diff --git a/builder/amazon/common/run_config.go b/builder/amazon/common/run_config.go
index 7ed6f85a6..6c162d052 100644
--- a/builder/amazon/common/run_config.go
+++ b/builder/amazon/common/run_config.go
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ type RunConfig struct {
 	SecurityGroupId    string `mapstructure:"security_group_id"`
 	SubnetId           string `mapstructure:"subnet_id"`
 	VpcId              string `mapstructure:"vpc_id"`
+	SSHKeyPairPattern  string `mapstructure:"ssh_keypair_pattern"`
 
 	// Unexported fields that are calculated from others
 	sshTimeout time.Duration
@@ -45,6 +46,10 @@ func (c *RunConfig) Prepare(t *packer.ConfigTemplate) []error {
 		c.RawSSHTimeout = "1m"
 	}
 
+	if c.SSHKeyPairPattern == "" {
+		c.SSHKeyPairPattern = "packer %s"
+	}
+
 	// Validation
 	var err error
 	errs := make([]error, 0)
diff --git a/builder/amazon/common/run_config_test.go b/builder/amazon/common/run_config_test.go
index d13320686..a9f054fc2 100644
--- a/builder/amazon/common/run_config_test.go
+++ b/builder/amazon/common/run_config_test.go
@@ -126,3 +126,24 @@ func TestRunConfigPrepare_UserDataFile(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("err: %s", err)
 	}
 }
+
+func TestRunConfigPrepare_SSHKeyPairPattern(t *testing.T) {
+	c := testConfig()
+	c.SSHKeyPairPattern = ""
+	if err := c.Prepare(nil); len(err) != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("err: %s", err)
+	}
+
+	if c.SSHKeyPairPattern != "packer %s" {
+		t.Fatalf("invalid value: %s", c.SSHKeyPairPattern)
+	}
+
+	c.SSHKeyPairPattern = "valid-%s"
+	if err := c.Prepare(nil); len(err) != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("err: %s", err)
+	}
+
+	if c.SSHKeyPairPattern != "valid-%s" {
+		t.Fatalf("invalid value: %s", c.SSHKeyPairPattern)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/builder/amazon/common/step_key_pair.go b/builder/amazon/common/step_key_pair.go
index 63c0247bc..772e390c5 100644
--- a/builder/amazon/common/step_key_pair.go
+++ b/builder/amazon/common/step_key_pair.go
@@ -13,8 +13,9 @@ import (
 )
 
 type StepKeyPair struct {
-	Debug        bool
-	DebugKeyPath string
+	Debug          bool
+	DebugKeyPath   string
+	KeyPairPattern string
 
 	keyName string
 }
@@ -24,7 +25,7 @@ func (s *StepKeyPair) Run(state multistep.StateBag) multistep.StepAction {
 	ui := state.Get("ui").(packer.Ui)
 
 	ui.Say("Creating temporary keypair for this instance...")
-	keyName := fmt.Sprintf("packer %s", hex.EncodeToString(identifier.NewUUID().Raw()))
+	keyName := fmt.Sprintf(s.KeyPairPattern, hex.EncodeToString(identifier.NewUUID().Raw()))
 	log.Printf("temporary keypair name: %s", keyName)
 	keyResp, err := ec2conn.CreateKeyPair(keyName)
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/builder/amazon/ebs/builder.go b/builder/amazon/ebs/builder.go
index 5c6cd16dd..59de87b33 100644
--- a/builder/amazon/ebs/builder.go
+++ b/builder/amazon/ebs/builder.go
@@ -82,8 +82,9 @@ func (b *Builder) Run(ui packer.Ui, hook packer.Hook, cache packer.Cache) (packe
 	// Build the steps
 	steps := []multistep.Step{
 		&awscommon.StepKeyPair{
-			Debug:        b.config.PackerDebug,
-			DebugKeyPath: fmt.Sprintf("ec2_%s.pem", b.config.PackerBuildName),
+			Debug:          b.config.PackerDebug,
+			DebugKeyPath:   fmt.Sprintf("ec2_%s.pem", b.config.PackerBuildName),
+			KeyPairPattern: b.config.SSHKeyPairPattern,
 		},
 		&awscommon.StepSecurityGroup{
 			SecurityGroupId: b.config.SecurityGroupId,