diff --git a/net/core/dev.c b/net/core/dev.c
index bb568f7cb81b..0f72ff5d34ba 100644
--- a/net/core/dev.c
+++ b/net/core/dev.c
@@ -1184,6 +1184,18 @@ static int __dev_alloc_name(struct net *net, const char *name, char *buf)
 			return -ENOMEM;
 
 		for_each_netdev(net, d) {
+			struct netdev_name_node *name_node;
+			list_for_each_entry(name_node, &d->name_node->list, list) {
+				if (!sscanf(name_node->name, name, &i))
+					continue;
+				if (i < 0 || i >= max_netdevices)
+					continue;
+
+				/*  avoid cases where sscanf is not exact inverse of printf */
+				snprintf(buf, IFNAMSIZ, name, i);
+				if (!strncmp(buf, name_node->name, IFNAMSIZ))
+					set_bit(i, inuse);
+			}
 			if (!sscanf(d->name, name, &i))
 				continue;
 			if (i < 0 || i >= max_netdevices)