diff --git a/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_autoscaling_group.go b/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_autoscaling_group.go
index f457e6dcd..d5a87e33b 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_autoscaling_group.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_autoscaling_group.go
@@ -25,7 +25,8 @@ func resourceAwsAutoscalingGroup() *schema.Resource {
 		Schema: map[string]*schema.Schema{
 			"name": &schema.Schema{
 				Type:     schema.TypeString,
-				Required: true,
+				Optional: true,
+				Computed: true,
 				ForceNew: true,
 				ValidateFunc: func(v interface{}, k string) (ws []string, errors []error) {
 					// https://github.com/boto/botocore/blob/9f322b1/botocore/data/autoscaling/2011-01-01/service-2.json#L1862-L1873
@@ -144,7 +145,16 @@ func resourceAwsAutoscalingGroupCreate(d *schema.ResourceData, meta interface{})
 	conn := meta.(*AWSClient).autoscalingconn
 
 	var autoScalingGroupOpts autoscaling.CreateAutoScalingGroupInput
-	autoScalingGroupOpts.AutoScalingGroupName = aws.String(d.Get("name").(string))
+
+	var asgName string
+	if v, ok := d.GetOk("name"); ok {
+		asgName = v.(string)
+	} else {
+		asgName = resource.PrefixedUniqueId("tf-asg-")
+		d.Set("name", asgName)
+	}
+
+	autoScalingGroupOpts.AutoScalingGroupName = aws.String(asgName)
 	autoScalingGroupOpts.LaunchConfigurationName = aws.String(d.Get("launch_configuration").(string))
 	autoScalingGroupOpts.MinSize = aws.Int64(int64(d.Get("min_size").(int)))
 	autoScalingGroupOpts.MaxSize = aws.Int64(int64(d.Get("max_size").(int)))
diff --git a/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_autoscaling_group_test.go b/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_autoscaling_group_test.go
index 1a25c9dea..5f87bc3d0 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_autoscaling_group_test.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_autoscaling_group_test.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package aws
 import (
 	"fmt"
 	"reflect"
+	"regexp"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
 
@@ -71,6 +72,26 @@ func TestAccAWSAutoScalingGroup_basic(t *testing.T) {
 	})
 }
 
+func TestAccAWSAutoScalingGroup_autoGeneratedName(t *testing.T) {
+	asgNameRegexp := regexp.MustCompile("^tf-asg-")
+
+	resource.Test(t, resource.TestCase{
+		PreCheck:     func() { testAccPreCheck(t) },
+		Providers:    testAccProviders,
+		CheckDestroy: testAccCheckAWSAutoScalingGroupDestroy,
+		Steps: []resource.TestStep{
+			resource.TestStep{
+				Config: testAccAWSAutoScalingGroupConfig_autoGeneratedName,
+				Check: resource.ComposeTestCheckFunc(
+					resource.TestMatchResourceAttr(
+						"aws_autoscaling_group.bar", "name", asgNameRegexp),
+				),
+			},
+		},
+	})
+
+}
+
 func TestAccAWSAutoScalingGroup_tags(t *testing.T) {
 	var group autoscaling.Group
 
@@ -348,6 +369,32 @@ func testAccCheckAWSAutoScalingGroupAttributesVPCZoneIdentifer(group *autoscalin
 	}
 }
 
+const testAccAWSAutoScalingGroupConfig_autoGeneratedName = `
+resource "aws_launch_configuration" "foobar" {
+  image_id = "ami-21f78e11"
+  instance_type = "t1.micro"
+}
+
+resource "aws_autoscaling_group" "bar" {
+  availability_zones = ["us-west-2a"]
+  max_size = 1
+  min_size = 1
+  health_check_grace_period = 300
+  health_check_type = "ELB"
+  desired_capacity = 1
+  force_delete = true
+  termination_policies = ["OldestInstance","ClosestToNextInstanceHour"]
+
+  launch_configuration = "${aws_launch_configuration.foobar.name}"
+
+  tag {
+    key = "Foo"
+    value = "foo-bar"
+    propagate_at_launch = true
+  }
+}
+`
+
 const testAccAWSAutoScalingGroupConfig = `
 resource "aws_launch_configuration" "foobar" {
   image_id = "ami-21f78e11"
diff --git a/website/source/docs/providers/aws/r/autoscaling_group.html.markdown b/website/source/docs/providers/aws/r/autoscaling_group.html.markdown
index 7cb166142..6f2b0e511 100644
--- a/website/source/docs/providers/aws/r/autoscaling_group.html.markdown
+++ b/website/source/docs/providers/aws/r/autoscaling_group.html.markdown
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ resource "aws_autoscaling_group" "bar" {
 
 The following arguments are supported:
 
-* `name` - (Required) The name of the auto scale group.
+* `name` - (Optional) The name of the auto scale group. By default generated by terraform.
 * `max_size` - (Required) The maximum size of the auto scale group.
 * `min_size` - (Required) The minimum size of the auto scale group.
     (See also [Waiting for Capacity](#waiting-for-capacity) below.)