diff --git a/docs/xml/releases-data.xml b/docs/xml/releases-data.xml
index afc0b0c7b..69955295d 100644
--- a/docs/xml/releases-data.xml
+++ b/docs/xml/releases-data.xml
@@ -130,6 +130,10 @@
 			discard any development release if the current version is itself stable. It can
 			show all versions when development versions of the software are also distributed.
 		</para>
+		<para>
+			A <literal>release</literal> tag may have a <literal>name</literal> property. This may be a prettier name to present the user.
+			By default, it is assumed to be the release <literal>version</literal>.
+		</para>
 
 		<para>
 			The <literal>release</literal> itself may have the following children:
diff --git a/qt/release.cpp b/qt/release.cpp
index 345229cea..e1701569a 100644
--- a/qt/release.cpp
+++ b/qt/release.cpp
@@ -89,6 +89,11 @@ QString Release::version() const
     return QString::fromUtf8(as_release_get_version(d->m_release));
 }
 
+QString Release::name() const
+{
+    return QString::fromUtf8(as_release_get_name(d->m_release));
+}
+
 QDateTime Release::timestamp() const
 {
     const guint64 timestamp = as_release_get_timestamp(d->m_release);
diff --git a/qt/release.h b/qt/release.h
index abac828a7..4877b4955 100644
--- a/qt/release.h
+++ b/qt/release.h
@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@ class APPSTREAMQT_EXPORT Release {
         Kind kind() const;
 
         QString version() const;
+        QString name() const;
 
         QDateTime timestamp() const;
         QDateTime timestampEol() const;
diff --git a/src/as-release.c b/src/as-release.c
index b47ae1789..69cbbe54f 100644
--- a/src/as-release.c
+++ b/src/as-release.c
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ typedef struct
 {
 	AsReleaseKind	kind;
 	gchar		*version;
+	gchar		*name;
 	GHashTable	*description;
 	guint64		timestamp;
 	gchar		*date;
@@ -176,6 +177,7 @@ as_release_finalize (GObject *object)
 	AsReleasePrivate *priv = GET_PRIVATE (release);
 
 	g_free (priv->version);
+	g_free (priv->name);
 	g_free (priv->date);
 	g_free (priv->date_eol);
 	g_free (priv->url_details);
@@ -783,6 +785,39 @@ as_release_set_description_translatable (AsRelease *release, gboolean translatab
 	priv->desc_translatable = translatable;
 }
 
+/**
+ * as_release_get_name:
+ * @release: a #AsRelease instance.
+ *
+ * Gets the release name, or version if unset.
+ *
+ * Returns: (nullable): string, or %NULL for invalid
+ **/
+const gchar*
+as_release_get_name (AsRelease *release)
+{
+	AsReleasePrivate *priv = GET_PRIVATE (release);
+	g_return_val_if_fail (AS_IS_RELEASE (release), NULL);
+	if (priv->name == NULL)
+		return priv->version;
+	return priv->name;
+}
+
+/**
+ * as_release_set_name:
+ * @release: a #AsRelease instance.
+ * @name: the name string.
+ *
+ * Sets the release name.
+ **/
+void
+as_release_set_name (AsRelease *release, const gchar *name)
+{
+	AsReleasePrivate *priv = GET_PRIVATE (release);
+	g_return_if_fail (AS_IS_RELEASE (release));
+	as_assign_string_safe (priv->name, name);
+}
+
 /**
  * as_release_load_from_xml:
  * @release: an #AsRelease
@@ -812,6 +847,12 @@ as_release_load_from_xml (AsRelease *release, AsContext *ctx, xmlNode *node, GEr
 	as_release_set_version (release, prop);
 	g_free (prop);
 
+	prop = as_xml_get_prop_value (node, "name");
+	if (prop != NULL) {
+		as_release_set_name (release, prop);
+		g_free (prop);
+	}
+
 	prop = as_xml_get_prop_value (node, "date");
 	if (prop != NULL) {
 		g_autoptr(GDateTime) time = as_iso8601_to_datetime (prop);
@@ -923,6 +964,8 @@ as_release_to_xml_node (AsRelease *release, AsContext *ctx, xmlNode *root)
 	as_xml_add_text_prop (subnode,
 			      "version",
 			      priv->version);
+	if (priv->name != NULL)
+		as_xml_add_text_prop (subnode, "name", priv->name);
 
 	/* set release timestamp / date */
 	if (priv->timestamp > 0) {
@@ -1020,6 +1063,8 @@ as_release_load_from_yaml (AsRelease *release, AsContext *ctx, GNode *node, GErr
 			priv->kind = as_release_kind_from_string (value);
 		} else if (g_strcmp0 (key, "version") == 0) {
 			as_release_set_version (release, value);
+		} else if (g_strcmp0 (key, "name") == 0) {
+			as_release_set_name (release, value);
 		} else if (g_strcmp0 (key, "urgency") == 0) {
 			priv->urgency = as_urgency_kind_from_string (value);
 		} else if (g_strcmp0 (key, "description") == 0) {
@@ -1077,6 +1122,8 @@ as_release_emit_yaml (AsRelease *release, AsContext *ctx, yaml_emitter_t *emitte
 
 	/* version */
 	as_yaml_emit_entry (emitter, "version", priv->version);
+	if (priv->name)
+		as_yaml_emit_entry (emitter, "name", priv->name);
 
 	/* type */
 	as_yaml_emit_entry (emitter, "type", as_release_kind_to_string (priv->kind));
diff --git a/src/as-release.h b/src/as-release.h
index a94c19406..36746058b 100644
--- a/src/as-release.h
+++ b/src/as-release.h
@@ -141,6 +141,10 @@ void			as_release_set_url (AsRelease *release,
 					    AsReleaseUrlKind url_kind,
 					    const gchar *url);
 
+const gchar		*as_release_get_name (AsRelease *release);
+void			as_release_set_name (AsRelease *release,
+						const gchar *name);
+
 G_END_DECLS
 
 #endif /* __AS_RELEASE_H */