diff --git a/tools/lib/bpf/bpf.c b/tools/lib/bpf/bpf.c
index 60aa4ca8b2c51b9c905c8b2ce1ed6329534711d4..7a0014794bff72c63ea5c896f5f466ce35705030 100644
--- a/tools/lib/bpf/bpf.c
+++ b/tools/lib/bpf/bpf.c
@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ int bpf_create_map_xattr(const struct bpf_create_map_attr *create_attr)
 {
 	__u32 name_len = create_attr->name ? strlen(create_attr->name) : 0;
 	union bpf_attr attr;
+	int ret;
 
 	memset(&attr, '\0', sizeof(attr));
 
@@ -94,7 +95,15 @@ int bpf_create_map_xattr(const struct bpf_create_map_attr *create_attr)
 	attr.map_ifindex = create_attr->map_ifindex;
 	attr.inner_map_fd = create_attr->inner_map_fd;
 
-	return sys_bpf(BPF_MAP_CREATE, &attr, sizeof(attr));
+	ret = sys_bpf(BPF_MAP_CREATE, &attr, sizeof(attr));
+	if (ret < 0 && errno == EINVAL && create_attr->name) {
+		/* Retry the same syscall, but without the name.
+		 * Pre v4.14 kernels don't support map names.
+		 */
+		memset(attr.map_name, 0, sizeof(attr.map_name));
+		return sys_bpf(BPF_MAP_CREATE, &attr, sizeof(attr));
+	}
+	return ret;
 }
 
 int bpf_create_map_node(enum bpf_map_type map_type, const char *name,