diff --git a/apis/v1beta1/vspheremachine_types.go b/apis/v1beta1/vspheremachine_types.go
index fb9a58493..75293248c 100644
--- a/apis/v1beta1/vspheremachine_types.go
+++ b/apis/v1beta1/vspheremachine_types.go
@@ -80,6 +80,7 @@ type VSphereVMNamingStrategy struct {
 	// If not defined, it will fall back to `{{ .machine.name }}`.
 	// The templating has the following data available:
 	// * `.machine.name`: The name of the Machine object.
+	// * `.random`: random alphanumeric string, without vowels, of length 5
 	// The templating also has the following funcs available:
 	// * `trimSuffix`: same as strings.TrimSuffix
 	// * `trunc`: truncates a string, e.g. `trunc 2 "hello"` or `trunc -2 "hello"`
diff --git a/config/default/crd/bases/infrastructure.cluster.x-k8s.io_vspheremachines.yaml b/config/default/crd/bases/infrastructure.cluster.x-k8s.io_vspheremachines.yaml
index f09c4e69f..7493370fd 100644
--- a/config/default/crd/bases/infrastructure.cluster.x-k8s.io_vspheremachines.yaml
+++ b/config/default/crd/bases/infrastructure.cluster.x-k8s.io_vspheremachines.yaml
@@ -1036,6 +1036,7 @@ spec:
                       If not defined, it will fall back to `{{ .machine.name }}`.
                       The templating has the following data available:
                       * `.machine.name`: The name of the Machine object.
+                      * `.random`: random alphanumeric string, without vowels, of length 5
                       The templating also has the following funcs available:
                       * `trimSuffix`: same as strings.TrimSuffix
                       * `trunc`: truncates a string, e.g. `trunc 2 "hello"` or `trunc -2 "hello"`
diff --git a/config/default/crd/bases/infrastructure.cluster.x-k8s.io_vspheremachinetemplates.yaml b/config/default/crd/bases/infrastructure.cluster.x-k8s.io_vspheremachinetemplates.yaml
index 49ccbb054..3070a366f 100644
--- a/config/default/crd/bases/infrastructure.cluster.x-k8s.io_vspheremachinetemplates.yaml
+++ b/config/default/crd/bases/infrastructure.cluster.x-k8s.io_vspheremachinetemplates.yaml
@@ -906,6 +906,7 @@ spec:
                               If not defined, it will fall back to `{{ .machine.name }}`.
                               The templating has the following data available:
                               * `.machine.name`: The name of the Machine object.
+                              * `.random`: random alphanumeric string, without vowels, of length 5
                               The templating also has the following funcs available:
                               * `trimSuffix`: same as strings.TrimSuffix
                               * `trunc`: truncates a string, e.g. `trunc 2 "hello"` or `trunc -2 "hello"`
diff --git a/pkg/services/vimmachine.go b/pkg/services/vimmachine.go
index 81236bcf4..025089477 100644
--- a/pkg/services/vimmachine.go
+++ b/pkg/services/vimmachine.go
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ import (
 	"sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/client"
 	ctrlutil "sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/controller/controllerutil"
 
+	utilrand "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/rand"
 	infrav1 "sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api-provider-vsphere/apis/v1beta1"
 	capvcontext "sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api-provider-vsphere/pkg/context"
 	infrautilv1 "sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api-provider-vsphere/pkg/util"
@@ -424,6 +425,7 @@ func generateVMObjectName(vimMachineCtx *capvcontext.VIMMachineContext, machineN
 
 const (
 	maxNameLength = 63
+	randomLength  = 5
 )
 
 // Note: Inlining these functions from sprig to avoid introducing a dependency.
@@ -456,6 +458,7 @@ func GenerateVSphereVMName(machineName string, namingStrategy *infrav1.VSphereVM
 			"name": machineName,
 		},
 	}
+	data["random"] = utilrand.String(randomLength)
 
 	tpl, err := nameTpl.Parse(nameTemplate)
 	if err != nil {