diff --git a/inventory/group_vars/mm-backend b/inventory/group_vars/mm-backend
index cb59dad641..919c59b61d 100644
--- a/inventory/group_vars/mm-backend
+++ b/inventory/group_vars/mm-backend
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ mem_size: 6144
 
 fedmsg_certs:
 - service: shell
+  alias: mirrormanager
   owner: mirrormanager
   group: sysadmin
   can_send:
diff --git a/roles/fedmsg/base/templates/ssl.py.j2 b/roles/fedmsg/base/templates/ssl.py.j2
index 8a8a48ff45..4088ccc376 100644
--- a/roles/fedmsg/base/templates/ssl.py.j2
+++ b/roles/fedmsg/base/templates/ssl.py.j2
@@ -15,9 +15,9 @@ config = dict(
     # This is the set of certs for this host, dynamically generated from the
     # ``fedmsg_certs`` host vars
     {% for cert in fedmsg_certs %}
-    ("{{cert['service']}}.{{inventory_hostname_short}}", "{{cert['service']}}-{{fedmsg_fqdn | default(ansible_fqdn)}}"),
+    ("{{cert.get('alias', cert['service'])}}.{{inventory_hostname_short}}", "{{cert['service']}}-{{fedmsg_fqdn | default(ansible_fqdn)}}"),
     {% endfor %}
-    ] + [
+] + [
         # This is the beginning of the static list.  We should eventually remove
         # this.
         ("git.hosted03", "git-hosted03.vpn.fedoraproject.org"),