diff --git a/docs/source/markdown/podman-ps.1.md b/docs/source/markdown/podman-ps.1.md
index 3b5a2a5084..c56aa10cb2 100644
--- a/docs/source/markdown/podman-ps.1.md
+++ b/docs/source/markdown/podman-ps.1.md
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ Valid filters are listed below:
 | label           | [Key] or [Key=Value] Label assigned to a container                               |
 | exited          | [Int] Container's exit code                                                      |
 | status          | [Status] Container's status: 'created', 'exited', 'paused', 'running', 'unknown' |
-| ancestor        | [ImageName] Image or descendant used to create container                         |
+| ancestor        | [ImageName] Image or descendant used to create container (accepts regex)         |
 | before          | [ID] or [Name] Containers created before this container                          |
 | since           | [ID] or [Name] Containers created since this container                           |
 | volume          | [VolumeName] or [MountpointDestination] Volume mounted in container              |
diff --git a/pkg/domain/filters/containers.go b/pkg/domain/filters/containers.go
index 917f5d61bf..137f3da524 100644
--- a/pkg/domain/filters/containers.go
+++ b/pkg/domain/filters/containers.go
@@ -96,8 +96,8 @@ func GenerateContainerFilterFuncs(filter string, filterValues []string, r *libpo
 				}
 
 				if (rootfsImageID == filterValue) ||
-					(rootfsImageName == filterValue) ||
-					(imageNameWithoutTag == filterValue && imageTag == "latest") {
+					util.StringMatchRegexSlice(rootfsImageName, filterValues) ||
+					(util.StringMatchRegexSlice(imageNameWithoutTag, filterValues) && imageTag == "latest") {
 					return true
 				}
 			}
diff --git a/test/e2e/ps_test.go b/test/e2e/ps_test.go
index bf5a0dfda3..558d07d138 100644
--- a/test/e2e/ps_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e/ps_test.go
@@ -313,10 +313,22 @@ var _ = Describe("Podman ps", func() {
 		Expect(result).Should(Exit(0))
 		Expect(result.OutputToString()).To(Equal(cid))
 
-		// Query by truncated image name should not match ( should return empty output )
+		// Query by truncated image name should match (regexp match)
 		result = podmanTest.Podman([]string{"ps", "-q", "--no-trunc", "-a", "--filter", "ancestor=quay.io/libpod/alpi"})
 		result.WaitWithDefaultTimeout()
 		Expect(result).Should(Exit(0))
+		Expect(result.OutputToString()).To(Equal(cid))
+
+		// Query using regex by truncated image name should match (regexp match)
+		result = podmanTest.Podman([]string{"ps", "-q", "--no-trunc", "-a", "--filter", "ancestor=^(quay.io|docker.io)/libpod/alpine:[a-zA-Z]+"})
+		result.WaitWithDefaultTimeout()
+		Expect(result).Should(Exit(0))
+		Expect(result.OutputToString()).To(Equal(cid))
+
+		// Query for an non-existing image using regex should not match anything
+		result = podmanTest.Podman([]string{"ps", "-q", "--no-trunc", "-a", "--filter", "ancestor=^quai.io/libpod/alpi"})
+		result.WaitWithDefaultTimeout()
+		Expect(result).Should(Exit(0))
 		Expect(result.OutputToString()).To(Equal(""))
 	})