diff --git a/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Blazor/Routing/NavLink.cs b/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Blazor/Routing/NavLink.cs
index 8277f076f5..ce9bbe8ffa 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Blazor/Routing/NavLink.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Blazor/Routing/NavLink.cs
@@ -32,6 +32,12 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNetCore.Blazor.Routing
         private string _hrefAbsolute;
         private IReadOnlyDictionary<string, object> _allAttributes;
 
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Gets or sets the CSS class name applied to the NavLink when the 
+        /// current route matches the NavLink href.
+        /// </summary>
+        public string ActiveClass { get; set; }
+
         /// <summary>
         /// Gets or sets a value representing the URL matching behavior.
         /// </summary>
@@ -55,6 +61,7 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNetCore.Blazor.Routing
             parameters.TryGetValue(RenderTreeBuilder.ChildContent, out _childContent);
             parameters.TryGetValue("class", out _cssClass);
             parameters.TryGetValue("href", out string href);
+            ActiveClass = parameters.GetValueOrDefault(nameof(ActiveClass), "active");
             Match = parameters.GetValueOrDefault(nameof(Match), NavLinkMatch.Prefix);
             _allAttributes = parameters.ToDictionary();
 
@@ -92,7 +99,7 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNetCore.Blazor.Routing
             {
                 return string.Equals(currentUriAbsolute, _hrefAbsolute, StringComparison.Ordinal);
             }
-            else 
+            else
             {
                 throw new InvalidOperationException($"Unsupported {nameof(NavLinkMatch)} value: {Match}");
             }
@@ -102,8 +109,9 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNetCore.Blazor.Routing
         {
             builder.OpenElement(0, "a");
 
-            // Set "active" class dynamically
-            builder.AddAttribute(0, "class", CombineWithSpace(_cssClass, _isActive ? "active" : null));
+            // Set class attribute
+            string classAttrValue = CombineWithSpace(_cssClass, _isActive ? ActiveClass : null);
+            builder.AddAttribute(0, "class", classAttrValue);
 
             // Pass through all other attributes unchanged
             foreach (var kvp in _allAttributes.Where(kvp => kvp.Key != "class" && kvp.Key != nameof(RenderTreeBuilder.ChildContent)))
@@ -118,7 +126,7 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNetCore.Blazor.Routing
         }
 
         private string CombineWithSpace(string str1, string str2)
-            => str1 == null ? str2
+            => str1 == null ? (str2 ?? string.Empty) // Return an empty string if both str1 and str2 are null
             : (str2 == null ? str1 : $"{str1} {str2}");
 
         private static bool StartsWithAndHasSeparator(string value, string prefix)