diff --git a/api/utils/route.go b/api/utils/route.go
index 1ca83926e4ee1..af9311758e1ea 100644
--- a/api/utils/route.go
+++ b/api/utils/route.go
@@ -180,6 +180,14 @@ func (m *SSHRouteMatcher) RouteToServerScore(server RouteableServer) (score int)
 		score = max(score, matchAddr(addr))
 	}
 
+	// Allow a match on name, even though it may not be a UUID or EC2 ID,
+	// to support agentless hosts that were created without their name being a UUID.
+	// The score however, is lower than a true direct match, to prevent any
+	// breaking changes to routing.
+	if server.GetName() == m.cfg.Host {
+		score = max(score, indirectMatch)
+	}
+
 	return score
 }
 
diff --git a/api/utils/route_test.go b/api/utils/route_test.go
index ce971e04e6ea3..2ab21fd3df79c 100644
--- a/api/utils/route_test.go
+++ b/api/utils/route_test.go
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 package utils
 
 import (
+	"cmp"
 	"context"
 	"testing"
 
@@ -273,6 +274,7 @@ func TestSSHRouteMatcherScoring(t *testing.T) {
 	tts := []struct {
 		desc     string
 		hostname string
+		name     string
 		addrs    []string
 		score    int
 	}{
@@ -309,12 +311,23 @@ func TestSSHRouteMatcherScoring(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 			score: notMatch,
 		},
+		{
+			desc:     "non-uuid name",
+			name:     "foo.example.com",
+			hostname: "foo.com",
+			addrs: []string{
+				"0.0.0.0:0",
+				"1.1.1.1:0",
+			},
+			score: indirectMatch,
+		},
 	}
 
 	for _, tt := range tts {
 		t.Run(tt.desc, func(t *testing.T) {
+			name := cmp.Or(tt.name, uuid.NewString())
 			score := matcher.RouteToServerScore(mockRouteableServer{
-				name:       uuid.NewString(),
+				name:       name,
 				hostname:   tt.hostname,
 				publicAddr: tt.addrs,
 			})
diff --git a/lib/proxy/router_test.go b/lib/proxy/router_test.go
index f846151aec14b..4dd3609869453 100644
--- a/lib/proxy/router_test.go
+++ b/lib/proxy/router_test.go
@@ -133,6 +133,11 @@ func TestRouteScoring(t *testing.T) {
 			hostname: "blue.example.com",
 			addr:     "2.3.4.5:22",
 		},
+		{
+			name:     "not-a-uuid",
+			hostname: "test.example.com",
+			addr:     "3.4.5.6:22",
+		},
 	})
 
 	// scoring behavior is independent of routing strategy so we just
@@ -205,6 +210,11 @@ func TestRouteScoring(t *testing.T) {
 			host:   "red.example.com",
 			expect: "blue.example.com",
 		},
+		{
+			desc:   "non-uuid name",
+			host:   "not-a-uuid",
+			expect: "test.example.com",
+		},
 	}
 
 	for _, tt := range tts {
@@ -326,6 +336,21 @@ func TestGetServers(t *testing.T) {
 		},
 	})
 
+	servers = append(servers,
+		&types.ServerV2{
+			Kind:    types.KindNode,
+			SubKind: types.SubKindOpenSSHNode,
+			Version: types.V2,
+			Metadata: types.Metadata{
+				Name: "agentless-node-1",
+			},
+			Spec: types.ServerSpecV2{
+				Addr:     "1.2.3.4:22",
+				Hostname: "agentless-1",
+			},
+		},
+	)
+
 	// ensure tests don't have order-dependence
 	rand.Shuffle(len(servers), func(i, j int) {
 		servers[i], servers[j] = servers[j], servers[i]
@@ -432,15 +457,6 @@ func TestGetServers(t *testing.T) {
 				require.Equal(t, "alpaca", srv.GetHostname())
 			},
 		},
-		{
-			name:         "failure on invalid addresses",
-			site:         testSite{cfg: &unambiguousCfg, nodes: servers},
-			host:         "lion",
-			errAssertion: require.NoError,
-			serverAssertion: func(t *testing.T, srv types.Server) {
-				require.Empty(t, srv)
-			},
-		},
 		{
 			name:         "case-insensitive match",
 			site:         testSite{cfg: &unambiguousInsensitiveCfg, nodes: servers},
@@ -462,6 +478,17 @@ func TestGetServers(t *testing.T) {
 				require.Empty(t, srv)
 			},
 		},
+		{
+			name:         "agentless match by non-uuid name",
+			site:         testSite{cfg: &unambiguousCfg, nodes: servers},
+			host:         "agentless-node-1",
+			errAssertion: require.NoError,
+			serverAssertion: func(t *testing.T, srv types.Server) {
+				require.NotNil(t, srv)
+				require.Equal(t, "agentless-1", srv.GetHostname())
+				require.True(t, srv.IsOpenSSHNode())
+			},
+		},
 	}
 
 	ctx := context.Background()
@@ -627,7 +654,7 @@ func TestRouter_DialHost(t *testing.T) {
 		SubKind: types.SubKindOpenSSHNode,
 		Version: types.V2,
 		Metadata: types.Metadata{
-			Name: uuid.NewString(),
+			Name: "agentless",
 		},
 		Spec: types.ServerSpecV2{
 			Addr:     "127.0.0.1:9001",