diff --git a/scripts/qapi-types.py b/scripts/qapi-types.py
index faf7022e2c..1420e00ffb 100644
--- a/scripts/qapi-types.py
+++ b/scripts/qapi-types.py
@@ -149,11 +149,23 @@ def gen_union(name, base, variants):
     if base:
         ret += gen_struct_fields([], base)
     else:
+        # TODO As a hack, we emit both 'kind' and 'type'. Ultimately, we
+        # want to use only 'type', but the conversion is large enough to
+        # require staging over several commits.
         ret += mcgen('''
-    %(c_type)s kind;
+    union {
+        %(c_type)s kind;
+        %(c_type)s type;
+    };
 ''',
                      c_type=c_name(variants.tag_member.type.name))
 
+    # TODO As a hack, we emit the union twice, once as an anonymous union
+    # and once as a named union.  Ultimately, we want to use only the
+    # named union version (as it avoids conflicts between tag values as
+    # branch names competing with non-variant QMP names), but the conversion
+    # is large enough to require staging over several commits.
+    tmp = ''
     # FIXME: What purpose does data serve, besides preventing a union that
     # has a branch named 'data'? We use it in qapi-visit.py to decide
     # whether to bypass the switch statement if visiting the discriminator
@@ -162,25 +174,25 @@ def gen_union(name, base, variants):
     # should not be any data leaks even without a data pointer.  Or, if
     # 'data' is merely added to guarantee we don't have an empty union,
     # shouldn't we enforce that at .json parse time?
-    ret += mcgen('''
+    tmp += mcgen('''
     union { /* union tag is @%(c_name)s */
         void *data;
 ''',
-                 # TODO ugly special case for simple union
-                 # Use same tag name in C as on the wire to get rid of
-                 # it, then: c_name=c_name(variants.tag_member.name)
-                 c_name=c_name(variants.tag_name or 'kind'))
+                 c_name=c_name(variants.tag_member.name))
 
     for var in variants.variants:
         # Ugly special case for simple union TODO get rid of it
         typ = var.simple_union_type() or var.type
-        ret += mcgen('''
+        tmp += mcgen('''
         %(c_type)s %(c_name)s;
 ''',
                      c_type=typ.c_type(),
                      c_name=c_name(var.name))
 
+    ret += tmp
+    ret += '    ' + '\n    '.join(tmp.split('\n'))
     ret += mcgen('''
+    } u;
     };
 };
 ''')
diff --git a/scripts/qapi.py b/scripts/qapi.py
index 3ff7b11e61..00a16203df 100644
--- a/scripts/qapi.py
+++ b/scripts/qapi.py
@@ -548,7 +548,8 @@ def check_union(expr, expr_info):
     base = expr.get('base')
     discriminator = expr.get('discriminator')
     members = expr['data']
-    values = {'MAX': '(automatic)', 'KIND': '(automatic)'}
+    values = {'MAX': '(automatic)', 'KIND': '(automatic)',
+              'TYPE': '(automatic)'}
 
     # Two types of unions, determined by discriminator.