diff --git a/doc/guides/rel_notes/release_16_07.rst b/doc/guides/rel_notes/release_16_07.rst
index d3a144f..0740d4f 100644
--- a/doc/guides/rel_notes/release_16_07.rst
+++ b/doc/guides/rel_notes/release_16_07.rst
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ New Features
 
 * **Virtio support for containers.**
 
-  Add a new virtual device, named virtio-user, to support virtio for containers.
+  Add a new virtual device, named virtio_user, to support virtio for containers.
 
   Known limitations:
 
diff --git a/doc/guides/sample_app_ug/vhost.rst b/doc/guides/sample_app_ug/vhost.rst
index a93e54d..2b7defc 100644
--- a/doc/guides/sample_app_ug/vhost.rst
+++ b/doc/guides/sample_app_ug/vhost.rst
@@ -834,19 +834,19 @@ The above message indicates that device 0 has been registered with MAC address c
 Any packets received on the NIC with these values is placed on the devices receive queue.
 When a virtio-net device transmits packets, the VLAN tag is added to the packet by the DPDK vhost sample code.
 
-Running virtio-user with vhost-switch
+Running virtio_user with vhost-switch
 -------------------------------------
 
-We can also use virtio-user with vhost-switch now.
-Virtio-user is a virtual device that can be run in a application (container) parallelly with vhost in the same OS,
+We can also use virtio_user with vhost-switch now.
+Virtio_user is a virtual device that can be run in a application (container) parallelly with vhost in the same OS,
 aka, there is no need to start a VM. We just run it with a different --file-prefix to avoid startup failure.
 
 .. code-block:: console
 
     cd ${RTE_SDK}/x86_64-native-linuxapp-gcc/app
-    ./testpmd -c 0x3 -n 4 --socket-mem 1024 --no-pci --file-prefix=virtio-user-testpmd \
-    --vdev=virtio-user0,mac=00:01:02:03:04:05,path=$path_vhost \
+    ./testpmd -c 0x3 -n 4 --socket-mem 1024 --no-pci --file-prefix=virtio_user-testpmd \
+    --vdev=virtio_user0,mac=00:01:02:03:04:05,path=$path_vhost \
     -- -i --txqflags=0xf01 --disable-hw-vlan
 
 There is no difference on the vhost side.
-Pleae note that there are some limitations (see release note for more information) in the usage of virtio-user.
+Pleae note that there are some limitations (see release note for more information) in the usage of virtio_user.
diff --git a/drivers/net/virtio/virtio_ethdev.c b/drivers/net/virtio/virtio_ethdev.c
index 850e3ba..c1ff2ac 100644
--- a/drivers/net/virtio/virtio_ethdev.c
+++ b/drivers/net/virtio/virtio_ethdev.c
@@ -452,7 +452,7 @@ int virtio_dev_queue_setup(struct rte_eth_dev *dev,
 		*pvq = cvq;
 	}
 
-	/* For virtio-user case (that is when dev->pci_dev is NULL), we use
+	/* For virtio_user case (that is when dev->pci_dev is NULL), we use
 	 * virtual address. And we need properly set _offset_, please see
 	 * MBUF_DATA_DMA_ADDR in virtqueue.h for more information.
 	 */
@@ -1541,7 +1541,7 @@ virtio_dev_info_get(struct rte_eth_dev *dev, struct rte_eth_dev_info *dev_info)
 	if (dev->pci_dev)
 		dev_info->driver_name = dev->driver->pci_drv.name;
 	else
-		dev_info->driver_name = "virtio-user PMD";
+		dev_info->driver_name = "virtio_user PMD";
 	dev_info->max_rx_queues = (uint16_t)hw->max_rx_queues;
 	dev_info->max_tx_queues = (uint16_t)hw->max_tx_queues;
 	dev_info->min_rx_bufsize = VIRTIO_MIN_RX_BUFSIZE;
diff --git a/drivers/net/virtio/virtio_user_ethdev.c b/drivers/net/virtio/virtio_user_ethdev.c
index 6b4f66e..daef09b 100644
--- a/drivers/net/virtio/virtio_user_ethdev.c
+++ b/drivers/net/virtio/virtio_user_ethdev.c
@@ -331,7 +331,7 @@ virtio_user_pmd_devinit(const char *name, const char *params)
 	int ret = -1;
 
 	if (!params || params[0] == '\0') {
-		PMD_INIT_LOG(ERR, "arg %s is mandatory for virtio-user",
+		PMD_INIT_LOG(ERR, "arg %s is mandatory for virtio_user",
 			  VIRTIO_USER_ARG_QUEUE_SIZE);
 		goto end;
 	}
@@ -351,7 +351,7 @@ virtio_user_pmd_devinit(const char *name, const char *params)
 			goto end;
 		}
 	} else {
-		PMD_INIT_LOG(ERR, "arg %s is mandatory for virtio-user\n",
+		PMD_INIT_LOG(ERR, "arg %s is mandatory for virtio_user\n",
 			  VIRTIO_USER_ARG_QUEUE_SIZE);
 		goto end;
 	}
@@ -405,7 +405,7 @@ virtio_user_pmd_devinit(const char *name, const char *params)
 
 	eth_dev = virtio_user_eth_dev_alloc(name);
 	if (!eth_dev) {
-		PMD_INIT_LOG(ERR, "virtio-user fails to alloc device");
+		PMD_INIT_LOG(ERR, "virtio_user fails to alloc device");
 		goto end;
 	}
 
diff --git a/drivers/net/virtio/virtqueue.h b/drivers/net/virtio/virtqueue.h
index 455aaaf..db409d6 100644
--- a/drivers/net/virtio/virtqueue.h
+++ b/drivers/net/virtio/virtqueue.h
@@ -183,7 +183,7 @@ struct virtqueue {
 	unsigned int vq_ring_size;
 
 	phys_addr_t vq_ring_mem; /**< physical address of vring */
-				/**< use virtual address for virtio-user. */
+				/**< use virtual address for virtio_user. */
 
 	/**
 	 * Head of the free chain in the descriptor table. If
