diff --git a/django/forms/forms.py b/django/forms/forms.py
index 509709f084..d1370de222 100644
--- a/django/forms/forms.py
+++ b/django/forms/forms.py
@@ -75,6 +75,7 @@ class BaseForm(object):
     # information. Any improvements to the form API should be made to *this*
     # class, not to the Form class.
     field_order = None
+    prefix = None
 
     def __init__(self, data=None, files=None, auto_id='id_%s', prefix=None,
                  initial=None, error_class=ErrorList, label_suffix=None,
@@ -83,7 +84,8 @@ class BaseForm(object):
         self.data = data or {}
         self.files = files or {}
         self.auto_id = auto_id
-        self.prefix = prefix
+        if prefix is not None:
+            self.prefix = prefix
         self.initial = initial or {}
         self.error_class = error_class
         # Translators: This is the default suffix added to form field labels
diff --git a/docs/ref/forms/api.txt b/docs/ref/forms/api.txt
index 3bc39cdc0f..008170d341 100644
--- a/docs/ref/forms/api.txt
+++ b/docs/ref/forms/api.txt
@@ -1065,3 +1065,13 @@ You can put several Django forms inside one ``<form>`` tag. To give each
     >>> print(father.as_ul())
     <li><label for="id_father-first_name">First name:</label> <input type="text" name="father-first_name" id="id_father-first_name" /></li>
     <li><label for="id_father-last_name">Last name:</label> <input type="text" name="father-last_name" id="id_father-last_name" /></li>
+
+The prefix can also be specified on the form class::
+
+    >>> class PersonForm(forms.Form):
+    ...     ...
+    ...     prefix = 'person'
+
+.. versionadded:: 1.9
+
+    The ability to specify ``prefix`` on the form class was added.
diff --git a/docs/releases/1.9.txt b/docs/releases/1.9.txt
index 5b58f79fc0..f9bb9decfc 100644
--- a/docs/releases/1.9.txt
+++ b/docs/releases/1.9.txt
@@ -161,6 +161,9 @@ Forms
   :attr:`~django.forms.Form.field_order` attribute, the ``field_order``
   constructor argument , or the :meth:`~django.forms.Form.order_fields` method.
 
+* A form prefix can be specified inside a form class, not only when
+  instantiating a form. See :ref:`form-prefix` for details.
+
 Generic Views
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
diff --git a/tests/forms_tests/tests/test_forms.py b/tests/forms_tests/tests/test_forms.py
index 690f205680..e07fae22d1 100644
--- a/tests/forms_tests/tests/test_forms.py
+++ b/tests/forms_tests/tests/test_forms.py
@@ -1671,6 +1671,18 @@ class FormsTestCase(SimpleTestCase):
         self.assertEqual(p.cleaned_data['last_name'], 'Lennon')
         self.assertEqual(p.cleaned_data['birthday'], datetime.date(1940, 10, 9))
 
+    def test_class_prefix(self):
+        # Prefix can be also specified at the class level.
+        class Person(Form):
+            first_name = CharField()
+            prefix = 'foo'
+
+        p = Person()
+        self.assertEqual(p.prefix, 'foo')
+
+        p = Person(prefix='bar')
+        self.assertEqual(p.prefix, 'bar')
+
     def test_forms_with_null_boolean(self):
         # NullBooleanField is a bit of a special case because its presentation (widget)
         # is different than its data. This is handled transparently, though.