diff --git a/contrib/variant/create_coreboot_variant.sh b/contrib/variant/create_coreboot_variant.sh
index 70231bc..e40e169 100755
--- a/contrib/variant/create_coreboot_variant.sh
+++ b/contrib/variant/create_coreboot_variant.sh
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 # Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style license that can be
 # found in the LICENSE file.
 
-VERSION="4.2.0"
+VERSION="4.3.1"
 SCRIPT="$(basename -- "$0")"
 set -e
 
@@ -52,6 +52,9 @@
 # Assign BUG= text, or "None" if that parameter wasn't specified.
 BUG="${4:-None}"
 
+# Assign the value for BRANCH= in the commit message, or use None if unspecified
+COMMIT_MSG_BRANCH="${NEW_VARIANT_BRANCH:-None}"
+
 # Get the directory where this script is located; it is also where
 # kconfig.py is located.
 pushd "${BASH_SOURCE%/*}"
@@ -130,14 +133,14 @@
 board by copying the template files to a new directory named for the
 variant." | fmt -w 70)
 
-git commit -sm "${BASE}: Create ${VARIANT} variant
+git commit -sm "mb/google/${BASE}: Create ${VARIANT} variant
 
 ${MSG}
 
 (Auto-Generated by ${SCRIPT} version ${VERSION}).
 
 BUG=${BUG}
-BRANCH=None
+BRANCH=${COMMIT_MSG_BRANCH}
 TEST=util/abuild/abuild -p none -t google/${BASE} -x -a
 make sure the build includes GOOGLE_${VARIANT_UPPER}"
 # TODO(b/149702214): verify that it builds correctly
diff --git a/contrib/variant/create_initial_ec_image.sh b/contrib/variant/create_initial_ec_image.sh
index 964d22b..7277b45 100755
--- a/contrib/variant/create_initial_ec_image.sh
+++ b/contrib/variant/create_initial_ec_image.sh
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 # Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style license that can be
 # found in the LICENSE file.
 
-VERSION="1.2.0"
+VERSION="1.3.0"
 SCRIPT=$(basename -- "${0}")
 set -e
 
@@ -34,6 +34,9 @@
 # Assign BUG= text, or "None" if that parameter wasn't specified.
 BUG=${3:-None}
 
+# Assign the value for BRANCH= in the commit message, or use None if unspecified
+COMMIT_MSG_BRANCH="${NEW_VARIANT_BRANCH:-None}"
+
 # All of the necessary files are in platform/ec/board
 cd "${HOME}/trunk/src/platform/ec/board"
 
@@ -97,7 +100,7 @@
 (Auto-Generated by ${SCRIPT} version ${VERSION}).
 
 BUG=${BUG}
-BRANCH=none
+BRANCH=${COMMIT_MSG_BRANCH}
 TEST=make BOARD=${VARIANT}"
 
 check_standalone "$(pwd)" "${BRANCH}"
diff --git a/contrib/variant/new_variant.py b/contrib/variant/new_variant.py
index 5092164..8553027 100755
--- a/contrib/variant/new_variant.py
+++ b/contrib/variant/new_variant.py
@@ -66,12 +66,12 @@
     * --continue
     * --board=BOARD --variant=VARIANT [--bug=BUG]
     """
-    board, variant, bug, continue_flag, abort_flag = get_args()
+    board, variant, bug, branch, continue_flag, abort_flag = get_args()
 
     if not check_flags(board, variant, bug, continue_flag, abort_flag):
         return False
 
-    status = get_status(board, variant, bug, continue_flag, abort_flag)
+    status = get_status(board, variant, bug, branch, continue_flag, abort_flag)
     if status is None:
         return False
 
@@ -118,6 +118,8 @@
         '--variant', type=str, help='Name of the new variant to create')
     parser.add_argument(
         '--bug', type=str, help='Bug number to reference in commits')
+    parser.add_argument(
+        '--branch', type=str, help='Value for BRANCH= in commit messages')
     # Use a group so that we can enforce mutually-exclusive arguments.
     # argparse does not support nesting groups, so we can't put board,
     # variant, and bug into a group and have that group as another mutually
@@ -148,8 +150,9 @@
         variant = variant.lower()
 
     bug = args.bug or 'None'
+    branch = args.branch or 'None'
 
-    return (board, variant, bug, args.continue_flag, args.abort_flag)
+    return (board, variant, bug, branch, args.continue_flag, args.abort_flag)
 
 
 def check_flags(board, variant, bug, continue_flag, abort_flag):
@@ -193,7 +196,7 @@
     return True
 
 
-def get_status(board, variant, bug, continue_flag, abort_flag):
+def get_status(board, variant, bug, branch, continue_flag, abort_flag):
     """Create the status file or get the previous status
 
     This program can stop at several places as we have to wait for CLs
@@ -263,6 +266,9 @@
     * bug - optional text for a bug ID, used in the git commit messages.
         Could be 'None' (as text, not the python None), or something like
         'b:12345' for buganizer, or 'chromium:12345'
+    * branch - optional text for a BRANCH= value in the commit message for
+        repos that use the BRANCH field (coreboot and EC). If not specified,
+        then None.
     * step - internal state tracking, what step of the variant creation
         we are at.
     * yaml_file - internal, just the name of the file where all this data
@@ -295,6 +301,7 @@
         board: Name of the reference board
         variant: Name of the variant being created
         bug: Text for bug number, if any ('None' otherwise)
+        branch: Text for a BRANCH= value in the commit message (or 'None')
         continue_flag: Flag if --continue was specified
         abort_flag: Flag if --abort was specified
 
@@ -328,6 +335,7 @@
     status.board = board
     status.variant = variant
     status.bug = bug
+    status.branch = branch
 
     # Load the appropriate module and copy all the data from it.
     try:
@@ -695,7 +703,8 @@
     """
     logging.info('Running step create_coreboot_variant')
     cb_src_dir = os.path.join('/mnt/host/source/src/', status.coreboot_dir)
-    environ = {**os.environ, 'CB_SRC_DIR': cb_src_dir}
+    environ = {**os.environ, 'CB_SRC_DIR': cb_src_dir,
+               'NEW_VARIANT_BRANCH': status.branch}
     create_coreboot_variant_sh = os.path.join(status.my_loc,
         'create_coreboot_variant.sh')
     rc = run_process(
@@ -913,13 +922,14 @@
         True if the script and test build succeeded, False if something failed
     """
     logging.info('Running step create_initial_ec_image')
+    environ = {**os.environ, 'NEW_VARIANT_BRANCH': status.branch}
     create_initial_ec_image_sh = os.path.join(status.my_loc,
         'create_initial_ec_image.sh')
     if not run_process(
         [create_initial_ec_image_sh,
         status.board,
         status.variant,
-        status.bug]):
+        status.bug], env=environ):
         return False
 
     # No need to `if rc:` because we already tested the run_process result above