diff --git a/Lib/concurrent/futures/thread.py b/Lib/concurrent/futures/thread.py
index 3ae442d..6266f38 100644
--- a/Lib/concurrent/futures/thread.py
+++ b/Lib/concurrent/futures/thread.py
@@ -81,12 +81,13 @@
         _base.LOGGER.critical('Exception in worker', exc_info=True)
 
 class ThreadPoolExecutor(_base.Executor):
-    def __init__(self, max_workers=None):
+    def __init__(self, max_workers=None, thread_name_prefix=''):
         """Initializes a new ThreadPoolExecutor instance.
 
         Args:
             max_workers: The maximum number of threads that can be used to
                 execute the given calls.
+            thread_name_prefix: An optional name prefix to give our threads.
         """
         if max_workers is None:
             # Use this number because ThreadPoolExecutor is often
@@ -100,6 +101,7 @@
         self._threads = set()
         self._shutdown = False
         self._shutdown_lock = threading.Lock()
+        self._thread_name_prefix = thread_name_prefix
 
     def submit(self, fn, *args, **kwargs):
         with self._shutdown_lock:
@@ -121,8 +123,11 @@
             q.put(None)
         # TODO(bquinlan): Should avoid creating new threads if there are more
         # idle threads than items in the work queue.
-        if len(self._threads) < self._max_workers:
-            t = threading.Thread(target=_worker,
+        num_threads = len(self._threads)
+        if num_threads < self._max_workers:
+            thread_name = '%s_%d' % (self._thread_name_prefix or self,
+                                     num_threads)
+            t = threading.Thread(name=thread_name, target=_worker,
                                  args=(weakref.ref(self, weakref_cb),
                                        self._work_queue))
             t.daemon = True