diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index fa8bf180..c126a9aa 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -172,7 +172,10 @@ if(WANT_PERL)
 endif()
 if (WANT_PYTHON)
 	find_package(Perl 5.10 REQUIRED)
-	pkg_check_modules(PYTHON "${WANT_PYTHON_VERSION}" REQUIRED)
+	pkg_check_modules(PYTHON "${WANT_PYTHON_VERSION}-embed")
+	if (NOT PYTHON_FOUND)
+		pkg_check_modules(PYTHON "${WANT_PYTHON_VERSION}" REQUIRED)
+	endif()
 endif()
 
 set(WANT_TCL false CACHE BOOL "Support Tcl modules")
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 7334c14c..40f07c02 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -570,7 +570,9 @@ if test "x$PYTHON" != "xno"; then
 	if test -z "$PKG_CONFIG"; then
 		AC_MSG_ERROR([pkg-config is required for modpython.])
 	fi
-	PKG_CHECK_MODULES([python], [$PYTHON >= 3.0],, AC_MSG_ERROR([$PYTHON.pc not found or is wrong. Try --disable-python or install python3.]))
+	PKG_CHECK_MODULES([python], [$PYTHON-embed >= 3.0],, [
+		PKG_CHECK_MODULES([python], [$PYTHON >= 3.0],, AC_MSG_ERROR([$PYTHON.pc not found or is wrong. Try --disable-python or install python3.]))
+	])
 	my_saved_LIBS="$LIBS"
 	my_saved_CXXFLAGS="$CXXFLAGS"
 	appendLib $python_LIBS