diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 9167495cc..5490871ab 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -144,6 +144,15 @@ $ make test-database-up
 $ make test
 ```
 
+By default the container name is `boundary-sql-tests`.
+This can be changed in the same way as the port:
+
+```
+$ export TEST_CONTAINER_NAME="custom-name"
+$ make test-database-up
+$ docker logs custom-name
+```
+
 The default docker image is built using the `postgres:11` base image.
 The image can be changed using a make option to test against other versions:
 
diff --git a/internal/db/sqltest/Makefile b/internal/db/sqltest/Makefile
index 04731bb21..a05dadd79 100644
--- a/internal/db/sqltest/Makefile
+++ b/internal/db/sqltest/Makefile
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ POSTGRES_DOCKER_IMAGE := $(POSTGRES_DOCKER_IMAGE_BASE):$(PG_DOCKER_TAG)
 PG_TAP_DOCKER_IMAGE_BASE ?= subzerocloud/pgtap
 PG_TAP_DOCKER_IMAGE := $(PG_TAP_DOCKER_IMAGE_BASE):$(PG_TAP_DOCKER_TAG)
 
+SQL_TEST_CONTAINER_NAME ?= boundary-sql-tests
+
 
 # re-write paths for docker
 dockerized_tests = $(patsubst tests/%,/test/%,$(TESTS))
@@ -29,7 +31,7 @@ test:
 	@echo Using $(POSTGRES_DOCKER_IMAGE)
 	@echo Using $(PG_TAP_DOCKER_IMAGE)
 	@docker run -d \
-		--name boundary-sql-tests \
+		--name $(SQL_TEST_CONTAINER_NAME) \
 		-e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=boundary \
 		-e POSTGRES_USER=boundary \
 		-e POSTGRES_DB=boundary \
@@ -38,7 +40,7 @@ test:
 		$(POSTGRES_DOCKER_IMAGE)
 	@docker run -it --rm \
 		--name test \
-		--link boundary-sql-tests:db \
+		--link $(SQL_TEST_CONTAINER_NAME):db \
 		-e DATABASE=boundary \
 		-e HOST=db \
 		-e PORT=5432 \
@@ -47,12 +49,12 @@ test:
 		-e TESTS="$(PROVE_OPTS) $(dockerized_tests)" \
 		-v "$(CWD)/tests":/test \
 		$(PG_TAP_DOCKER_IMAGE); \
-		(ret=$$?; docker stop boundary-sql-tests &>/dev/null && docker rm -v boundary-sql-tests &>/dev/null && exit $$ret)
+		(ret=$$?; docker stop $(SQL_TEST_CONTAINER_NAME) &>/dev/null && docker rm -v $(SQL_TEST_CONTAINER_NAME) &>/dev/null && exit $$ret)
 
 database-up:
 	@echo Using $(POSTGRES_DOCKER_IMAGE)
 	@docker run -d \
-		--name boundary-sql-tests \
+		--name $(SQL_TEST_CONTAINER_NAME) \
 		-e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=boundary \
 		-e POSTGRES_USER=boundary \
 		-e POSTGRES_DB=boundary \
@@ -64,7 +66,7 @@ run-tests:
 	@echo Using $(PG_TAP_DOCKER_IMAGE)
 	@docker run -it --rm \
 		--name test \
-		--link boundary-sql-tests:db \
+		--link $(SQL_TEST_CONTAINER_NAME):db \
 		-e DATABASE=boundary \
 		-e HOST=db \
 		-e PORT=5432 \
@@ -75,7 +77,7 @@ run-tests:
 		$(PG_TAP_DOCKER_IMAGE)
 
 clean:
-	docker stop boundary-sql-tests || true
-	docker rm -v boundary-sql-tests || true
+	docker stop $(SQL_TEST_CONTAINER_NAME) || true
+	docker rm -v $(SQL_TEST_CONTAINER_NAME) || true
 
 .PHONY: all clean test database-up run-tests
diff --git a/testing/dbtest/docker/Makefile b/testing/dbtest/docker/Makefile
index 93734b9f0..0d4ff3d99 100644
--- a/testing/dbtest/docker/Makefile
+++ b/testing/dbtest/docker/Makefile
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ IMAGE_NAME=postgres
 IMAGE_TAG ?= $(REGISTRY_NAME)/$(IMAGE_NAME):11-alpine
 PG_OPTS ?=
 TEST_DB_PORT ?= 5432
+TEST_CONTAINER_NAME ?= boundary-sql-tests
 
 # Generate targets from dockerfiles
 dockerfiles = $(wildcard Dockerfile.*)
@@ -29,7 +30,7 @@ database-up:
 	@echo "Additional postgres configuration: $(PG_OPTS)"
 	@docker run \
 		$(DOCKER_ARGS) \
-		--name boundary-sql-tests \
+		--name $(TEST_CONTAINER_NAME) \
 		-p $(TEST_DB_PORT):5432 \
 		-e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=boundary \
 		-e POSTGRES_USER=boundary \
@@ -40,11 +41,12 @@ database-up:
 		$(IMAGE_TAG) \
 		-c 'config_file=/etc/postgresql/postgresql.conf' \
 		$(PG_OPTS) 1> /dev/null
+	@echo "Container name:                    $(TEST_CONTAINER_NAME)"
 	@echo "Test database available at:        127.0.0.1:$(TEST_DB_PORT)"
 	@echo "For database logs run:"
-	@echo "    docker logs boundary-sql-tests"
+	@echo "    docker logs $(TEST_CONTAINER_NAME)"
 clean:
-	docker stop boundary-sql-tests || true
-	docker rm -v boundary-sql-tests || true
+	docker stop $(TEST_CONTAINER_NAME) || true
+	docker rm -v $(TEST_CONTAINER_NAME) || true
 
 .PHONY: all docker-build database-up ${docker-builds} ${docker-publishes} clean