diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_alias.c b/src/qemu/qemu_alias.c
index 9737158488..8521a44ff8 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_alias.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_alias.c
@@ -332,17 +332,34 @@ qemuAssignDeviceRNGAlias(virDomainDefPtr def,
 }
 
 
+/**
+ * qemuAssignDeviceMemoryAlias:
+ * @def: domain definition. Necessary only if @oldAlias is true.
+ * @mem: memory device definition
+ * @oldAlias: Generate the alias according to the order of the device in @def
+ *            rather than according to the slot number for legacy reasons.
+ *
+ * Generates alias for a memory device according to slot number if @oldAlias is
+ * false or according to order in @def->mems otherwise.
+ *
+ * Returns 0 on success, -1 on error.
+ */
 int
 qemuAssignDeviceMemoryAlias(virDomainDefPtr def,
-                            virDomainMemoryDefPtr mem)
+                            virDomainMemoryDefPtr mem,
+                            bool oldAlias)
 {
     size_t i;
     int maxidx = 0;
     int idx;
 
-    for (i = 0; i < def->nmems; i++) {
-        if ((idx = qemuDomainDeviceAliasIndex(&def->mems[i]->info, "dimm")) >= maxidx)
-            maxidx = idx + 1;
+    if (oldAlias) {
+        for (i = 0; i < def->nmems; i++) {
+            if ((idx = qemuDomainDeviceAliasIndex(&def->mems[i]->info, "dimm")) >= maxidx)
+                maxidx = idx + 1;
+        }
+    } else {
+        maxidx = mem->info.addr.dimm.slot;
     }
 
     if (virAsprintf(&mem->info.alias, "dimm%d", maxidx) < 0)
@@ -475,7 +492,7 @@ qemuAssignDeviceAliases(virDomainDefPtr def, virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps)
             return -1;
     }
     for (i = 0; i < def->nmems; i++) {
-        if (virAsprintf(&def->mems[i]->info.alias, "dimm%zu", i) < 0)
+        if (qemuAssignDeviceMemoryAlias(NULL, def->mems[i], false) < 0)
             return -1;
     }
 
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_alias.h b/src/qemu/qemu_alias.h
index d298a4dab2..dea05cf992 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_alias.h
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_alias.h
@@ -58,7 +58,8 @@ int qemuAssignDeviceRNGAlias(virDomainDefPtr def,
                              virDomainRNGDefPtr rng);
 
 int qemuAssignDeviceMemoryAlias(virDomainDefPtr def,
-                                virDomainMemoryDefPtr mems);
+                                virDomainMemoryDefPtr mems,
+                                bool oldAlias);
 
 int qemuAssignDeviceShmemAlias(virDomainDefPtr def,
                                virDomainShmemDefPtr shmem,
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_hotplug.c b/src/qemu/qemu_hotplug.c
index 7a023d2974..1bc27068bb 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_hotplug.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_hotplug.c
@@ -2135,7 +2135,9 @@ qemuDomainAttachMemory(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
     if (qemuDomainAssignMemoryDeviceSlot(vm->def, mem) < 0)
         goto cleanup;
 
-    if (qemuAssignDeviceMemoryAlias(vm->def, mem) < 0)
+    /* in cases where we are using a VM with aliases generated according to the
+     * index of the memory device we need to keep continue using that scheme */
+    if (qemuAssignDeviceMemoryAlias(vm->def, mem, priv->memAliasOrderMismatch) < 0)
         goto cleanup;
 
     if (virAsprintf(&objalias, "mem%s", mem->info.alias) < 0)
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-memory-hotplug-dimm-addr.args b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-memory-hotplug-dimm-addr.args
index 23403df5eb..fdbb4c3299 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-memory-hotplug-dimm-addr.args
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvdata/qemuxml2argv-memory-hotplug-dimm-addr.args
@@ -15,8 +15,8 @@ QEMU_AUDIO_DRV=none \
 mem-path=/dev/hugepages2M/libvirt/qemu,size=536870912,host-nodes=1-3,\
 policy=bind \
 -device pc-dimm,node=0,memdev=memdimm0,id=dimm0,slot=0,addr=4294967296 \
--object memory-backend-ram,id=memdimm1,size=536870912 \
--device pc-dimm,node=0,memdev=memdimm1,id=dimm1,slot=2 \
+-object memory-backend-ram,id=memdimm2,size=536870912 \
+-device pc-dimm,node=0,memdev=memdimm2,id=dimm2,slot=2 \
 -uuid c7a5fdbd-edaf-9455-926a-d65c16db1809 \
 -nographic \
 -nodefaults \