diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/loki/datasource.test.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/loki/datasource.test.ts
index dddd208d3a1..b7f67ffc0e7 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/loki/datasource.test.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/loki/datasource.test.ts
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ describe('LokiDatasource', () => {
 
     const range = { from: 'now-6h', to: 'now' };
 
-    test('should use default limit when no limit given', () => {
+    test('should use default max lines when no limit given', () => {
       const ds = new LokiDatasource(instanceSettings, backendSrvMock, templateSrvMock);
       backendSrvMock.datasourceRequest = jest.fn();
       ds.query({ range, targets: [{ expr: 'foo' }] });
@@ -23,8 +23,8 @@ describe('LokiDatasource', () => {
       expect(backendSrvMock.datasourceRequest.mock.calls[0][0].url).toContain('limit=1000');
     });
 
-    test('should use custom limit if set', () => {
-      const customData = { ...(instanceSettings.jsonData || {}), queryLimit: 20 };
+    test('should use custom max lines if limit is set', () => {
+      const customData = { ...(instanceSettings.jsonData || {}), maxLines: 20 };
       const customSettings = { ...instanceSettings, jsonData: customData };
       const ds = new LokiDatasource(customSettings, backendSrvMock, templateSrvMock);
       backendSrvMock.datasourceRequest = jest.fn();
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/loki/datasource.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/loki/datasource.ts
index 1ea10965737..eb33c7ef285 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/loki/datasource.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/loki/datasource.ts
@@ -9,11 +9,11 @@ import LanguageProvider from './language_provider';
 import { mergeStreamsToLogs } from './result_transformer';
 import { formatQuery, parseQuery } from './query_utils';
 
-export const DEFAULT_LIMIT = 1000;
+export const DEFAULT_MAX_LINES = 1000;
 
 const DEFAULT_QUERY_PARAMS = {
   direction: 'BACKWARD',
-  limit: DEFAULT_LIMIT,
+  limit: DEFAULT_MAX_LINES,
   regexp: '',
   query: '',
 };
@@ -29,13 +29,13 @@ function serializeParams(data: any) {
 
 export default class LokiDatasource {
   languageProvider: LanguageProvider;
-  queryLimit: number;
+  maxLines: number;
 
   /** @ngInject */
   constructor(private instanceSettings, private backendSrv, private templateSrv) {
     this.languageProvider = new LanguageProvider(this);
     const settingsData = instanceSettings.jsonData || {};
-    this.queryLimit = parseInt(settingsData.queryLimit, 10) || DEFAULT_LIMIT;
+    this.maxLines = parseInt(settingsData.maxLines, 10) || DEFAULT_MAX_LINES;
   }
 
   _request(apiUrl: string, data?, options?: any) {
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ export default class LokiDatasource {
   }
 
   mergeStreams(streams: LogsStream[], intervalMs: number): LogsModel {
-    const logs = mergeStreamsToLogs(streams, this.queryLimit);
+    const logs = mergeStreamsToLogs(streams, this.maxLines);
     logs.series = makeSeriesForLogs(logs.rows, intervalMs);
     return logs;
   }
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ export default class LokiDatasource {
       ...parseQuery(interpolated),
       start,
       end,
-      limit: this.queryLimit,
+      limit: this.maxLines,
     };
   }
 
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/loki/partials/config.html b/public/app/plugins/datasource/loki/partials/config.html
index f13b00314bb..d209b51730a 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/loki/partials/config.html
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/loki/partials/config.html
@@ -4,10 +4,10 @@
 <div class="gf-form-group">
   <div class="gf-form-inline">
     <div class="gf-form">
-      <span class="gf-form-label width-8">Line limit</span>
-      <input type="text" class="gf-form-input width-8" ng-model="ctrl.current.jsonData.queryLimit" spellcheck='false' placeholder="1000"></input>
+      <span class="gf-form-label width-8">Maximum lines</span>
+      <input type="text" class="gf-form-input width-8" ng-model="ctrl.current.jsonData.maxLines" spellcheck='false' placeholder="1000"></input>
       <info-popover mode="right-absolute">
-        Loki queries must contain a limit of maximum number of lines returned (default: 1000).
+        Loki queries must contain a limit of the maximum number of lines returned (default: 1000).
         Increase this limit to have a bigger result set for ad-hoc analysis.
         Decrease this limit if your browser becomes sluggish when displaying the log results.
       </info-popover>
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/loki/result_transformer.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/loki/result_transformer.ts
index b24f7d473b9..1f86f20d6fd 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/loki/result_transformer.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/loki/result_transformer.ts
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ import {
   LogsStreamLabels,
   LogsMetaKind,
 } from 'app/core/logs_model';
-import { DEFAULT_LIMIT } from './datasource';
+import { DEFAULT_MAX_LINES } from './datasource';
 
 /**
  * Returns the log level of a log line.
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ export function processEntry(
   };
 }
 
-export function mergeStreamsToLogs(streams: LogsStream[], limit = DEFAULT_LIMIT): LogsModel {
+export function mergeStreamsToLogs(streams: LogsStream[], limit = DEFAULT_MAX_LINES): LogsModel {
   // Unique model identifier
   const id = streams.map(stream => stream.labels).join();