diff --git a/target/ppc/kvm.c b/target/ppc/kvm.c
index e69fca82b1..663d2e79c9 100644
--- a/target/ppc/kvm.c
+++ b/target/ppc/kvm.c
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 #include "qemu-common.h"
 #include "qemu/error-report.h"
 #include "cpu.h"
+#include "cpu-models.h"
 #include "qemu/timer.h"
 #include "sysemu/sysemu.h"
 #include "sysemu/hw_accel.h"
@@ -2412,6 +2413,7 @@ static int kvm_ppc_register_host_cpu_type(void)
     };
     PowerPCCPUClass *pvr_pcc;
     DeviceClass *dc;
+    int i;
 
     pvr_pcc = kvm_ppc_get_host_cpu_class();
     if (pvr_pcc == NULL) {
@@ -2420,13 +2422,6 @@ static int kvm_ppc_register_host_cpu_type(void)
     type_info.parent = object_class_get_name(OBJECT_CLASS(pvr_pcc));
     type_register(&type_info);
 
-    /* Register generic family CPU class for a family */
-    pvr_pcc = ppc_cpu_get_family_class(pvr_pcc);
-    dc = DEVICE_CLASS(pvr_pcc);
-    type_info.parent = object_class_get_name(OBJECT_CLASS(pvr_pcc));
-    type_info.name = g_strdup_printf("%s-"TYPE_POWERPC_CPU, dc->desc);
-    type_register(&type_info);
-
 #if defined(TARGET_PPC64)
     type_info.name = g_strdup_printf("%s-"TYPE_SPAPR_CPU_CORE, "host");
     type_info.parent = TYPE_SPAPR_CPU_CORE,
@@ -2436,14 +2431,29 @@ static int kvm_ppc_register_host_cpu_type(void)
     type_info.class_data = (void *) "host";
     type_register(&type_info);
     g_free((void *)type_info.name);
-
-    /* Register generic spapr CPU family class for current host CPU type */
-    type_info.name = g_strdup_printf("%s-"TYPE_SPAPR_CPU_CORE, dc->desc);
-    type_info.class_data = (void *) dc->desc;
-    type_register(&type_info);
-    g_free((void *)type_info.name);
 #endif
 
+    /*
+     * Update generic CPU family class alias (e.g. on a POWER8NVL host,
+     * we want "POWER8" to be a "family" alias that points to the current
+     * host CPU type, too)
+     */
+    dc = DEVICE_CLASS(ppc_cpu_get_family_class(pvr_pcc));
+    for (i = 0; ppc_cpu_aliases[i].alias != NULL; i++) {
+        if (strcmp(ppc_cpu_aliases[i].alias, dc->desc) == 0) {
+            ObjectClass *oc = OBJECT_CLASS(pvr_pcc);
+            char *suffix;
+
+            ppc_cpu_aliases[i].model = g_strdup(object_class_get_name(oc));
+            suffix = strstr(ppc_cpu_aliases[i].model, "-"TYPE_POWERPC_CPU);
+            if (suffix) {
+                *suffix = 0;
+            }
+            ppc_cpu_aliases[i].oc = oc;
+            break;
+        }
+    }
+
     return 0;
 }