diff --git a/bin/pwnagotchi b/bin/pwnagotchi
index dd1b9b3..1d48137 100755
--- a/bin/pwnagotchi
+++ b/bin/pwnagotchi
@@ -37,6 +37,8 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
 
     logging.debug("effective configuration:\n\n%s\n\n" % yaml.dump(config, default_flow_style=False))
 
+    pwnagotchi.set_name(config['main']['name'])
+
     plugins.load(config)
 
     display = Display(config=config, state={'name': '%s>' % pwnagotchi.name()})
diff --git a/pwnagotchi/__init__.py b/pwnagotchi/__init__.py
index caa4bc9..cc1262b 100644
--- a/pwnagotchi/__init__.py
+++ b/pwnagotchi/__init__.py
@@ -9,6 +9,37 @@ version = '1.1.0b'
 _name = None
 
 
+def set_name(new_name):
+    if new_name is None:
+        return
+
+    new_name = new_name.strip()
+    if new_name == '':
+        return
+
+    current = name()
+    if new_name != current:
+        global _name
+
+        logging.info("setting unit hostname '%s' -> '%s'" % (current, new_name))
+        with open('/etc/hostname', 'wt') as fp:
+            fp.write(new_name)
+
+        with open('/etc/hosts', 'rt') as fp:
+            prev = fp.read()
+            logging.debug("old hosts:\n%s\n" % prev)
+
+        with open('/etc/hosts', 'wt') as fp:
+            patched = prev.replace(current, new_name, -1)
+            logging.debug("new hosts:\n%s\n" % patched)
+            fp.write(patched)
+
+        _name = new_name
+        logging.info("restarting avahi ...")
+        os.system("service avahi-daemon restart")
+        logging.info("hostname set")
+
+
 def name():
     global _name
     if _name is None:
diff --git a/pwnagotchi/defaults.yml b/pwnagotchi/defaults.yml
index 3d45abd..32db5ad 100644
--- a/pwnagotchi/defaults.yml
+++ b/pwnagotchi/defaults.yml
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@
 #
 # main algorithm configuration
 main:
+    # if set this will set the hostname of the unit
+    name: 'pwnagotchi'
     # currently implemented: en (default), de, el, fr, it, mk, nl, ru, se, pt-BR, es, pt
     lang: en
     # custom plugins path, if null only default plugins with be loaded