diff --git a/docs/releases/1.29-NOTES.md b/docs/releases/1.29-NOTES.md
index af92e27ae74fd..8c06fccc778c5 100644
--- a/docs/releases/1.29-NOTES.md
+++ b/docs/releases/1.29-NOTES.md
@@ -12,6 +12,10 @@ This is a document to gather the release notes prior to the release.
 
 ## Openstack
 
+## DigitalOcean
+
+* Node names have changed from the droplet's private IP to the droplet hostname
+
 # Breaking changes
 
 ## Other breaking changes
diff --git a/upup/pkg/fi/nodeup/command.go b/upup/pkg/fi/nodeup/command.go
index 412a8f36341c0..e3c81118123bc 100644
--- a/upup/pkg/fi/nodeup/command.go
+++ b/upup/pkg/fi/nodeup/command.go
@@ -460,14 +460,14 @@ func evaluateHostnameOverride(cloudProvider api.CloudProviderID) (string, error)
 		bareHostname := strings.Split(fullyQualified, ".")[0]
 		return bareHostname, nil
 	case api.CloudProviderDO:
-		vBytes, err := vfs.Context.ReadFile("metadata://digitalocean/interfaces/private/0/ipv4/address")
+		vBytes, err := vfs.Context.ReadFile("metadata://digitalocean/hostname")
 		if err != nil {
-			return "", fmt.Errorf("error reading droplet private IP from DigitalOcean metadata: %v", err)
+			return "", fmt.Errorf("error reading droplet hostname from DigitalOcean metadata: %v", err)
 		}
 
 		hostname := string(vBytes)
 		if hostname == "" {
-			return "", errors.New("private IP for digitalocean droplet was empty")
+			return "", errors.New("hostname for digitalocean droplet was empty")
 		}
 
 		return hostname, nil