diff --git a/notebook/services/sessions/sessionmanager.py b/notebook/services/sessions/sessionmanager.py
index 5686332868..041fe80519 100644
--- a/notebook/services/sessions/sessionmanager.py
+++ b/notebook/services/sessions/sessionmanager.py
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@
 from tornado import gen, web
 
 from traitlets.config.configurable import LoggingConfigurable
-from ipython_genutils.py3compat import unicode_type
 from traitlets import Instance
 
 from notebook.utils import maybe_future
@@ -86,7 +85,7 @@ def session_exists(self, path):
 
     def new_session_id(self):
         "Create a uuid for a new session"
-        return unicode_type(uuid.uuid4())
+        return str(uuid.uuid4())
 
     @gen.coroutine
     def create_session(self, path=None, name=None, type=None, kernel_name=None, kernel_id=None):
@@ -107,8 +106,13 @@ def start_kernel_for_session(self, session_id, path, name, type, kernel_name):
         """Start a new kernel for a given session."""
         # allow contents manager to specify kernels cwd
         kernel_path = self.contents_manager.get_kernel_path(path=path)
+
         kernel_id = yield maybe_future(
-            self.kernel_manager.start_kernel(path=kernel_path, kernel_name=kernel_name)
+            self.kernel_manager.start_kernel(
+                path=kernel_path,
+                kernel_name=kernel_name,
+                env={"JPY_SESSION_NAME": path},
+            )
         )
         # py2-compat
         raise gen.Return(kernel_id)