diff --git a/tools/perf/util/thread.c b/tools/perf/util/thread.c
index 3acd37f54888..7635928ca278 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/thread.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/thread.c
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ register_idle_thread(struct rb_root *threads, struct thread **last_match)
 {
 	struct thread *thread = threads__findnew(0, threads, last_match);
 
-	if (!thread || thread__set_comm(thread, "[idle]")) {
+	if (!thread || thread__set_comm(thread, "[init]")) {
 		fprintf(stderr, "problem inserting idle task.\n");
 		exit(-1);
 	}