diff --git a/hw/intc/xics_kvm.c b/hw/intc/xics_kvm.c
index c7f8f5edd2..534515143e 100644
--- a/hw/intc/xics_kvm.c
+++ b/hw/intc/xics_kvm.c
@@ -331,7 +331,7 @@ void ics_kvm_set_irq(ICSState *ics, int srcno, int val)
     }
 }
 
-int xics_kvm_init(SpaprMachineState *spapr, Error **errp)
+int xics_kvm_connect(SpaprMachineState *spapr, Error **errp)
 {
     int rc;
     CPUState *cs;
diff --git a/hw/ppc/spapr_irq.c b/hw/ppc/spapr_irq.c
index 75654fc67a..b2b01e850d 100644
--- a/hw/ppc/spapr_irq.c
+++ b/hw/ppc/spapr_irq.c
@@ -243,7 +243,7 @@ static void spapr_irq_init_emu_xics(SpaprMachineState *spapr, Error **errp)
 static void spapr_irq_init_kvm_xics(SpaprMachineState *spapr, Error **errp)
 {
     if (kvm_enabled()) {
-        xics_kvm_init(spapr, errp);
+        xics_kvm_connect(spapr, errp);
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/include/hw/ppc/xics_spapr.h b/include/hw/ppc/xics_spapr.h
index 3304481262..5dabc9a138 100644
--- a/include/hw/ppc/xics_spapr.h
+++ b/include/hw/ppc/xics_spapr.h
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@
 
 void spapr_dt_xics(SpaprMachineState *spapr, uint32_t nr_servers, void *fdt,
                    uint32_t phandle);
-int xics_kvm_init(SpaprMachineState *spapr, Error **errp);
+int xics_kvm_connect(SpaprMachineState *spapr, Error **errp);
 void xics_kvm_disconnect(SpaprMachineState *spapr, Error **errp);
 bool xics_kvm_has_broken_disconnect(SpaprMachineState *spapr);
 void xics_spapr_init(SpaprMachineState *spapr);