diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
index f570081e3a..6e51f590cd 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
@@ -2438,6 +2438,9 @@ qemuDomainObjPrivateXMLFormat(virBufferPtr buf,
 
     qemuDomainObjPrivateXMLFormatPR(buf, priv);
 
+    if (virQEMUCapsGet(priv->qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_BLOCKDEV))
+        virBufferAsprintf(buf, "<nodename index='%llu'/>\n", priv->nodenameindex);
+
     if (qemuDomainObjPrivateXMLFormatBlockjobs(buf, vm) < 0)
         return -1;
 
@@ -2933,6 +2936,14 @@ qemuDomainObjPrivateXMLParse(xmlXPathContextPtr ctxt,
     if (qemuDomainObjPrivateXMLParseBlockjobs(priv, ctxt) < 0)
         goto error;
 
+    qemuDomainStorageIdReset(priv);
+    if (virXPathULongLong("string(./nodename/@index)", ctxt,
+                          &priv->nodenameindex) == -2) {
+        virReportError(VIR_ERR_XML_ERROR, "%s",
+                       _("failed to parse node name index"));
+        goto error;
+    }
+
     return 0;
 
  error:
@@ -13179,3 +13190,30 @@ qemuDomainGetManagedPRSocketPath(qemuDomainObjPrivatePtr priv)
 
     return ret;
 }
+
+
+/**
+ * qemuDomainStorageIdNew:
+ * @priv: qemu VM private data object.
+ *
+ * Generate a new unique id for a storage object. Useful for node name generation.
+ */
+unsigned int
+qemuDomainStorageIdNew(qemuDomainObjPrivatePtr priv)
+{
+    return ++priv->nodenameindex;
+}
+
+
+/**
+ * qemuDomainStorageIdReset:
+ * @priv: qemu VM private data object.
+ *
+ * Resets the data for the node name generator. The node names need to be unique
+ * for a single instance, so can be reset on VM shutdown.
+ */
+void
+qemuDomainStorageIdReset(qemuDomainObjPrivatePtr priv)
+{
+    priv->nodenameindex = 0;
+}
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.h b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.h
index 7b79d77257..5dcbdfbbe1 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.h
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.h
@@ -363,6 +363,9 @@ struct _qemuDomainObjPrivate {
 
     /* true if qemu-pr-helper process is running for the domain */
     bool prDaemonRunning;
+
+    /* counter for generating node names for qemu disks */
+    unsigned long long nodenameindex;
 };
 
 # define QEMU_DOMAIN_PRIVATE(vm) \
@@ -1063,4 +1066,7 @@ qemuDomainDiskCachemodeFlags(int cachemode,
 
 char * qemuDomainGetManagedPRSocketPath(qemuDomainObjPrivatePtr priv);
 
+unsigned int qemuDomainStorageIdNew(qemuDomainObjPrivatePtr priv);
+void qemuDomainStorageIdReset(qemuDomainObjPrivatePtr priv);
+
 #endif /* __QEMU_DOMAIN_H__ */
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_process.c b/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
index e1278db9d9..39716f9162 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
@@ -7157,6 +7157,9 @@ void qemuProcessStop(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
     /* clear all private data entries which are no longer needed */
     qemuDomainObjPrivateDataClear(priv);
 
+    /* reset node name allocator */
+    qemuDomainStorageIdReset(priv);
+
     /* The "release" hook cleans up additional resources */
     if (virHookPresent(VIR_HOOK_DRIVER_QEMU)) {
         char *xml = qemuDomainDefFormatXML(driver, vm->def, 0);
diff --git a/tests/qemustatusxml2xmldata/modern-in.xml b/tests/qemustatusxml2xmldata/modern-in.xml
index 4fb5f326c2..c9f5c4e76a 100644
--- a/tests/qemustatusxml2xmldata/modern-in.xml
+++ b/tests/qemustatusxml2xmldata/modern-in.xml
@@ -233,6 +233,7 @@
     <flag name='isa-serial'/>
     <flag name='dump-completed'/>
     <flag name='hda-output'/>
+    <flag name='blockdev'/>
   </qemuCaps>
   <devices>
     <device alias='rng0'/>
@@ -258,6 +259,7 @@
   <channelTargetDir path='/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/channel/target/domain-1-upstream'/>
   <chardevStdioLogd/>
   <allowReboot value='yes'/>
+  <nodename index='123'/>
   <blockjobs active='no'/>
   <domain type='kvm' id='1'>
     <name>upstream</name>