diff --git a/include/linux/uts.h b/include/linux/uts.h
index 73eb1ed36ec..6ddbd86377d 100644
--- a/include/linux/uts.h
+++ b/include/linux/uts.h
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 #endif
 
 #ifndef UTS_NODENAME
-#define UTS_NODENAME "(none)"	/* set by sethostname() */
+#define UTS_NODENAME CONFIG_DEFAULT_HOSTNAME /* set by sethostname() */
 #endif
 
 #ifndef UTS_DOMAINNAME
diff --git a/init/Kconfig b/init/Kconfig
index ebafac4231e..e0a22e42d39 100644
--- a/init/Kconfig
+++ b/init/Kconfig
@@ -204,6 +204,15 @@ config KERNEL_LZO
 
 endchoice
 
+config DEFAULT_HOSTNAME
+	string "Default hostname"
+	default "(none)"
+	help
+	  This option determines the default system hostname before userspace
+	  calls sethostname(2). The kernel traditionally uses "(none)" here,
+	  but you may wish to use a different default here to make a minimal
+	  system more usable with less configuration.
+
 config SWAP
 	bool "Support for paging of anonymous memory (swap)"
 	depends on MMU && BLOCK