diff --git a/Lib/test/test_threading.py b/Lib/test/test_threading.py
@@ -2103,6 +2103,66 @@ def test__all__(self):
         support.check__all__(self, threading, ('threading', '_thread'),
                              extra=extra, not_exported=not_exported)
 
+    @unittest.skipUnless(hasattr(_thread, 'set_name'), "missing _thread.set_name")
+    @unittest.skipUnless(hasattr(_thread, '_get_name'), "missing _thread._get_name")
+    def test_set_name(self):
+        # set_name() limit in bytes
+        truncate = getattr(_thread, "_NAME_MAXLEN", None)
+        limit = truncate or 100
+
+        tests = [
+            # test short ASCII name
+            "CustomName",
+
+            # test short non-ASCII name
+            "namé€",
+
+            # embedded null character: name is truncated
+            # at the first null character
+            "embed\0null",
+
+            # Test long ASCII names (not truncated)
+            "x" * limit,
+
+            # Test long ASCII names (truncated)
+            "x" * (limit + 10),
+
+            # Test long non-ASCII name (truncated)
+            "x" * (limit - 1) + "é€",
+        ]
+        if os_helper.FS_NONASCII:
+            tests.append(f"nonascii:{os_helper.FS_NONASCII}")
+        if os_helper.TESTFN_UNENCODABLE:
+            tests.append(os_helper.TESTFN_UNENCODABLE)
+
+        if sys.platform.startswith("solaris"):
+            encoding = "utf-8"
+        else:
+            encoding = sys.getfilesystemencoding()
+
+        def work():
+            nonlocal work_name
+            work_name = _thread._get_name()
+
+        for name in tests:
+            encoded = name.encode(encoding, "replace")
+            if b'\0' in encoded:
+                encoded = encoded.split(b'\0', 1)[0]
+            if truncate is not None:
+                encoded = encoded[:truncate]
+            if sys.platform.startswith("solaris"):
+                expected = encoded.decode("utf-8", "surrogateescape")
+            else:
+                expected = os.fsdecode(encoded)
+
+            with self.subTest(name=name, expected=expected):
+                work_name = None
+                thread = threading.Thread(target=work, name=name)
+                thread.start()
+                thread.join()
+                self.assertEqual(work_name, expected,
+                                 f"{len(work_name)=} and {len(expected)=}")
+
 
 class InterruptMainTests(unittest.TestCase):
     def check_interrupt_main_with_signal_handler(self, signum):

diff --git a/Lib/threading.py b/Lib/threading.py
@@ -48,6 +48,10 @@
     __all__.append('get_native_id')
 except AttributeError:
     _HAVE_THREAD_NATIVE_ID = False
+try:
+    _set_name = _thread.set_name
+except AttributeError:
+    _set_name = None
 ThreadError = _thread.error
 try:
     _CRLock = _thread.RLock
@@ -1027,6 +1031,11 @@ def _bootstrap_inner(self):
             self._set_ident()
             if _HAVE_THREAD_NATIVE_ID:
                 self._set_native_id()
+            if _set_name is not None and self._name:
+                try:
+                    _set_name(self._name)
+                except OSError:
+                    pass
             self._started.set()
             with _active_limbo_lock:
                 _active[self._ident] = self

diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2024-11-27-17-04-38.gh-issue-59705.sAGyvs.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2024-11-27-17-04-38.gh-issue-59705.sAGyvs.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+On Linux, :class:`threading.Thread` now sets the thread name to the
+operating system. Patch by Victor Stinner.
diff --git a/Modules/_threadmodule.c b/Modules/_threadmodule.c
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@
 #  include <signal.h>             // SIGINT
 #endif
 
+#include "clinic/_threadmodule.c.h"
+
 // ThreadError is just an alias to PyExc_RuntimeError
 #define ThreadError PyExc_RuntimeError
 
@@ -44,6 +46,13 @@ get_thread_state(PyObject *module)
     return (thread_module_state *)state;
 }
 
+
+/*[clinic input]
+module _thread
+[clinic start generated code]*/
+/*[clinic end generated code: output=da39a3ee5e6b4b0d input=be8dbe5cc4b16df7]*/
+
+
 // _ThreadHandle type
 
 // Handles state transitions according to the following diagram:
@@ -2354,6 +2363,96 @@ PyDoc_STRVAR(thread__get_main_thread_ident_doc,
 Internal only. Return a non-zero integer that uniquely identifies the main thread\n\
 of the main interpreter.");
 
