diff --git a/nixos/modules/system/activation/top-level.nix b/nixos/modules/system/activation/top-level.nix
index f6739977fa4f..fb8644dd13a6 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/system/activation/top-level.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/system/activation/top-level.nix
@@ -92,9 +92,7 @@ let
   # `switch-to-configuration' that activates the configuration and
   # makes it bootable.
   baseSystem = pkgs.stdenvNoCC.mkDerivation {
-    name = let hn = config.networking.hostName;
-               nn = if (hn != "") then hn else "unnamed";
-        in "nixos-system-${nn}-${config.system.nixos.label}";
+    name = "nixos-system-${config.system.name}-${config.system.nixos.label}";
     preferLocalBuild = true;
     allowSubstitutes = false;
     buildCommand = systemBuilder;
@@ -265,6 +263,21 @@ in
       '';
     };
 
+    system.name = mkOption {
+      type = types.str;
+      default =
+        if config.networking.hostName == ""
+        then "unnamed"
+        else config.networking.hostName;
+      defaultText = '''networking.hostName' if non empty else "unnamed"'';
+      description = ''
+        The name of the system used in the <option>system.build.toplevel</option> derivation.
+        </para><para>
+        That derivation has the following name:
+        <literal>"nixos-system-''${config.system.name}-''${config.system.nixos.label}"</literal>
+      '';
+    };
+
   };
 
 
diff --git a/nixos/modules/virtualisation/qemu-vm.nix b/nixos/modules/virtualisation/qemu-vm.nix
index 9154b0c00d73..2e5e276308d5 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/virtualisation/qemu-vm.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/virtualisation/qemu-vm.nix
@@ -16,11 +16,6 @@ let
 
   qemu = config.system.build.qemu or pkgs.qemu_test;
 
-  vmName =
-    if config.networking.hostName == ""
-    then "noname"
-    else config.networking.hostName;
-
   cfg = config.virtualisation;
 
   consoles = lib.concatMapStringsSep " " (c: "console=${c}") cfg.qemu.consoles;
@@ -156,7 +151,7 @@ let
 
       # Start QEMU.
       exec ${qemuBinary qemu} \
-          -name ${vmName} \
+          -name ${config.system.name} \
           -m ${toString config.virtualisation.memorySize} \
           -smp ${toString config.virtualisation.cores} \
           -device virtio-rng-pci \
@@ -294,7 +289,7 @@ in
 
     virtualisation.diskImage =
       mkOption {
-        default = "./${vmName}.qcow2";
+        default = "./${config.system.name}.qcow2";
         description =
           ''
             Path to the disk image containing the root filesystem.
@@ -712,7 +707,7 @@ in
       ''
         mkdir -p $out/bin
         ln -s ${config.system.build.toplevel} $out/system
-        ln -s ${pkgs.writeScript "run-nixos-vm" startVM} $out/bin/run-${vmName}-vm
+        ln -s ${pkgs.writeScript "run-nixos-vm" startVM} $out/bin/run-${config.system.name}-vm
       '';
 
     # When building a regular system configuration, override whatever