diff --git a/lib/Relationship/AbstractRelationship.php b/lib/Relationship/AbstractRelationship.php
index 7de81f99..12c6f575 100644
--- a/lib/Relationship/AbstractRelationship.php
+++ b/lib/Relationship/AbstractRelationship.php
@@ -212,6 +212,16 @@ protected function query_and_attach_related_models_eagerly(Table $table, array $
         }
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Checks if the given string matches this relationship's attribute name.
+     *
+     * @param string $other the string to compare with this relationship's attribute name
+     */
+    public function is_string_this_relationship(string $other): bool
+    {
+        return $this->attribute_name === $other;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Creates a new instance of specified {@link Model} with the attributes pre-loaded.
      *
diff --git a/lib/Relationship/HasAndBelongsToMany.php b/lib/Relationship/HasAndBelongsToMany.php
index 2df0dbf9..59efe563 100644
--- a/lib/Relationship/HasAndBelongsToMany.php
+++ b/lib/Relationship/HasAndBelongsToMany.php
@@ -27,7 +27,9 @@ public function __construct(string $attribute, array $options = [])
     {
         parent::__construct($attribute, $options);
 
-        $this->set_class_name($this->inferred_class_name(Utils::singularize($attribute)));
+        if (!isset($this->class_name)) {
+            $this->set_class_name($this->inferred_class_name(Utils::singularize($attribute)));
+        }
 
         $this->options['association_foreign_key'] ??= Inflector::keyify($this->class_name);
     }
@@ -46,12 +48,12 @@ public function load(Model $model): mixed
          * @var Relation<TModel>
          */
         $rel = new Relation($this->class_name, [], []);
-        $rel->from($this->attribute_name);
+        $rel->from($this->get_table()->table);
         $other_table = Table::load(get_class($model));
         $other_table_name = $other_table->table;
         $other_table_primary_key = $other_table->pk[0];
         $rel->where($other_table_name . '.' . $other_table_primary_key . ' = ?', $model->{$model->get_primary_key()});
-        $rel->joins([$other_table_name]);
+        $rel->joins([$this->options['join_table']]);
 
         return $rel->to_a();
     }
@@ -86,4 +88,9 @@ public function load_eagerly($models, $attributes, $includes, Table $table): voi
     {
         throw new \Exception('load_eagerly undefined for ' . __CLASS__);
     }
+
+    public function is_string_this_relationship(string $other): bool
+    {
+        return parent::is_string_this_relationship($other) || $other === $this->options['join_table'];
+    }
 }
diff --git a/lib/Table.php b/lib/Table.php
index e80b0603..e93612c3 100644
--- a/lib/Table.php
+++ b/lib/Table.php
@@ -164,24 +164,20 @@ public function create_joins(array|string $joins): string
             $ret .= $space;
 
             if (false === stripos($value, 'JOIN ')) {
-                if (array_key_exists($value, $this->relationships)) {
-                    $rel = $this->get_relationship($value);
-
-                    /**
-                     * PHPStan seems to be getting confused about the usage of a class-string
-                     * as an array string.
-                     *
-                     * @phpstan-ignore-next-line
-                     */
-                    $alias = !empty($existing_tables[$rel->class_name]) ? $value : null;
-                    /* @phpstan-ignore-next-line */
-                    $existing_tables[$rel->class_name] = true;
-
-                    /* @phpstan-ignore-next-line */
-                    $ret .= $rel->construct_inner_join_sql($this, false, $alias);
-                } else {
-                    throw new RelationshipException("Relationship named $value has not been declared for class: {$this->class->getName()}");
-                }
+                $rel = $this->get_relationship($value, true);
+
+                /**
+                 * PHPStan seems to be getting confused about the usage of a class-string
+                 * as an array string.
+                 *
+                 * @phpstan-ignore-next-line
+                 */
+                $alias = !empty($existing_tables[$rel->class_name]) ? $value : null;
+                /* @phpstan-ignore-next-line */
+                $existing_tables[$rel->class_name] = true;
+
+                /* @phpstan-ignore-next-line */
+                $ret .= $rel->construct_inner_join_sql($this, false, $alias);
             } else {
                 $ret .= $value;
             }
@@ -382,8 +378,10 @@ public function get_fully_qualified_table_name(): string
      */
     public function get_relationship(string $name, bool $strict = false): ?AbstractRelationship
     {
-        if ($this->has_relationship($name)) {
-            return $this->relationships[$name];
+        foreach ($this->relationships as $relationship) {
+            if ($relationship->is_string_this_relationship($name)) {
+                return $relationship;
+            }
         }
 
         if ($strict) {
diff --git a/test/RelationshipTest.php b/test/RelationshipTest.php
index dbe29188..8d034475 100644
--- a/test/RelationshipTest.php
+++ b/test/RelationshipTest.php
@@ -346,6 +346,43 @@ public function testHasAndBelongsToManyPrimaryKeyIsDifferentThanForeignKeyRevers
         $this->assert_sql_includes('INNER JOIN tasks_workers ON (workers.id = tasks_workers.worker_id) INNER JOIN tasks ON tasks.id = tasks_workers.task_id', Table::load(Worker::class)->last_sql);
     }
 
+    public function testHasAndBelongsToManyWithExplicitClassName()
+    {
+        Task::$has_and_belongs_to_many = [
+            'custom_workers' => [
+                'class_name' => 'Worker',
+                'join_table' => 'tasks_workers'
+            ]
+        ];
+
+        $task = Task::find(1);
+        $workers = $task->custom_workers;
+        $this->assertEquals(1, count($workers));
+        $this->assertInstanceOf(Worker::class, $workers[0]);
+    }
+
+    public function testHasAndBelongsToManyWithExplicitClassNameBothSide()
+    {
+        Task::$has_and_belongs_to_many = [
+            'custom_workers' => [
+                'class_name' => 'Worker',
+                'join_table' => 'tasks_workers'
+            ]
+        ];
+
+        Worker::$has_and_belongs_to_many = [
+            'custom_tasks' => [
+                'class_name' => 'Task',
+                'join_table' => 'tasks_workers'
+            ]
+        ];
+
+        $task = Task::find(1);
+        $workers = $task->custom_workers;
+        $this->assertEquals(1, count($workers));
+        $this->assertInstanceOf(Worker::class, $workers[0]);
+    }
+
     public function testBelongsToCreateAssociation()
     {
         $event = Event::find(5);