diff --git a/static/app/views/performance/newTraceDetails/traceApi/utils.tsx b/static/app/views/performance/newTraceDetails/traceApi/utils.tsx
index c2b0e412d65530..7c79a0dc5481c3 100644
--- a/static/app/views/performance/newTraceDetails/traceApi/utils.tsx
+++ b/static/app/views/performance/newTraceDetails/traceApi/utils.tsx
@@ -56,7 +56,8 @@ export const getRepresentativeTraceEvent = (
     return {type: 'uptime_check', event: traceChild.value};
   }
 
-  let rootEvent: TraceTree.TraceEvent | null = null;
+  let preferredRootEvent: TraceTree.TraceEvent | null = null;
+  let firstRootEvent: TraceTree.TraceEvent | null = null;
   let candidateEvent: TraceTree.TraceEvent | null = null;
   let firstEvent: TraceTree.TraceEvent | null = null;
 
@@ -66,26 +67,22 @@ export const getRepresentativeTraceEvent = (
     : [...traceNode.value.transactions, ...traceNode.value.orphan_errors];
   for (const event of events) {
     if (isRootEvent(event)) {
-      rootEvent = event;
+      if (!firstRootEvent) {
+        firstRootEvent = event;
+      }
 
-      if (!isEAP) {
-        // For non-EAP traces, we return the first root event.
+      if (hasPreferredOp(event)) {
+        preferredRootEvent = event;
         break;
       }
-
+      // Otherwise we keep looking for a root eap transaction. If we don't find one, we use other roots, like standalone spans.
       continue;
     } else if (
       // If we haven't found a root transaction, but we found a candidate transaction
       // with an op that we care about, we can use it for the title. We keep looking for
       // a root.
       !candidateEvent &&
-      CANDIDATE_TRACE_TITLE_OPS.includes(
-        'transaction.op' in event
-          ? event['transaction.op']
-          : 'op' in event
-            ? event.op
-            : ''
-      )
+      hasPreferredOp(event)
     ) {
       candidateEvent = event;
       continue;
@@ -97,7 +94,7 @@ export const getRepresentativeTraceEvent = (
   }
 
   return {
-    event: rootEvent ?? candidateEvent ?? firstEvent,
+    event: preferredRootEvent ?? firstRootEvent ?? candidateEvent ?? firstEvent,
     type: 'span',
   };
 };
@@ -113,3 +110,18 @@ export const isValidEventUUID = (id: string): boolean => {
     /^[0-9a-f]{8}[0-9a-f]{4}[1-5][0-9a-f]{3}[89ab][0-9a-f]{3}[0-9a-f]{12}$/i;
   return uuidRegex.test(id);
 };
+
+/**
+ * Prefer "special" root events over generic root events when generating a title
+ * for the waterfall view. Picking these improves contextual navigation for linked
+ * traces, resulting in more meaningful waterfall titles.
+ */
+function hasPreferredOp(event: TraceTree.TraceEvent): boolean {
+  const op =
+    'op' in event
+      ? event.op
+      : 'transaction.op' in event
+        ? event['transaction.op']
+        : undefined;
+  return !!op && CANDIDATE_TRACE_TITLE_OPS.includes(op);
+}
diff --git a/static/app/views/performance/newTraceDetails/traceHeader/index.tsx b/static/app/views/performance/newTraceDetails/traceHeader/index.tsx
index 0104abe455efe7..97778ac59edae2 100644
--- a/static/app/views/performance/newTraceDetails/traceHeader/index.tsx
+++ b/static/app/views/performance/newTraceDetails/traceHeader/index.tsx
@@ -92,7 +92,11 @@ export function TraceMetaDataHeader(props: TraceMetadataHeaderProps) {
           </ButtonBar>
         </TraceHeaderComponents.HeaderRow>
         <TraceHeaderComponents.HeaderRow>
-          <Title representativeEvent={rep} rootEventResults={props.rootEventResults} />
+          <Title
+            representativeEvent={rep}
+            rootEventResults={props.rootEventResults}
+            tree={props.tree}
+          />
           <Meta
             organization={props.organization}
             tree={props.tree}
diff --git a/static/app/views/performance/newTraceDetails/traceHeader/title.tsx b/static/app/views/performance/newTraceDetails/traceHeader/title.tsx
index 90375f515401a4..927012ccbd3580 100644
--- a/static/app/views/performance/newTraceDetails/traceHeader/title.tsx
+++ b/static/app/views/performance/newTraceDetails/traceHeader/title.tsx
@@ -16,21 +16,21 @@ import {
   type RepresentativeTraceEvent,
 } from 'sentry/views/performance/newTraceDetails/traceApi/utils';
 import {findSpanAttributeValue} from 'sentry/views/performance/newTraceDetails/traceDrawer/details/utils';
-import {
-  isEAPError,
-  isTraceError,
-  isUptimeCheck,
-} from 'sentry/views/performance/newTraceDetails/traceGuards';
+import type {TraceTree} from 'sentry/views/performance/newTraceDetails/traceModels/traceTree';
 import {makeReplaysPathname} from 'sentry/views/replays/pathnames';
 
 interface TitleProps {
   representativeEvent: RepresentativeTraceEvent;
   rootEventResults: TraceRootEventQueryResults;
+  tree: TraceTree;
 }
 
-function getTitle(representativeEvent: RepresentativeTraceEvent): {
-  subtitle: string | undefined;
+function getTitle(
+  tree: TraceTree,
+  representativeEvent: RepresentativeTraceEvent
+): {
   title: string;
+  subtitle?: string;
 } | null {
   const {event} = representativeEvent;
   if (!event) {
@@ -45,36 +45,8 @@ function getTitle(representativeEvent: RepresentativeTraceEvent): {
     };
   }
 
-  // Handle error events
-  if (isEAPError(event) || isTraceError(event)) {
-    const subtitle = isEAPError(event) ? event.description : event.title || event.message;
-
-    return {
-      title: t('Trace'),
-      subtitle,
-    };
-  }
-
-  // Handle uptime check traces
-  if (isUptimeCheck(event)) {
-    return {
-      title: t('Uptime Monitor Check'),
-      subtitle: `${event.additional_attributes?.method} ${event.additional_attributes?.request_url}`,
-    };
-  }
-
-  if (!('transaction' in event)) {
-    return null;
-  }
-
-  // Normalize operation field access across event types
-  const op =
-    'transaction.op' in event ? event['transaction.op'] : 'op' in event ? event.op : '';
-
-  return {
-    title: op || t('Trace'),
-    subtitle: event.transaction,
-  };
+  const node = tree.root.findChild(n => n.value === event);
+  return node?.traceHeaderTitle ?? null;
 }
 
 function ContextBadges({rootEventResults}: Pick<TitleProps, 'rootEventResults'>) {
@@ -119,8 +91,8 @@ const ReplayButton = styled(LinkButton)`
   text-decoration-style: dotted;
 `;
 
-export function Title({representativeEvent, rootEventResults}: TitleProps) {
-  const traceTitle = getTitle(representativeEvent);
+export function Title({representativeEvent, rootEventResults, tree}: TitleProps) {
+  const traceTitle = getTitle(tree, representativeEvent);
 
   return (
     <div>