diff --git a/drivers/net/ppp/ppp_generic.c b/drivers/net/ppp/ppp_generic.c
index f226db4616b7..70cfa06ccd40 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ppp/ppp_generic.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ppp/ppp_generic.c
@@ -1103,6 +1103,15 @@ static int ppp_nl_newlink(struct net *src_net, struct net_device *dev,
 	}
 
 	conf.file = file;
+
+	/* Don't use device name generated by the rtnetlink layer when ifname
+	 * isn't specified. Let ppp_dev_configure() set the device name using
+	 * the PPP unit identifer as suffix (i.e. ppp<unit_id>). This allows
+	 * userspace to infer the device name using to the PPPIOCGUNIT ioctl.
+	 */
+	if (!tb[IFLA_IFNAME])
+		conf.ifname_is_set = false;
+
 	err = ppp_dev_configure(src_net, dev, &conf);
 
 out_unlock: