diff --git a/mono/utils/mono-threads-posix.c b/mono/utils/mono-threads-posix.c
index 61d31fdeaae2..c3ddb64d5652 100644
--- a/mono/utils/mono-threads-posix.c
+++ b/mono/utils/mono-threads-posix.c
@@ -308,6 +308,15 @@ mono_native_thread_set_name (MonoNativeThreadId tid, const char *name)
 		pthread_setname_np (tid, "%s", (void*)n);
 	}
 #elif defined (HAVE_PTHREAD_SETNAME_NP)
+#if defined (__linux__)
+	/* Ignore requests to set the main thread name because it causes the
+	 * value returned by Process.ProcessName to change.
+	 */
+	MonoNativeThreadId main_thread_tid;
+	if (mono_native_thread_id_main_thread_known (&main_thread_tid) &&
+	    mono_native_thread_id_equals (tid, main_thread_tid))
+		return;
+#endif
 	if (!name) {
 		pthread_setname_np (tid, "");
 	} else {
diff --git a/mono/utils/mono-threads.c b/mono/utils/mono-threads.c
index a4cec2c3be1a..8fb5deefd860 100644
--- a/mono/utils/mono-threads.c
+++ b/mono/utils/mono-threads.c
@@ -442,6 +442,53 @@ thread_handle_destroy (gpointer data)
 	g_free (thread_handle);
 }
 
+static gboolean native_thread_id_main_thread_known;
+static MonoNativeThreadId native_thread_id_main_thread;
+
+/**
+ * mono_native_thread_id_main_thread_known:
+ *
+ * If the main thread of the process has interacted with Mono (in the sense
+ * that it has a MonoThreadInfo associated with it), return \c TRUE and write
+ * its MonoNativeThreadId to \c main_thread_tid.
+ *
+ * Otherwise return \c FALSE.
+ */
+gboolean
+mono_native_thread_id_main_thread_known (MonoNativeThreadId *main_thread_tid)
+{
+	if (!native_thread_id_main_thread_known)
+		return FALSE;
+	g_assert (main_thread_tid);
+	*main_thread_tid = native_thread_id_main_thread;
+	return TRUE;
+}
+
+/*
+ * Saves the MonoNativeThreadId (on Linux pthread_t) of the current thread if
+ * it is the main thread.
+ *
+ * The main thread is (on Linux) the one whose OS thread id (on Linux pid_t) is
+ * equal to the process id.
+ *
+ * We have to do this at thread registration time because in embedding
+ * scenarios we can't count on the main thread to be the one that calls
+ * mono_jit_init, or other runtime initialization functions.
+ */
+static void
+native_thread_set_main_thread (void)
+{
+	if (native_thread_id_main_thread_known)
+		return;
+#if defined(__linux__)
+	if (mono_native_thread_os_id_get () == (guint64)getpid ()) {
+		native_thread_id_main_thread = mono_native_thread_id_get ();
+		mono_memory_barrier ();
+		native_thread_id_main_thread_known = TRUE;
+	}
+#endif
+}
+
 static gboolean
 register_thread (MonoThreadInfo *info)
 {
@@ -451,6 +498,7 @@ register_thread (MonoThreadInfo *info)
 
 	info->small_id = mono_thread_info_register_small_id ();
 	mono_thread_info_set_tid (info, mono_native_thread_id_get ());
+	native_thread_set_main_thread ();
 
 	info->handle = g_new0 (MonoThreadHandle, 1);
 	mono_refcount_init (info->handle, thread_handle_destroy);
diff --git a/mono/utils/mono-threads.h b/mono/utils/mono-threads.h
index a949b42f659a..c47a33d97744 100644
--- a/mono/utils/mono-threads.h
+++ b/mono/utils/mono-threads.h
@@ -643,6 +643,9 @@ void mono_threads_coop_end_global_suspend (void);
 MONO_API MonoNativeThreadId
 mono_native_thread_id_get (void);
 
+gboolean
+mono_native_thread_id_main_thread_known (MonoNativeThreadId *main_thread_tid);
+
 /*
  * This does _not_ return the same value as mono_native_thread_id_get, except on Windows.
  * On POSIX, mono_native_thread_id_get returns the value from pthread_self, which is then