diff --git a/hw/core/register.c b/hw/core/register.c
index f7f63389d2..c7d71037e3 100644
--- a/hw/core/register.c
+++ b/hw/core/register.c
@@ -159,6 +159,17 @@ void register_reset(RegisterInfo *reg)
     register_write_val(reg, reg->access->reset);
 }
 
+void register_init(RegisterInfo *reg)
+{
+    assert(reg);
+
+    if (!reg->data || !reg->access) {
+        return;
+    }
+
+    object_initialize((void *)reg, sizeof(*reg), TYPE_REGISTER);
+}
+
 void register_write_memory(void *opaque, hwaddr addr,
                            uint64_t value, unsigned size)
 {
@@ -217,3 +228,15 @@ uint64_t register_read_memory(void *opaque, hwaddr addr,
 
     return extract64(read_val, 0, size * 8);
 }
+
+static const TypeInfo register_info = {
+    .name  = TYPE_REGISTER,
+    .parent = TYPE_DEVICE,
+};
+
+static void register_register_types(void)
+{
+    type_register_static(&register_info);
+}
+
+type_init(register_register_types)
diff --git a/include/hw/register.h b/include/hw/register.h
index e8c58a1dbb..61c53fbf0a 100644
--- a/include/hw/register.h
+++ b/include/hw/register.h
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 #ifndef REGISTER_H
 #define REGISTER_H
 
+#include "hw/qdev-core.h"
 #include "exec/memory.h"
 
 typedef struct RegisterInfo RegisterInfo;
@@ -72,6 +73,9 @@ struct RegisterAccessInfo {
  */
 
 struct RegisterInfo {
+    /* <private> */
+    DeviceState parent_obj;
+
     /* <public> */
     void *data;
     int data_size;
@@ -81,6 +85,9 @@ struct RegisterInfo {
     void *opaque;
 };
 
+#define TYPE_REGISTER "qemu,register"
+#define REGISTER(obj) OBJECT_CHECK(RegisterInfo, (obj), TYPE_REGISTER)
+
 /**
  * This structure is used to group all of the individual registers which are
  * modeled using the RegisterInfo structure.
@@ -131,6 +138,13 @@ uint64_t register_read(RegisterInfo *reg, uint64_t re, const char* prefix,
 
 void register_reset(RegisterInfo *reg);
 
+/**
+ * Initialize a register.
+ * @reg: Register to initialize
+ */
+
+void register_init(RegisterInfo *reg);
+
 /**
  * Memory API MMIO write handler that will write to a Register API register.
  * @opaque: RegisterInfo to write to