diff --git a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/SymbolTable.h b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/SymbolTable.h
--- a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/SymbolTable.h
+++ b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/SymbolTable.h
@@ -49,8 +49,9 @@
   /// Insert a new symbol into the table, and rename it as necessary to avoid
   /// collisions. Also insert at the specified location in the body of the
   /// associated operation if it is not already there. It is asserted that the
-  /// symbol is not inside another operation.
-  void insert(Operation *symbol, Block::iterator insertPt = {});
+  /// symbol is not inside another operation. Return the name of the symbol
+  /// after insertion as attribute.
+  StringAttr insert(Operation *symbol, Block::iterator insertPt = {});
 
   /// Return the name of the attribute used for symbol names.
   static StringRef getSymbolAttrName() { return "sym_name"; }
diff --git a/mlir/lib/IR/SymbolTable.cpp b/mlir/lib/IR/SymbolTable.cpp
--- a/mlir/lib/IR/SymbolTable.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/IR/SymbolTable.cpp
@@ -151,8 +151,9 @@
 
 // TODO: Consider if this should be renamed to something like insertOrUpdate
 /// Insert a new symbol into the table and associated operation if not already
-/// there and rename it as necessary to avoid collisions.
-void SymbolTable::insert(Operation *symbol, Block::iterator insertPt) {
+/// there and rename it as necessary to avoid collisions. Return the name of
+/// the symbol after insertion as attribute.
+StringAttr SymbolTable::insert(Operation *symbol, Block::iterator insertPt) {
   // The symbol cannot be the child of another op and must be the child of the
   // symbolTableOp after this.
   //
@@ -180,10 +181,10 @@
   // detected.
   StringAttr name = getSymbolName(symbol);
   if (symbolTable.insert({name, symbol}).second)
-    return;
+    return name;
   // If the symbol was already in the table, also return.
   if (symbolTable.lookup(name) == symbol)
-    return;
+    return name;
   // If a conflict was detected, then the symbol will not have been added to
   // the symbol table. Try suffixes until we get to a unique name that works.
   SmallString<128> nameBuffer(name.getValue());
@@ -199,6 +200,7 @@
   } while (!symbolTable.insert({StringAttr::get(context, nameBuffer), symbol})
                 .second);
   setSymbolName(symbol, nameBuffer);
+  return getSymbolName(symbol);
 }
 
 /// Returns the name of the given symbol operation.