diff --git a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/context/MessageSourceAutoConfiguration.java b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/context/MessageSourceAutoConfiguration.java
index 845cb133e7..cbf9f303c2 100644
--- a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/context/MessageSourceAutoConfiguration.java
+++ b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/context/MessageSourceAutoConfiguration.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2012-2017 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2012-2018 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -118,9 +118,10 @@ public class MessageSourceAutoConfiguration {
 		}
 
 		private Resource[] getResources(ClassLoader classLoader, String name) {
+			String target = name.replace('.', '/');
 			try {
 				return new PathMatchingResourcePatternResolver(classLoader)
-						.getResources("classpath*:" + name + ".properties");
+						.getResources("classpath*:" + target + ".properties");
 			}
 			catch (Exception ex) {
 				return NO_RESOURCES;
diff --git a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/context/MessageSourceProperties.java b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/context/MessageSourceProperties.java
index b11773fee4..17b5dce46a 100644
--- a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/context/MessageSourceProperties.java
+++ b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/context/MessageSourceProperties.java
@@ -30,9 +30,10 @@ import java.time.Duration;
 public class MessageSourceProperties {
 
 	/**
-	 * Comma-separated list of basenames, each following the ResourceBundle convention.
-	 * Essentially a fully-qualified classpath location. If it doesn't contain a package
-	 * qualifier (such as "org.mypackage"), it will be resolved from the classpath root.
+	 * Comma-separated list of basenames (essentially a fully-qualified classpath
+	 * location), each following the ResourceBundle convention with relaxed support for
+	 * slash based locations. If it doesn't contain a package qualifier (such as
+	 * "org.mypackage"), it will be resolved from the classpath root.
 	 */
 	private String basename = "messages";
 
diff --git a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/context/MessageSourceAutoConfigurationTests.java b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/context/MessageSourceAutoConfigurationTests.java
index 8d12cd92d1..9a2cbe6c79 100644
--- a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/context/MessageSourceAutoConfigurationTests.java
+++ b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/test/java/org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/context/MessageSourceAutoConfigurationTests.java
@@ -55,11 +55,24 @@ public class MessageSourceAutoConfigurationTests {
 	}
 
 	@Test
-	public void testMessageSourceCreated() {
+	public void propertiesBundleWithSlashIsDetected() {
 		this.contextRunner.withPropertyValues("spring.messages.basename:test/messages")
-				.run((context) -> assertThat(
-						context.getMessage("foo", null, "Foo message", Locale.UK))
-								.isEqualTo("bar"));
+				.run((context) -> {
+					assertThat(context).hasSingleBean(MessageSource.class); assertThat(
+							context.getMessage("foo", null, "Foo message", Locale.UK))
+							.isEqualTo("bar");
+				});
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void propertiesBundleWithDotIsDetected() {
+		this.contextRunner.withPropertyValues("spring.messages.basename:test.messages")
+				.run((context) -> {
+					assertThat(context).hasSingleBean(MessageSource.class);
+					assertThat(
+							context.getMessage("foo", null, "Foo message", Locale.UK))
+							.isEqualTo("bar");
+				});
 	}
 
 	@Test
diff --git a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-docs/src/main/asciidoc/appendix-application-properties.adoc b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-docs/src/main/asciidoc/appendix-application-properties.adoc
index 87a0a09b09..37a89f17c4 100644
--- a/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-docs/src/main/asciidoc/appendix-application-properties.adoc
+++ b/spring-boot-project/spring-boot-docs/src/main/asciidoc/appendix-application-properties.adoc
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ content into your application. Rather, pick only the properties that you need.
 
 	# INTERNATIONALIZATION ({sc-spring-boot-autoconfigure}/context/MessageSourceProperties.{sc-ext}[MessageSourceProperties])
 	spring.messages.always-use-message-format=false # Whether to always apply the MessageFormat rules, parsing even messages without arguments.
-	spring.messages.basename=messages # Comma-separated list of basenames, each following the ResourceBundle convention.
+	spring.messages.basename=messages # Comma-separated list of basenames (essentially a fully-qualified classpath location), each following the ResourceBundle convention with relaxed support for slash based locations.
 	spring.messages.cache-duration=-1 # Loaded resource bundle files cache duration. When not set, bundles are cached forever.
 	spring.messages.encoding=UTF-8 # Message bundles encoding.
 	spring.messages.fallback-to-system-locale=true # Whether to fall back to the system Locale if no files for a specific Locale have been found.