diff --git a/python/core/qgsvectorlayerutils.sip b/python/core/qgsvectorlayerutils.sip
index f5a9e5da674..0c61f30a46f 100644
--- a/python/core/qgsvectorlayerutils.sip
+++ b/python/core/qgsvectorlayerutils.sip
@@ -16,9 +16,17 @@ class QgsVectorLayerUtils
      * Returns true if the specified value already exists within a field. This method can be used to test for uniqueness
      * of values inside a layer's attributes. An optional list of ignored feature IDs can be provided, if so, any features
      * with IDs within this list are ignored when testing for existance of the value.
+     * @see createUniqueValue()
      */
     static bool valueExists( const QgsVectorLayer* layer, int fieldIndex, const QVariant& value, const QgsFeatureIds& ignoreIds = QgsFeatureIds() );
 
+    /**
+     * Returns a new attribute value for the specified field index which is guaranteed to be unique. The optional seed
+     * value can be used as a basis for generated values.
+     * @see valueExists()
+     */
+    static QVariant createUniqueValue( const QgsVectorLayer* layer, int fieldIndex, const QVariant& seed = QVariant() );
+
     /**
      * Tests an attribute value to check whether it passes all constraints which are present on the corresponding field.
      * Returns true if the attribute value is valid for the field. Any constraint failures will be reported in the errors argument.
diff --git a/src/core/qgsvectorlayerutils.cpp b/src/core/qgsvectorlayerutils.cpp
index 0ae2ab27e1c..d5845e97eae 100644
--- a/src/core/qgsvectorlayerutils.cpp
+++ b/src/core/qgsvectorlayerutils.cpp
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 
 #include "qgsvectorlayerutils.h"
 #include "qgsvectordataprovider.h"
+#include <QRegularExpression>
 
 bool QgsVectorLayerUtils::valueExists( const QgsVectorLayer* layer, int fieldIndex, const QVariant& value, const QgsFeatureIds& ignoreIds )
 {
@@ -65,6 +66,86 @@ bool QgsVectorLayerUtils::valueExists( const QgsVectorLayer* layer, int fieldInd
   return false;
 }
 
+QVariant QgsVectorLayerUtils::createUniqueValue( const QgsVectorLayer* layer, int fieldIndex, const QVariant& seed )
+{
+  if ( !layer )
+    return QVariant();
+
+  QgsFields fields = layer->fields();
+
+  if ( fieldIndex < 0 || fieldIndex >= fields.count() )
+    return QVariant();
+
+  QgsField field = fields.at( fieldIndex );
+
+  if ( field.isNumeric() )
+  {
+    QVariant maxVal = layer->maximumValue( fieldIndex );
+    QVariant newVar( maxVal.toLongLong() + 1 );
+    if ( field.convertCompatible( newVar ) )
+      return newVar;
+    else
+      return QVariant();
+  }
+  else
+  {
+    switch ( field.type() )
+    {
+      case QVariant::String:
+      {
+        QString base;
+        if ( seed.isValid() )
+          base = seed.toString();
+
+        if ( !base.isEmpty() )
+        {
+          // strip any existing _1, _2 from the seed
+          QRegularExpression rx( "(.*)_\\d+" );
+          QRegularExpressionMatch match = rx.match( base );
+          if ( match.hasMatch() )
+          {
+            base = match.captured( 1 );
+          }
+        }
+        else
+        {
+          // no base seed - fetch first value from layer
+          QgsFeatureRequest req;
+          req.setLimit( 1 );
+          req.setSubsetOfAttributes( QgsAttributeList() << fieldIndex );
+          req.setFlags( QgsFeatureRequest::NoGeometry );
+          QgsFeature f;
+          layer->getFeatures( req ).nextFeature( f );
+          base = f.attribute( fieldIndex ).toString();
+        }
+
+        // try variants like base_1, base_2, etc until a new value found
+        QStringList vals = layer->uniqueStringsMatching( fieldIndex, base );
+
+        // might already be unique
+        if ( !base.isEmpty() && !vals.contains( base ) )
+          return base;
+
+        for ( int i = 1; i < 10000; ++i )
+        {
+          QString testVal = base + '_' + QString::number( i );
+          if ( !vals.contains( testVal ) )
+            return testVal;
+        }
+
+        // failed
+        return QVariant();
+      }
+
+      default:
+        // todo other types - dates? times?
+        return QVariant();
+    }
+  }
+
+  return QVariant();
+}
+
 bool QgsVectorLayerUtils::validateAttribute( const QgsVectorLayer* layer, const QgsFeature& feature, int attributeIndex, QStringList& errors,
     QgsFieldConstraints::ConstraintStrength strength, QgsFieldConstraints::ConstraintOrigin origin )
 {
diff --git a/src/core/qgsvectorlayerutils.h b/src/core/qgsvectorlayerutils.h
index 5d2ae5984f6..9235de34042 100644
--- a/src/core/qgsvectorlayerutils.h
+++ b/src/core/qgsvectorlayerutils.h
@@ -33,9 +33,17 @@ class CORE_EXPORT QgsVectorLayerUtils
      * Returns true if the specified value already exists within a field. This method can be used to test for uniqueness
      * of values inside a layer's attributes. An optional list of ignored feature IDs can be provided, if so, any features
      * with IDs within this list are ignored when testing for existance of the value.
+     * @see createUniqueValue()
      */
     static bool valueExists( const QgsVectorLayer* layer, int fieldIndex, const QVariant& value, const QgsFeatureIds& ignoreIds = QgsFeatureIds() );
 
