diff --git a/page_manager/page_manager.admin.inc b/page_manager/page_manager.admin.inc
index 6ef02687973c9eb25bed364d4f31f4cd30f925e1..d407227e77ad6c66c6091ae8d521ef99d1f37afa 100644
--- a/page_manager/page_manager.admin.inc
+++ b/page_manager/page_manager.admin.inc
@@ -1308,6 +1308,7 @@ function page_manager_handler_add_submit(&$form, &$form_state) {
   else {
     $handler->conf['title'] = $plugin['title'];
   }
+  $handler->conf['name'] = $form_state['values']['name'];
   $cache->new_handler = $handler;
 
   // Figure out which forms to present them with
@@ -1398,6 +1399,22 @@ function page_manager_handler_add_form($form, $form_state, $features = array())
       '#title' => t('Title'),
       '#description' => t('Administrative title of this variant. If you leave blank it will be automatically assigned.'),
     );
+
+    $form['name'] = array(
+      '#type' => 'machine_name',
+      '#title' => t('Machine name'),
+      '#required' => FALSE,
+      '#description' => t("A unique machine-readable name for this variant. It must only contain lowercase letters, numbers, and underscores. This name will be used when exporting the variant. If left empty the variant's name will be used instead."),
+      '#size' => 32,
+      '#maxlength' => 32,
+      '#machine_name' => array(
+        'exists' => 'page_manager_handler_check_machine_name',
+        'source' => array('title'),
+        'standalone' => TRUE,
+      ),
+      '#field_prefix' => '<span dir="ltr">' . $task['name'] . '__',
+      '#field_suffix' => '</span>&lrm;',
+    );
   }
 
   $form['handler'] = array(
@@ -1436,6 +1453,15 @@ function page_manager_handler_add_form($form, $form_state, $features = array())
   return $form;
 }
 
+/*
+ * Check if handler's machine-name is unique
+ */
+function page_manager_handler_check_machine_name($name, $element, $form_state) {
+  $name = $form_state['task']['name'] . '__' . $name;
+
+  return count(ctools_export_load_object('page_manager_handlers', 'names', array($name)));
+}
+
 /**
  * Rearrange the order of variants.
  */
diff --git a/page_manager/page_manager.module b/page_manager/page_manager.module
index da99a578fc9e9e9e660fcc6a8f8c1b4ecb2b66b2..a2974e76664fdcb57cc009ad5eb64a0ef630e52b 100644
--- a/page_manager/page_manager.module
+++ b/page_manager/page_manager.module
@@ -416,16 +416,18 @@ function page_manager_cache_load($task_name) {
  */
 function page_manager_handler_get_name($task_name, $handlers, $handler) {
   $base = str_replace('-', '_', $task_name);
-  // Generate a unique name. Unlike most named objects, we don't let people choose
-  // names for task handlers because they mostly don't make sense.
-  $base .= '_' . $handler->handler;
-
-  // Once we have a base, check to see if it is used. If it is, start counting up.
-  $name = $base;
-  $count = 1;
-  // If taken
-  while (isset($handlers[$name])) {
-    $name = $base . '_' . ++$count;
+
+  // Optional machine name.
+  if (!empty($handler->conf['name'])) {
+    $name = $base . '__' . $handler->conf['name'];
+  }
+
+  // If no machine name was provided, generate a unique name.
+  else {
+    $base .= '__' . $handler->handler;
+
+    // Use the ctools uuid generator to generate a unique id.
+    $name = $base . '_' . ctools_uuid_generate();
   }
 
   return $name;