diff --git a/include/sys/thread.h b/include/sys/thread.h
index c7b1043743..8424070e23 100644
--- a/include/sys/thread.h
+++ b/include/sys/thread.h
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ extern "C" {
 #include <linux/module.h>
 #include <linux/mm.h>
 #include <linux/spinlock.h>
+#include <linux/kthread.h>
 #include <sys/types.h>
 #include <sys/sysmacros.h>
 
@@ -30,14 +31,14 @@ typedef void (*thread_func_t)(void *);
 
 #define thread_create(stk, stksize, func, arg, len, pp, state, pri)      \
 	__thread_create(stk, stksize, (thread_func_t)func,               \
-		        arg, len, pp, state, pri)
+	                #func, arg, len, pp, state, pri)
 #define thread_exit()			__thread_exit()
 #define curthread			get_current()
 
 extern kthread_t *__thread_create(caddr_t stk, size_t  stksize,
-                            thread_func_t func, void *args,
-                            size_t len, int *pp, int state,
-                            pri_t pri);
+                                  thread_func_t func, const char *name,
+                                  void *args, size_t len, int *pp,
+                                  int state, pri_t pri);
 extern void __thread_exit(void);
 
 #ifdef  __cplusplus
diff --git a/modules/spl/spl-thread.c b/modules/spl/spl-thread.c
index ad90e0720b..1cfa369ba1 100644
--- a/modules/spl/spl-thread.c
+++ b/modules/spl/spl-thread.c
@@ -21,11 +21,6 @@ thread_generic_wrapper(void *arg)
 	thread_priv_t *tp = (thread_priv_t *)arg;
 	void (*func)(void *);
 	void *args;
-	char name[16];
-
-	/* Use the truncated function name as thread name */
-	snprintf(name, sizeof(name), "%s", "kthread");
-	daemonize(name);
 
         spin_lock(&tp->tp_lock);
 	BUG_ON(tp->tp_magic != TP_MAGIC);
@@ -51,6 +46,7 @@ thread_generic_wrapper(void *arg)
 void
 __thread_exit(void)
 {
+	do_exit(0);
 	return;
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(__thread_exit);
@@ -60,11 +56,12 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(__thread_exit);
  * style callers likely never check for... since it can't fail. */
 kthread_t *
 __thread_create(caddr_t stk, size_t  stksize, thread_func_t func,
-		void *args, size_t len, int *pp, int state, pri_t pri)
+		const char *name, void *args, size_t len, int *pp,
+		int state, pri_t pri)
 {
 	thread_priv_t tp;
 	DEFINE_WAIT(wait);
-	long pid;
+	struct task_struct *tsk;
 
 	/* Option pp is simply ignored */
 	/* Variable stack size unsupported */
@@ -88,9 +85,13 @@ __thread_create(caddr_t stk, size_t  stksize, thread_func_t func,
 
 	spin_lock(&tp.tp_lock);
 
-	/* Solaris says this must never fail so we try forever */
-	while ((pid = kernel_thread(thread_generic_wrapper, (void *)&tp, 0)) < 0)
-		printk(KERN_ERR "spl: Error unable to create thread; pid = %ld\n", pid);
+	tsk = kthread_create(thread_generic_wrapper, (void *)&tp, "%s", name);
+	if (IS_ERR(tsk)) {
+		printk("spl: Failed to create thread: %ld\n", PTR_ERR(tsk));
+		return NULL;
+	}
+
+	wake_up_process(tsk);
 
 	/* All signals are ignored due to sleeping TASK_UNINTERRUPTIBLE */
 	for (;;) {
@@ -103,9 +104,7 @@ __thread_create(caddr_t stk, size_t  stksize, thread_func_t func,
 		spin_lock(&tp.tp_lock);
 	}
 
-	/* Verify the pid retunred matches the pid in the task struct */
-	BUG_ON(pid != (tp.tp_task)->pid);
-
+	BUG_ON(tsk != tp.tp_task); /* Extra paranoia */
 	spin_unlock(&tp.tp_lock);
 
 	return (kthread_t *)tp.tp_task;