diff --git a/nixos/modules/virtualisation/oci-containers.nix b/nixos/modules/virtualisation/oci-containers.nix
index 161b4f6027b2f..382e8ecb085a8 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/virtualisation/oci-containers.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/virtualisation/oci-containers.nix
@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@ let
   defaultBackend = options.virtualisation.oci-containers.backend.default;
 
   containerOptions =
-    { ... }: {
+    { name, ... }:
+    {
 
       options = {
 
@@ -52,6 +53,13 @@ let
           example = literalExpression "pkgs.dockerTools.streamLayeredImage {...};";
         };
 
+        serviceName = mkOption {
+          type = types.str;
+          default = "${cfg.backend}-${name}";
+          defaultText = "<backend>-<name>";
+          description = "Systemd service name that manages the container";
+        };
+
         login = {
 
           username = mkOption {
@@ -412,20 +420,22 @@ in {
 
   };
 
-  config = lib.mkIf (cfg.containers != {}) (lib.mkMerge [
-    {
-      systemd.services = mapAttrs' (n: v: nameValuePair "${cfg.backend}-${n}" (mkService n v)) cfg.containers;
+  config = lib.mkIf (cfg.containers != { }) (
+    lib.mkMerge [
+      {
+        systemd.services = mapAttrs' (n: v: nameValuePair v.serviceName (mkService n v)) cfg.containers;
+
 
-      assertions =
-        let
-          toAssertion = _: { imageFile, imageStream, ... }:
-            { assertion = imageFile == null || imageStream == null;
+        assertions =
+          let
+            toAssertion = _: { imageFile, imageStream, ... }:
+              { assertion = imageFile == null || imageStream == null;
 
-              message = "You can only define one of imageFile and imageStream";
-            };
+                message = "You can only define one of imageFile and imageStream";
+              };
 
-        in
-          lib.mapAttrsToList toAssertion cfg.containers;
+          in
+            lib.mapAttrsToList toAssertion cfg.containers;
     }
     (lib.mkIf (cfg.backend == "podman") {
       virtualisation.podman.enable = true;