diff --git a/pkg/node/types/nodename.go b/pkg/node/types/nodename.go
index 16c7d664cd01..7fcc02628c4c 100644
--- a/pkg/node/types/nodename.go
+++ b/pkg/node/types/nodename.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright 2016-2017 Authors of Cilium
+// Copyright 2016-2020 Authors of Cilium
 //
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 // you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ package types
 import (
 	"os"
 
+	k8sConsts "github.com/cilium/cilium/pkg/k8s/constants"
 	"github.com/cilium/cilium/pkg/logging/logfields"
 )
 
@@ -42,6 +43,11 @@ func GetName() string {
 }
 
 func init() {
+	// Give priority to the environment variable available in the Cilium agent
+	if name := os.Getenv(k8sConsts.EnvNodeNameSpec); name != "" {
+		nodeName = name
+		return
+	}
 	if h, err := os.Hostname(); err != nil {
 		log.WithError(err).Warn("Unable to retrieve local hostname")
 	} else {