diff --git a/IPython/core/pylabtools.py b/IPython/core/pylabtools.py
index 70f993b..682617d 100644
--- a/IPython/core/pylabtools.py
+++ b/IPython/core/pylabtools.py
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ backends = {'tk': 'TkAgg',
             'qt4': 'Qt4Agg',
             'qt5': 'Qt5Agg',
             'osx': 'MacOSX',
+            'nbagg': 'nbAgg',
             'inline' : 'module://IPython.kernel.zmq.pylab.backend_inline'}
 
 # We also need a reverse backends2guis mapping that will properly choose which
diff --git a/IPython/kernel/zmq/eventloops.py b/IPython/kernel/zmq/eventloops.py
index dccd9c3..f2a90cd 100644
--- a/IPython/kernel/zmq/eventloops.py
+++ b/IPython/kernel/zmq/eventloops.py
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ def _notify_stream_qt(kernel, stream):
 # mapping of keys to loop functions
 loop_map = {
     'inline': None,
+    'nbagg': None,
     None : None,
 }