I think it's working as intended. Users who do know how the applications are called (me, for instance) will likely want to search by their names. Unity also implements such behavior.
In any case, this is an upstream bug, and should be filed in the upstream bug tracker at bugzilla.gnome.org. ** Changed in: gnome-shell (Ubuntu) Status: New => Incomplete -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/552767 Title: search includes application codenames -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs