diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 2394790c455..90c0ef07aa1 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1230,7 +1230,7 @@ AC_CHECK_HEADERS_ONCE(
   linux/version.h sys/systeminfo.h
   stdio_ext.h fcntl.h coff.h pty.h
   sys/vlimit.h sys/resource.h
-  sys/utsname.h pwd.h utmp.h dirent.h util.h)
+  sys/utsname.h pwd.h utmp.h dirent.h util.h sys/prctl.h)
 
 AC_MSG_CHECKING(if personality LINUX32 can be set)
 AC_COMPILE_IFELSE([AC_LANG_PROGRAM([[#include <sys/personality.h>]], [[personality (PER_LINUX32)]])],
@@ -2731,7 +2731,7 @@ gai_strerror mkstemp getline getdelim fsync sync \
 difftime posix_memalign \
 getpwent endpwent getgrent endgrent \
 touchlock \
-cfmakeraw cfsetspeed copysign __executable_start)
+cfmakeraw cfsetspeed copysign __executable_start prctl)
 
 dnl getwd appears to be buggy on SVR4.2, so we don't use it.
 if test $opsys = unixware; then
diff --git a/src/systhread.c b/src/systhread.c
index 666641c24da..ab647528452 100644
--- a/src/systhread.c
+++ b/src/systhread.c
@@ -24,6 +24,10 @@ along with GNU Emacs.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.  */
 
 #include <sched.h>
 
+#ifdef HAVE_SYS_PRCTL_H
+#include <sys/prctl.h>
+#endif
+
 void
 sys_mutex_init (sys_mutex_t *mutex)
 {
@@ -91,8 +95,8 @@ sys_thread_equal (sys_thread_t one, sys_thread_t two)
 }
 
 int
-sys_thread_create (sys_thread_t *thread_ptr, thread_creation_function *func,
-		   void *arg)
+sys_thread_create (sys_thread_t *thread_ptr, const char *name,
+		   thread_creation_function *func, void *arg)
 {
   pthread_attr_t attr;
   int result = 0;
@@ -101,7 +105,13 @@ sys_thread_create (sys_thread_t *thread_ptr, thread_creation_function *func,
     return 0;
 
   if (!pthread_attr_setdetachstate (&attr, PTHREAD_CREATE_DETACHED))
-    result = pthread_create (thread_ptr, &attr, func, arg) == 0;
+    {
+      result = pthread_create (thread_ptr, &attr, func, arg) == 0;
+#if defined (HAVE_SYS_PRCTL_H) && defined (HAVE_PRCTL) && defined (PR_SET_NAME)
+      if (result && name != NULL)
+	prctl (PR_SET_NAME, name);
+#endif
+    }
 
   pthread_attr_destroy (&attr);
 
diff --git a/src/systhread.h b/src/systhread.h
index 790b385b7ff..bbd242ab93c 100644
--- a/src/systhread.h
+++ b/src/systhread.h
@@ -54,7 +54,8 @@ extern void sys_cond_destroy (sys_cond_t *);
 extern sys_thread_t sys_thread_self (void);
 extern int sys_thread_equal (sys_thread_t, sys_thread_t);
 
-extern int sys_thread_create (sys_thread_t *, thread_creation_function *,
+extern int sys_thread_create (sys_thread_t *, const char *,
+			      thread_creation_function *,
 			      void *);
 
 extern void sys_thread_yield (void);
diff --git a/src/thread.c b/src/thread.c
index dba84fd0fb6..01d2fd0d6eb 100644
--- a/src/thread.c
+++ b/src/thread.c
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ along with GNU Emacs.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.  */
 #include "character.h"
 #include "buffer.h"
 #include "process.h"
+#include "coding.h"
 
 static struct thread_state primary_thread;
 
@@ -682,6 +683,7 @@ If NAME is given, it names the new thread.  */)
   sys_thread_t thr;
   struct thread_state *new_thread;
   Lisp_Object result;
+  const char *c_name = NULL;
 
   /* Can't start a thread in temacs.  */
   if (!initialized)
@@ -716,7 +718,10 @@ If NAME is given, it names the new thread.  */)
   new_thread->next_thread = all_threads;
   all_threads = new_thread;
 
-  if (! sys_thread_create (&thr, run_thread, new_thread))
+  if (!NILP (name))
+    c_name = SSDATA (ENCODE_UTF_8 (name));
+
+  if (! sys_thread_create (&thr, c_name, run_thread, new_thread))
     {
       /* Restore the previous situation.  */
       all_threads = all_threads->next_thread;