diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index a766caf0f0..0f26c493b7 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -3271,7 +3271,7 @@ if test X"$want_nghttp3" != Xno; then
           CURL_LIBRARY_PATH="$CURL_LIBRARY_PATH:$DIR_NGHTTP3"
           export CURL_LIBRARY_PATH
           AC_MSG_NOTICE([Added $DIR_NGHTTP3 to CURL_LIBRARY_PATH])
-          LIBCURL_PC_REQUIRES_PRIVATE="$LIBCURL_PC_REQUIRES_PRIVATE nghttp3"
+          LIBCURL_PC_REQUIRES_PRIVATE="$LIBCURL_PC_REQUIRES_PRIVATE libnghttp3"
        )
       ],
         dnl not found, revert back to clean variables