diff --git a/components/camel-rabbitmq/src/main/java/org/apache/camel/component/rabbitmq/RabbitMQProducer.java b/components/camel-rabbitmq/src/main/java/org/apache/camel/component/rabbitmq/RabbitMQProducer.java
index 1336de9018127..30ae3dda9768f 100644
--- a/components/camel-rabbitmq/src/main/java/org/apache/camel/component/rabbitmq/RabbitMQProducer.java
+++ b/components/camel-rabbitmq/src/main/java/org/apache/camel/component/rabbitmq/RabbitMQProducer.java
@@ -43,18 +43,16 @@ public RabbitMQEndpoint getEndpoint() {
         return (RabbitMQEndpoint) super.getEndpoint();
     }
 
+    @Override
     public void shutdown() throws IOException {
         conn.close();
     }
 
     @Override
     public void process(Exchange exchange) throws Exception {
-        String exchangeName = exchange.getIn().getHeader(RabbitMQConstants.EXCHANGE_NAME, String.class);
-        if (exchangeName == null) {
-            exchangeName = getEndpoint().getExchangeName();
-        }
+        String exchangeName = getEndpoint().getExchangeName();
         if (ObjectHelper.isEmpty(exchangeName)) {
-            throw new IllegalArgumentException("ExchangeName is not provided in header " + RabbitMQConstants.EXCHANGE_NAME);
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("ExchangeName is not provided in the endpoint: " + getEndpoint());
         }
 
         String key = exchange.getIn().getHeader(RabbitMQConstants.ROUTING_KEY, "", String.class);
diff --git a/components/camel-rabbitmq/src/test/java/org/apache/camel/component/rabbitmq/RabbitMQProducerTest.java b/components/camel-rabbitmq/src/test/java/org/apache/camel/component/rabbitmq/RabbitMQProducerTest.java
index 188d540ad90b4..8faf44b09a1d8 100644
--- a/components/camel-rabbitmq/src/test/java/org/apache/camel/component/rabbitmq/RabbitMQProducerTest.java
+++ b/components/camel-rabbitmq/src/test/java/org/apache/camel/component/rabbitmq/RabbitMQProducerTest.java
@@ -17,10 +17,12 @@
 
 package org.apache.camel.component.rabbitmq;
 
+
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
 
 import com.rabbitmq.client.AMQP;
+import com.rabbitmq.client.Channel;
 import com.rabbitmq.client.Connection;
 
 import org.apache.camel.Exchange;
@@ -28,6 +30,7 @@
 import org.apache.camel.impl.DefaultMessage;
 import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.Test;
+import org.mockito.ArgumentCaptor;
 import org.mockito.Matchers;
 import org.mockito.Mockito;
 
@@ -39,12 +42,13 @@ public class RabbitMQProducerTest {
     private Exchange exchange = Mockito.mock(Exchange.class);
     private Message message = new DefaultMessage();
     private Connection conn = Mockito.mock(Connection.class);
-
+    private Channel channel = Mockito.mock(Channel.class);
+    
     @Before
     public void before() throws IOException {
         Mockito.when(exchange.getIn()).thenReturn(message);
         Mockito.when(endpoint.connect(Matchers.any(ExecutorService.class))).thenReturn(conn);
-        Mockito.when(conn.createChannel()).thenReturn(null);
+        Mockito.when(conn.createChannel()).thenReturn(channel);
     }
 
     @Test
@@ -150,4 +154,17 @@ public void testPropertiesUsesTimestampHeader() throws IOException {
         AMQP.BasicProperties props = producer.buildProperties(exchange).build();
         assertEquals(12345123, props.getTimestamp().getTime());
     }
+    
+    @Test
+    public void testOriginalMessageExchangeNameHeaderIsIgnored() throws Exception {
+        RabbitMQProducer producer = new RabbitMQProducer(endpoint);
+        message.setHeader(RabbitMQConstants.EXCHANGE_NAME, "fooExcchange");
+        message.setBody("Hello".getBytes());
+        Mockito.when(endpoint.getExchangeName()).thenReturn("barExchange");
+        ArgumentCaptor<String> exchangeNameCapture = ArgumentCaptor.forClass(String.class);
+        producer.process(exchange);
+        Mockito.verify(channel).basicPublish(exchangeNameCapture.capture(), Mockito.eq(""), Mockito.any(AMQP.BasicProperties.class), 
+            Mockito.any(byte[].class));
+        assertEquals("barExchange", exchangeNameCapture.getValue());
+    }
 }