diff --git a/util/qemu-thread-posix.c b/util/qemu-thread-posix.c
index b789cf32e9..a1c34ba6f2 100644
--- a/util/qemu-thread-posix.c
+++ b/util/qemu-thread-posix.c
@@ -482,7 +482,6 @@ static void __attribute__((constructor)) qemu_thread_atexit_init(void)
 }
 
 
-#ifdef CONFIG_PTHREAD_SETNAME_NP
 typedef struct {
     void *(*start_routine)(void *);
     void *arg;
@@ -495,16 +494,18 @@ static void *qemu_thread_start(void *args)
     void *(*start_routine)(void *) = qemu_thread_args->start_routine;
     void *arg = qemu_thread_args->arg;
 
+#ifdef CONFIG_PTHREAD_SETNAME_NP
     /* Attempt to set the threads name; note that this is for debug, so
      * we're not going to fail if we can't set it.
      */
-    pthread_setname_np(pthread_self(), qemu_thread_args->name);
+    if (name_threads && qemu_thread_args->name) {
+        pthread_setname_np(pthread_self(), qemu_thread_args->name);
+    }
+#endif
     g_free(qemu_thread_args->name);
     g_free(qemu_thread_args);
     return start_routine(arg);
 }
-#endif
-
 
 void qemu_thread_create(QemuThread *thread, const char *name,
                        void *(*start_routine)(void*),
@@ -513,6 +514,7 @@ void qemu_thread_create(QemuThread *thread, const char *name,
     sigset_t set, oldset;
     int err;
     pthread_attr_t attr;
+    QemuThreadArgs *qemu_thread_args;
 
     err = pthread_attr_init(&attr);
     if (err) {
@@ -527,22 +529,13 @@ void qemu_thread_create(QemuThread *thread, const char *name,
     sigfillset(&set);
     pthread_sigmask(SIG_SETMASK, &set, &oldset);
 
-#ifdef CONFIG_PTHREAD_SETNAME_NP
-    if (name_threads) {
-        QemuThreadArgs *qemu_thread_args;
-        qemu_thread_args = g_new0(QemuThreadArgs, 1);
-        qemu_thread_args->name = g_strdup(name);
-        qemu_thread_args->start_routine = start_routine;
-        qemu_thread_args->arg = arg;
+    qemu_thread_args = g_new0(QemuThreadArgs, 1);
+    qemu_thread_args->name = g_strdup(name);
+    qemu_thread_args->start_routine = start_routine;
+    qemu_thread_args->arg = arg;
 
-        err = pthread_create(&thread->thread, &attr,
-                             qemu_thread_start, qemu_thread_args);
-    } else
-#endif
-    {
-        err = pthread_create(&thread->thread, &attr,
-                             start_routine, arg);
-    }
+    err = pthread_create(&thread->thread, &attr,
+                         qemu_thread_start, qemu_thread_args);
 
     if (err)
         error_exit(err, __func__);