+
+#ifdef HAVE_PTHREAD_GETNAME_NP
+/*[clinic input]
+_thread._get_name
+
+Get the name of the current thread.
+[clinic start generated code]*/
+
+static PyObject *
+_thread__get_name_impl(PyObject *module)
+/*[clinic end generated code: output=20026e7ee3da3dd7 input=35cec676833d04c8]*/
+{
+    // Linux and macOS are limited to respectively 16 and 64 bytes
+    char name[100];
+    pthread_t thread = pthread_self();
+    int rc = pthread_getname_np(thread, name, Py_ARRAY_LENGTH(name));
+    if (rc) {
+        errno = rc;
+        return PyErr_SetFromErrno(PyExc_OSError);
+    }
+
-
+    name[Py_ARRAY_LENGTH(name)-1] = 0;
+
-
+    name[Py_ARRAY_LENGTH(name)-1] = 0;
+
+#ifdef __sun
+    return PyUnicode_DecodeUTF8(name, strlen(name), "surrogateescape");
+#else
+    return PyUnicode_DecodeFSDefault(name);
+#endif
+}
+#endif  // HAVE_PTHREAD_GETNAME_NP
+
+
+#ifdef HAVE_PTHREAD_SETNAME_NP
+/*[clinic input]
+_thread.set_name
+
+    name as name_obj: unicode
+
+Set the name of the current thread.
+[clinic start generated code]*/
+
+static PyObject *
+_thread_set_name_impl(PyObject *module, PyObject *name_obj)
+/*[clinic end generated code: output=402b0c68e0c0daed input=7e7acd98261be82f]*/
+{
+#ifdef __sun
+    // Solaris always uses UTF-8
+    const char *encoding = "utf-8";
+#else
+    // Encode the thread name to the filesystem encoding using the "replace"
+    // error handler
+    PyInterpreterState *interp = _PyInterpreterState_GET();
+    const char *encoding = interp->unicode.fs_codec.encoding;
+#endif
+    PyObject *name_encoded;
+    name_encoded = PyUnicode_AsEncodedString(name_obj, encoding, "replace");
+    if (name_encoded == NULL) {
+        return NULL;
+    }
+
+#ifdef PYTHREAD_NAME_MAXLEN
+    // Truncate to PYTHREAD_NAME_MAXLEN bytes + the NUL byte if needed
+    size_t len = PyBytes_GET_SIZE(name_encoded);
+    if (len > PYTHREAD_NAME_MAXLEN) {
+        PyObject *truncated;
+        truncated = PyBytes_FromStringAndSize(PyBytes_AS_STRING(name_encoded),
+                                              PYTHREAD_NAME_MAXLEN);
+        if (truncated == NULL) {
+            Py_DECREF(name_encoded);
+            return NULL;
+        }
+        Py_SETREF(name_encoded, truncated);
+    }
+#endif
+
+    const char *name = PyBytes_AS_STRING(name_encoded);
+#ifdef __APPLE__
+    int rc = pthread_setname_np(name);
+#else
+    pthread_t thread = pthread_self();
+    int rc = pthread_setname_np(thread, name);
+#endif
+    Py_DECREF(name_encoded);
+    if (rc) {
+        errno = rc;
+        return PyErr_SetFromErrno(PyExc_OSError);
+    }
+    Py_RETURN_NONE;
+}
+#endif  // HAVE_PTHREAD_SETNAME_NP
+
+
 static PyMethodDef thread_methods[] = {
     {"start_new_thread",        (PyCFunction)thread_PyThread_start_new_thread,
      METH_VARARGS, start_new_thread_doc},
@@ -2393,6 +2492,8 @@ static PyMethodDef thread_methods[] = {
      METH_O, thread__make_thread_handle_doc},
     {"_get_main_thread_ident", thread__get_main_thread_ident,
      METH_NOARGS, thread__get_main_thread_ident_doc},
+    _THREAD_SET_NAME_METHODDEF
+    _THREAD__GET_NAME_METHODDEF
     {NULL,                      NULL}           /* sentinel */
 };
 
@@ -2484,6 +2585,13 @@ thread_module_exec(PyObject *module)
 
     llist_init(&state->shutdown_handles);
 
+#ifdef PYTHREAD_NAME_MAXLEN
+    if (PyModule_AddIntConstant(module, "_NAME_MAXLEN",
+                                PYTHREAD_NAME_MAXLEN) < 0) {
+        return -1;
+    }
+#endif
+
     return 0;
 }
 

diff --git a/Modules/clinic/_threadmodule.c.h b/Modules/clinic/_threadmodule.c.h
Original file line number	Diff line number	Diff line change
		@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
		On Linux, :class:`threading.Thread` now sets the thread name to the
		operating system. Patch by Victor Stinner.