785630f04 100755
--- a/src/framework/core/pdxml_reader.py
+++ b/src/framework/core/pdxml_reader.py
@@ -173,7 +173,11 @@ def read_pythia_db(filename, particle_db, classnames):
         else:
             c_id = c_identifier_camel(name) # the camel case names
 
-        hadron =abs(pdg) > 100
+        # rename photon in Pythia to gamma
+        if pdg == 22:
+            name = "photon"
+
+        hadron = abs(pdg) > 100
 
         if c_id in particle_db.keys():
             raise RuntimeError("particle '{:s}' already known (new PDG id {:d}, stored PDG id: {:d})".format(c_id, pdg, particle_db[c_id]['pdg']))
@@ -514,7 +518,7 @@ def serialize_particle_db(particle_db, file):
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     
     if len(sys.argv) != 4:
-        print("usage: {:s} <Pythia8.xml> <Nuclei.xml> <ClassNames.xml>".format(sys.argv[0]), file=sys.stderr)
+        print("usage: {:s} <ParticleData.xml> <NuclearData.xml> <ParticleClassNames.xml>".format(sys.argv[0]), file=sys.stderr)
         sys.exit(1)
         
     print("\n       pdxml_reader.py: automatically produce particle properties from input files\n")