diff --git a/tools/gce/create_linux_worker.sh b/tools/gce/create_linux_worker.sh
index 2a9e77ab1738d516b193860d84b503538213432d..399e3ec4e438283f211b9f5c348f18ed8bd7b2f0 100755
--- a/tools/gce/create_linux_worker.sh
+++ b/tools/gce/create_linux_worker.sh
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ cd $(dirname $0)
 CLOUD_PROJECT=grpc-testing
 ZONE=us-central1-a
 
-INSTANCE_NAME=grpc-jenkins-worker1
+INSTANCE_NAME="${1:-grpc-jenkins-worker1}"
 
 gcloud compute instances create $INSTANCE_NAME \
     --project="$CLOUD_PROJECT" \