diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index c123e607..fdbd0598 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -103,6 +103,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/prometheus/procfs v0.12.0 // indirect
 	github.com/rivo/uniseg v0.4.4 // indirect
 	github.com/sirupsen/logrus v1.9.3 // indirect
+	github.com/splode/fname v0.4.1 // indirect
 	github.com/vektah/gqlparser/v2 v2.5.6 // indirect
 	github.com/vishvananda/netlink v1.1.1-0.20210330154013-f5de75959ad5 // indirect
 	github.com/vishvananda/netns v0.0.0-20210104183010-2eb08e3e575f // indirect
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 6afa4410..587083d4 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -403,6 +403,8 @@ github.com/sirupsen/logrus v1.9.3 h1:dueUQJ1C2q9oE3F7wvmSGAaVtTmUizReu6fjN8uqzbQ
 github.com/sirupsen/logrus v1.9.3/go.mod h1:naHLuLoDiP4jHNo9R0sCBMtWGeIprob74mVsIT4qYEQ=
 github.com/spf13/cobra v0.0.3/go.mod h1:1l0Ry5zgKvJasoi3XT1TypsSe7PqH0Sj9dhYf7v3XqQ=
 github.com/spf13/pflag v1.0.3/go.mod h1:DYY7MBk1bdzusC3SYhjObp+wFpr4gzcvqqNjLnInEg4=
+github.com/splode/fname v0.4.1 h1:tRBvCEoNMKMI9veue+LZ7psUFWHWRRX+rmWhqUjzmog=
+github.com/splode/fname v0.4.1/go.mod h1:73RiaoonLZF/9E7lvIoxj/y2ZVfq7Gq2tNvPwADQx/8=
 github.com/stretchr/objx v0.1.0/go.mod h1:HFkY916IF+rwdDfMAkV7OtwuqBVzrE8GR6GFx+wExME=
 github.com/stretchr/objx v0.1.1/go.mod h1:HFkY916IF+rwdDfMAkV7OtwuqBVzrE8GR6GFx+wExME=
 github.com/stretchr/objx v0.4.0/go.mod h1:YvHI0jy2hoMjB+UWwv71VJQ9isScKT/TqJzVSSt89Yw=
diff --git a/internal/node/config.go b/internal/node/config.go
index 8bb0265c..e850cd76 100644
--- a/internal/node/config.go
+++ b/internal/node/config.go
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import (
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 
+	"github.com/splode/fname"
 	agentapi "github.com/synadia-io/nex/internal/agent-api"
 )
 
@@ -109,6 +110,13 @@ func DefaultNodeConfiguration() NodeConfiguration {
 	defaultVcpuCount := defaultNodeVcpuCount
 	defaultMemSizeMib := defaultNodeMemSizeMib
 
+	tags := make(map[string]string)
+	rng := fname.NewGenerator()
+	nodeName, err := rng.Generate()
+	if err == nil {
+		tags["node_name"] = nodeName
+	}
+
 	return NodeConfiguration{
 		BinPath: defaultBinPath,
 		CNI: CNIDefinition{
@@ -125,7 +133,7 @@ func DefaultNodeConfiguration() NodeConfiguration {
 			VcpuCount:  &defaultVcpuCount,
 			MemSizeMib: &defaultMemSizeMib,
 		},
-		Tags:          make(map[string]string),
+		Tags:          tags,
 		RateLimiters:  nil,
 		WorkloadTypes: defaultWorkloadTypes,
 	}
diff --git a/nex/nodes.go b/nex/nodes.go
index 4b06afe6..aeefc62f 100644
--- a/nex/nodes.go
+++ b/nex/nodes.go
@@ -101,14 +101,14 @@ func renderNodeList(nodes []controlapi.PingResponse) {
 	}
 
 	table := newTableWriter("NATS Execution Nodes")
-	table.AddHeaders("ID", "Hostname", "Version", "Uptime", "Workloads")
+	table.AddHeaders("ID", "Name", "Version", "Uptime", "Workloads")
 
 	for _, node := range nodes {
-		hostName, ok := node.Tags["hostname"]
+		nodeName, ok := node.Tags["node_name"]
 		if !ok {
-			hostName = ""
+			nodeName = "no-name-provided"
 		}
-		table.AddRow(node.NodeId, hostName, node.Version, node.Uptime, node.RunningMachines)
+		table.AddRow(node.NodeId, nodeName, node.Version, node.Uptime, node.RunningMachines)
 	}
 
 	fmt.Println(table.Render())