diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
index ff75bbd2fd4..a4213aa9e46 100644
--- a/.gitattributes
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -1784,6 +1784,7 @@ Maintenance/release_building/BUGFIX_NUMBER -text
 Maintenance/release_building/MAJOR_NUMBER -text
 Maintenance/release_building/MINOR_NUMBER -text
 Maintenance/release_building/global_dont_submit -text
+Maintenance/release_building/public_release_name -text
 Maintenance/rpm/SOURCES/CGAL-README.Fedora svneol=native#text/plain
 Maintenance/rpm/SOURCES/CGAL-build-library.dpatch svneol=native#text/x-diff
 Maintenance/rpm/SOURCES/CGAL-install_cgal-SUPPORT_REQUIRED.patch svneol=native#text/x-diff
diff --git a/Maintenance/release_building/public_release_name b/Maintenance/release_building/public_release_name
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..886541cec8d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Maintenance/release_building/public_release_name
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+CGAL-3.7-alpha1