+    /**
+     * Returns a new attribute value for the specified field index which is guaranteed to be unique. The optional seed
+     * value can be used as a basis for generated values.
+     * @see valueExists()
+     */
+    static QVariant createUniqueValue( const QgsVectorLayer* layer, int fieldIndex, const QVariant& seed = QVariant() );
+
     /**
      * Tests an attribute value to check whether it passes all constraints which are present on the corresponding field.
      * Returns true if the attribute value is valid for the field. Any constraint failures will be reported in the errors argument.
@@ -45,6 +53,7 @@ class CORE_EXPORT QgsVectorLayerUtils
                                    QgsFieldConstraints::ConstraintStrength strength = QgsFieldConstraints::ConstraintStrengthNotSet,
                                    QgsFieldConstraints::ConstraintOrigin origin = QgsFieldConstraints::ConstraintOriginNotSet );
 
+
 };
 
 #endif // QGSVECTORLAYERUTILS_H
diff --git a/tests/src/python/test_qgsvectorlayerutils.py b/tests/src/python/test_qgsvectorlayerutils.py
index 787bbc5e646..c94154c0a23 100644
--- a/tests/src/python/test_qgsvectorlayerutils.py
+++ b/tests/src/python/test_qgsvectorlayerutils.py
@@ -178,6 +178,38 @@ class TestQgsVectorLayerUtils(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(len(errors), 2)
         print(errors)
 
+    def testCreateUniqueValue(self):
+        """ test creating a unique value """
+        layer = QgsVectorLayer("Point?field=fldtxt:string&field=fldint:integer&field=flddbl:double",
+                               "addfeat", "memory")
+        # add a bunch of features
+        f = QgsFeature()
+        f.setAttributes(["test", 123, 1.0])
+        f1 = QgsFeature(2)
+        f1.setAttributes(["test_1", 124, 1.1])
+        f2 = QgsFeature(3)
+        f2.setAttributes(["test_2", 125, 2.4])
+        f3 = QgsFeature(4)
+        f3.setAttributes(["test_3", 126, 1.7])
+        f4 = QgsFeature(5)
+        f4.setAttributes(["superpig", 127, 0.8])
+        self.assertTrue(layer.dataProvider().addFeatures([f, f1, f2, f3, f4]))
+
+        # bad field indices
+        self.assertFalse(QgsVectorLayerUtils.createUniqueValue(layer, -10))
+        self.assertFalse(QgsVectorLayerUtils.createUniqueValue(layer, 10))
+
+        # integer field
+        self.assertEqual(QgsVectorLayerUtils.createUniqueValue(layer, 1), 128)
+
+        # double field
+        self.assertEqual(QgsVectorLayerUtils.createUniqueValue(layer, 2), 3.0)
+
+        # string field
+        self.assertEqual(QgsVectorLayerUtils.createUniqueValue(layer, 0), 'test_4')
+        self.assertEqual(QgsVectorLayerUtils.createUniqueValue(layer, 0, 'test_1'), 'test_4')
+        self.assertEqual(QgsVectorLayerUtils.createUniqueValue(layer, 0, 'seed'), 'seed')
+        self.assertEqual(QgsVectorLayerUtils.createUniqueValue(layer, 0, 'superpig'), 'superpig_1')
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     unittest.main()