diff --git a/man/NetworkManager.conf.xml b/man/NetworkManager.conf.xml
index 4652887905..7fd6447681 100644
--- a/man/NetworkManager.conf.xml
+++ b/man/NetworkManager.conf.xml
@@ -271,8 +271,7 @@ no-auto-default=*
             Set the management mode of the hostname. This parameter will
             affect only the transient hostname. If a valid static hostname is set,
             NetworkManager will skip the update of the hostname despite the value of
-            this option. An hostname empty or equal to 'localhost', 'localhost6',
-            'localhost.localdomain' or 'localhost6.localdomain' is considered invalid.
+            this option. A hostname empty or equal to '(none)' is considered invalid.
           </para>
           <para><literal>default</literal>: NetworkManager will update the
           hostname with the one provided via DHCP or reverse DNS lookup of the
diff --git a/src/core/nm-policy.c b/src/core/nm-policy.c
index 170f066fdc..02a9854a80 100644
--- a/src/core/nm-policy.c
+++ b/src/core/nm-policy.c
@@ -960,7 +960,7 @@ update_system_hostname(NMPolicy *self, const char *msg, gboolean reset_retry_int
 
     /* Try a persistent hostname first */
     configured_hostname = nm_hostname_manager_get_static_hostname(priv->hostname_manager);
-    if (configured_hostname && nm_utils_is_specific_hostname(configured_hostname)) {
+    if (configured_hostname && nm_utils_is_not_empty_hostname(configured_hostname)) {
         _set_hostname(self, configured_hostname, "from system configuration", FALSE);
         priv->dhcp_hostname = FALSE;
         return;
diff --git a/src/libnm-glib-aux/nm-shared-utils.c b/src/libnm-glib-aux/nm-shared-utils.c
index db730b28a8..47ec3c8f32 100644
--- a/src/libnm-glib-aux/nm-shared-utils.c
+++ b/src/libnm-glib-aux/nm-shared-utils.c
@@ -6004,8 +6004,8 @@ nm_utils_is_localhost(const char *name)
     return FALSE;
 }
 
-gboolean
-nm_utils_is_specific_hostname(const char *name)
+static gboolean
+_nm_utils_check_hostname(const char *name, bool allow_localhost)
 {
     if (nm_str_is_empty(name))
         return FALSE;
@@ -6016,7 +6016,7 @@ nm_utils_is_specific_hostname(const char *name)
         return FALSE;
     }
 
-    if (nm_utils_is_localhost(name))
+    if (!allow_localhost && nm_utils_is_localhost(name))
         return FALSE;
 
     /* FIXME: properly validate the hostname, like systemd's hostname_is_valid() */
@@ -6024,6 +6024,18 @@ nm_utils_is_specific_hostname(const char *name)
     return TRUE;
 }
 
+gboolean
+nm_utils_is_specific_hostname(const char *name)
+{
+    return _nm_utils_check_hostname(name, FALSE);
+}
+
+gboolean
+nm_utils_is_not_empty_hostname(const char *name)
+{
+    return _nm_utils_check_hostname(name, TRUE);
+}
+
 /*****************************************************************************/
 
 typedef struct {
diff --git a/src/libnm-glib-aux/nm-shared-utils.h b/src/libnm-glib-aux/nm-shared-utils.h
index 4fa538e2da..eb86a409b5 100644
--- a/src/libnm-glib-aux/nm-shared-utils.h
+++ b/src/libnm-glib-aux/nm-shared-utils.h
@@ -3419,6 +3419,7 @@ char *_nm_utils_format_variant_attributes(GHashTable                          *a
 gboolean nm_utils_is_localhost(const char *name);
 
 gboolean nm_utils_is_specific_hostname(const char *name);
+gboolean nm_utils_is_not_empty_hostname(const char *name);
 
 struct passwd;