diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ccd22f2..3b28afd 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -205,6 +205,18 @@ fastify.register(require('@fastify/basic-auth'), {
 })
 ```
 
+The `authenticate` object can also have an optional `header` key allowing to customise the name of the header used instead of the default `WWW-Authenticate`:
+
+```js
+fastify.register(require('@fastify/basic-auth'), {
+  validate,
+  authenticate: {
+    header: 'Proxy-Authenticate' // Proxy-Authenticate: Basic
+  }
+})
+```
+
+
 ### `header` String (optional)
 
 The `header` option specifies the header name to get credentials from for validation.
diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index a4da647..9a37da2 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ async function fastifyBasicAuth (fastify, opts) {
         if (err.statusCode === 401) {
           const header = authenticateHeader(req)
           if (header) {
-            reply.header('WWW-Authenticate', header)
+            reply.header(...header)
           }
         }
         next(err)
@@ -144,28 +144,30 @@ async function fastifyBasicAuth (fastify, opts) {
 }
 
 function getAuthenticateHeader (authenticate, useUtf8) {
+  const defaultHeaderName = 'WWW-Authenticate'
   if (!authenticate) return () => false
   if (authenticate === true) {
     return useUtf8
-      ? () => 'Basic charset="UTF-8"'
-      : () => 'Basic'
+      ? () => [defaultHeaderName, 'Basic charset="UTF-8"']
+      : () => [defaultHeaderName, 'Basic']
   }
   if (typeof authenticate === 'object') {
     const realm = authenticate.realm
+    const headerName = authenticate.header || defaultHeaderName
     switch (typeof realm) {
       case 'undefined':
       case 'boolean':
         return useUtf8
-          ? () => 'Basic charset="UTF-8"'
-          : () => 'Basic'
+          ? () => [headerName, 'Basic charset="UTF-8"']
+          : () => [headerName, 'Basic']
       case 'string':
         return useUtf8
-          ? () => `Basic realm="${realm}", charset="UTF-8"`
-          : () => `Basic realm="${realm}"`
+          ? () => [headerName, `Basic realm="${realm}", charset="UTF-8"`]
+          : () => [headerName, `Basic realm="${realm}"`]
       case 'function':
         return useUtf8
-          ? (req) => `Basic realm="${realm(req)}", charset="UTF-8"`
-          : (req) => `Basic realm="${realm(req)}"`
+          ? (req) => [headerName, `Basic realm="${realm(req)}", charset="UTF-8"`]
+          : (req) => [headerName, `Basic realm="${realm(req)}"`]
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/test/index.test.js b/test/index.test.js
index 7a2b59b..3f35aad 100644
--- a/test/index.test.js
+++ b/test/index.test.js
@@ -589,6 +589,102 @@ test('WWW-Authenticate Realm (authenticate: {realm: "example"}, utf8: true)', as
   t.assert.strictEqual(res2.statusCode, 200)
 })
 
+test('WWW-Authenticate Custom Header (authenticate: {realm: "example", header: "x-custom-authenticate" }, utf8: false)', async t => {
+  t.plan(8)
+
+  const fastify = Fastify()
+  const authenticate = { realm: 'example', header: 'x-custom-authenticate' }
+  fastify.register(basicAuth, { validate, authenticate, utf8: false })
+
+  function validate (username, password, _req, _res, done) {
+    if (username === 'user' && password === 'pwd') {
+      done()
+    } else {
+      done(new Error('Unauthorized'))
+    }
+  }
+
+  fastify.after(() => {
+    fastify.route({
+      method: 'GET',
+      url: '/',
+      preHandler: fastify.basicAuth,
+      handler: (_req, reply) => {
+        reply.send({ hello: 'world' })
+      }
+    })
+  })
+
+  const res1 = await fastify.inject({
+    url: '/',
+    method: 'GET'
+  })
+  t.assert.ok(res1.body)
+  t.assert.strictEqual(res1.headers['x-custom-authenticate'], 'Basic realm="example"')
+  t.assert.strictEqual(res1.headers['www-authenticate'], undefined)
+  t.assert.strictEqual(res1.statusCode, 401)
+
+  const res2 = await fastify.inject({
+    url: '/',
+    method: 'GET',
+    headers: {
+      authorization: basicAuthHeader('user', 'pwd')
+    }
+  })
+  t.assert.ok(res2.body)
+  t.assert.strictEqual(res2.headers['x-custom-authenticate'], undefined)
+  t.assert.strictEqual(res2.headers['www-authenticate'], undefined)
+  t.assert.strictEqual(res2.statusCode, 200)
+})
+
+test('WWW-Authenticate Custom Header (authenticate: {realm: "example", header: "x-custom-authenticate" }, utf8: true)', async t => {
+  t.plan(8)
+
+  const fastify = Fastify()
+  const authenticate = { realm: 'example', header: 'x-custom-authenticate' }
+  fastify.register(basicAuth, { validate, authenticate, utf8: true })
+
+  function validate (username, password, _req, _res, done) {
+    if (username === 'user' && password === 'pwd') {
+      done()
+    } else {
+      done(new Error('Unauthorized'))
+    }
+  }
+
+  fastify.after(() => {
+    fastify.route({
+      method: 'GET',
+      url: '/',
+      preHandler: fastify.basicAuth,
+      handler: (_req, reply) => {
+        reply.send({ hello: 'world' })
+      }
+    })
+  })
+
+  const res1 = await fastify.inject({
+    url: '/',
+    method: 'GET'
+  })
+  t.assert.ok(res1.body)
+  t.assert.strictEqual(res1.headers['x-custom-authenticate'], 'Basic realm="example", charset="UTF-8"')
+  t.assert.strictEqual(res1.headers['www-authenticate'], undefined)
+  t.assert.strictEqual(res1.statusCode, 401)
+
+  const res2 = await fastify.inject({
+    url: '/',
+    method: 'GET',
+    headers: {
+      authorization: basicAuthHeader('user', 'pwd')
+    }
+  })
+  t.assert.ok(res2.body)
+  t.assert.strictEqual(res2.headers['x-custom-authenticate'], undefined)
+  t.assert.strictEqual(res2.headers['www-authenticate'], undefined)
+  t.assert.strictEqual(res2.statusCode, 200)
+})
+
 test('Header option specified', async t => {
   t.plan(2)
 
diff --git a/types/index.d.ts b/types/index.d.ts
index b9d183e..f1911df 100644
--- a/types/index.d.ts
+++ b/types/index.d.ts
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ declare namespace fastifyBasicAuth {
       reply: FastifyReply,
       done: (err?: Error) => void
     ): void | Promise<void | Error>;
-    authenticate?: boolean | { realm: string | ((req: FastifyRequest) => string) };
+    authenticate?: boolean | { realm?: string | ((req: FastifyRequest) => string); header?: string };
     header?: string;
     strictCredentials?: boolean | undefined;
     utf8?: boolean | undefined;
diff --git a/types/index.test-d.ts b/types/index.test-d.ts
index a04440c..aed580a 100644
--- a/types/index.test-d.ts
+++ b/types/index.test-d.ts
@@ -69,6 +69,12 @@ app.register(fastifyBasicAuth, {
   }
 })
 
+// authenticate with custom header
+app.register(fastifyBasicAuth, {
+  validate: () => {},
+  authenticate: { header: 'x-custom-authenticate' }
+})
+
 app.register(fastifyBasicAuth, {
   validate: () => {},
   strictCredentials: true