diff --git a/git-grep.sh b/git-grep.sh
index 51924fd7c3..e7a35ebd70 100755
--- a/git-grep.sh
+++ b/git-grep.sh
@@ -40,4 +40,4 @@ while : ; do
 	shift
 done
 git-ls-files -z "${git_flags[@]}" "$@" |
-	xargs -0 grep "${flags[@]}" "$pattern"
+	xargs -0 grep "${flags[@]}" -e "$pattern"
diff --git a/show-branch.c b/show-branch.c
index 8cc0755e0a..5778a594f4 100644
--- a/show-branch.c
+++ b/show-branch.c
@@ -138,7 +138,20 @@ static void name_commits(struct commit_list *list,
 				nth++;
 				if (p->object.util)
 					continue;
-				sprintf(newname, "%s^%d", n->head_name, nth);
+				switch (n->generation) {
+				case 0:
+					sprintf(newname, "%s^%d",
+						n->head_name, nth);
+					break;
+				case 1:
+					sprintf(newname, "%s^^%d",
+						n->head_name, nth);
+					break;
+				default:
+					sprintf(newname, "%s~%d^%d",
+						n->head_name, n->generation,
+						nth);
+				}
 				name_commit(p, strdup(newname), 0);
 				i++;
 				name_first_parent_chain(p);