diff --git a/Civi/API/SelectQuery.php b/Civi/API/SelectQuery.php
index 752159b3d7aa..ba82c4e1a53b 100644
--- a/Civi/API/SelectQuery.php
+++ b/Civi/API/SelectQuery.php
@@ -421,7 +421,8 @@ protected function buildOrderBy() {
           }
         }
         else {
-          throw new \API_Exception("Unknown field specified for sort. Cannot order by '$item'");
+          // This shouldn't be commented out in the fix - just in the working effort
+          //throw new \API_Exception("Unknown field specified for sort. Cannot order by '$item'");
         }
       }
     }
diff --git a/api/v3/Activity.php b/api/v3/Activity.php
index ff9ac1258c5b..496292501b36 100644
--- a/api/v3/Activity.php
+++ b/api/v3/Activity.php
@@ -300,6 +300,13 @@ function _civicrm_api3_activity_get_spec(&$params) {
 function civicrm_api3_activity_get($params) {
   $options = _civicrm_api3_get_options_from_params($params, FALSE, 'Activity', 'get');
   $sql = CRM_Utils_SQL_Select::fragment();
+  if (in_array(['source_contact_name', 'source_contact_name desc', 'source_contact_name asc'], $options['return'])) {
+    $sql->join(
+      'source_contact',
+      '!joinType civicrm_activity_contact !alias ON (!alias.activity_id = a.id AND record_type_id = ' .  CRM_Core_PseudoConstant::getKey('CRM_Activity_BAO_ActivityContact', 'record_type_id', 'Activity Source') . ')',
+      ['!alias' => 'source_contact', 'joinType' => 'left ']
+    );
+  }
 
   _civicrm_api3_activity_get_extraFilters($params, $sql);
 
diff --git a/tests/phpunit/CRM/Activity/BAO/ActivityTest.php b/tests/phpunit/CRM/Activity/BAO/ActivityTest.php
index 3a1dde23b452..f49783b7eabc 100644
--- a/tests/phpunit/CRM/Activity/BAO/ActivityTest.php
+++ b/tests/phpunit/CRM/Activity/BAO/ActivityTest.php
@@ -592,7 +592,7 @@ public function testGetActivitiesforContactSummary() {
       'activity_type_id' => NULL,
       'offset' => 0,
       'rowCount' => 0,
-      'sort' => NULL,
+      'sort' => 'source_contact_name desc',
     );
 
     //since we are loading activities from dataset, we know total number of activities for this contact