diff --git a/libpod/kube.go b/libpod/kube.go
index 4c8c6a9284..d9741d92e8 100644
--- a/libpod/kube.go
+++ b/libpod/kube.go
@@ -470,8 +470,8 @@ func (p *Pod) podWithContainers(ctx context.Context, containers []*Container, po
 			// Since hostname is only set at pod level, set the hostname to the hostname of the first container we encounter
 			if hostname == "" {
 				// Only set the hostname if it is not set to the truncated container ID, which we do by default if no
-				// hostname is specified for the container
-				if !strings.Contains(ctr.ID(), ctr.Hostname()) {
+				// hostname is specified for the container and if it is not set to the pod name.
+				if !strings.Contains(ctr.ID(), ctr.Hostname()) && ctr.Hostname() != p.Name() {
 					hostname = ctr.Hostname()
 				}
 			}
@@ -533,9 +533,10 @@ func (p *Pod) podWithContainers(ctx context.Context, containers []*Container, po
 	for _, vol := range deDupPodVolumes {
 		podVolumes = append(podVolumes, *vol)
 	}
+	podName := removeUnderscores(p.Name())
 
 	return newPodObject(
-		p.Name(),
+		podName,
 		podAnnotations,
 		podInitCtrs,
 		podContainers,
diff --git a/test/e2e/generate_kube_test.go b/test/e2e/generate_kube_test.go
index 1b4f158bbb..686dc0d4c8 100644
--- a/test/e2e/generate_kube_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e/generate_kube_test.go
@@ -1485,4 +1485,26 @@ USER test1`
 		kube.WaitWithDefaultTimeout()
 		Expect(kube).Should(Exit(125))
 	})
+
+	It("podman generate kube on pod with invalid name", func() {
+		podName := "test_pod"
+		session := podmanTest.Podman([]string{"pod", "create", podName})
+		session.WaitWithDefaultTimeout()
+		Expect(session).Should(Exit(0))
+
+		session = podmanTest.Podman([]string{"create", "--pod", podName, "--restart", "no", ALPINE, "top"})
+		session.WaitWithDefaultTimeout()
+		Expect(session).Should(Exit(0))
+
+		kube := podmanTest.Podman([]string{"generate", "kube", podName})
+		kube.WaitWithDefaultTimeout()
+		Expect(kube).Should(Exit(0))
+
+		pod := new(v1.Pod)
+		err := yaml.Unmarshal(kube.Out.Contents(), pod)
+		Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+		// The pod name should no longer have _ and there should be no hostname in the generated yaml
+		Expect(pod.Name).To(Equal("testpod"))
+		Expect(pod.Spec.Hostname).To(Equal(""))
+	})
 })
diff --git a/test/system/710-kube.bats b/test/system/710-kube.bats
index d5b3f9e89b..ce5edf4513 100644
--- a/test/system/710-kube.bats
+++ b/test/system/710-kube.bats
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ metadata.creationTimestamp | =~ | [0-9T:-]\\+Z
 metadata.labels.app        | =  | ${pname}
 metadata.name              | =  | ${pname}
 
-spec.hostname                              | =  | $pname
+spec.hostname                              | =  | null
 
 spec.containers[0].command                 | =  | [\"top\"]
 spec.containers[0].image                   | =  | $IMAGE