diff --git a/packages/grafana-data/src/types/dataFrameTypes.ts b/packages/grafana-data/src/types/dataFrameTypes.ts
index e84f4a0a97b..17103d77fde 100644
--- a/packages/grafana-data/src/types/dataFrameTypes.ts
+++ b/packages/grafana-data/src/types/dataFrameTypes.ts
@@ -7,8 +7,12 @@
 export enum DataFrameType {
   TimeSeriesWide = 'timeseries-wide',
   TimeSeriesLong = 'timeseries-long',
+
+  /** @deprecated in favor of TimeSeriesMulti */
   TimeSeriesMany = 'timeseries-many',
 
+  TimeSeriesMulti = 'timeseries-multi',
+
   /** Directory listing */
   DirectoryListing = 'directory-listing',
 
diff --git a/public/app/features/transformers/prepareTimeSeries/PrepareTimeSeriesEditor.tsx b/public/app/features/transformers/prepareTimeSeries/PrepareTimeSeriesEditor.tsx
index fac809d02e8..1a2ca62698c 100644
--- a/public/app/features/transformers/prepareTimeSeries/PrepareTimeSeriesEditor.tsx
+++ b/public/app/features/transformers/prepareTimeSeries/PrepareTimeSeriesEditor.tsx
@@ -20,9 +20,9 @@ const wideInfo = {
   ),
 };
 
-const manyInfo = {
+const multiInfo = {
   label: 'Multi-frame time series',
-  value: timeSeriesFormat.TimeSeriesMany,
+  value: timeSeriesFormat.TimeSeriesMulti,
   description: 'Creates a new frame for each time/number pair',
   info: (
     <ul>
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ const longInfo = {
   ),
 };
 
-const formats: Array<SelectableValue<timeSeriesFormat>> = [wideInfo, manyInfo, longInfo];
+const formats: Array<SelectableValue<timeSeriesFormat>> = [wideInfo, multiInfo, longInfo];
 
 export function PrepareTimeSeriesEditor(props: TransformerUIProps<PrepareTimeSeriesOptions>): React.ReactElement {
   const { options, onChange } = props;
@@ -73,7 +73,19 @@ export function PrepareTimeSeriesEditor(props: TransformerUIProps<PrepareTimeSer
           <Select
             width={35}
             options={formats}
-            value={formats.find((v) => v.value === options.format) || formats[0]}
+            value={
+              formats.find((v) => {
+                // migrate previously selected timeSeriesMany to multi
+                if (
+                  v.value === timeSeriesFormat.TimeSeriesMulti &&
+                  options.format === timeSeriesFormat.TimeSeriesMany
+                ) {
+                  return true;
+                } else {
+                  return v.value === options.format;
+                }
+              }) || formats[0]
+            }
             onChange={onSelectFormat}
             className="flex-grow-1"
           />
diff --git a/public/app/features/transformers/prepareTimeSeries/prepareTimeSeries.test.ts b/public/app/features/transformers/prepareTimeSeries/prepareTimeSeries.test.ts
index 3cc056fe66d..7879e9a988f 100644
--- a/public/app/features/transformers/prepareTimeSeries/prepareTimeSeries.test.ts
+++ b/public/app/features/transformers/prepareTimeSeries/prepareTimeSeries.test.ts
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ import {
 import { prepareTimeSeriesTransformer, PrepareTimeSeriesOptions, timeSeriesFormat } from './prepareTimeSeries';
 
 describe('Prepare time series transformer', () => {
-  it('should transform wide to many', () => {
+  it('should transform wide to multi', () => {
     const source = [
       toDataFrame({
         name: 'wide',
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ describe('Prepare time series transformer', () => {
     ];
 
     const config: PrepareTimeSeriesOptions = {
-      format: timeSeriesFormat.TimeSeriesMany,
+      format: timeSeriesFormat.TimeSeriesMulti,
     };
 
     expect(prepareTimeSeriesTransformer.transformer(config)(source)).toEqual([
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ describe('Prepare time series transformer', () => {
           { name: 'count', type: FieldType.number, values: [10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60] },
         ],
         meta: {
-          type: DataFrameType.TimeSeriesMany,
+          type: DataFrameType.TimeSeriesMulti,
         },
         length: 6,
       }),
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ describe('Prepare time series transformer', () => {
           { name: 'more', type: FieldType.number, values: [2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7] },
         ],
         meta: {
-          type: DataFrameType.TimeSeriesMany,
+          type: DataFrameType.TimeSeriesMulti,
         },
         length: 6,
       }),
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ describe('Prepare time series transformer', () => {
     ];
 
     const config: PrepareTimeSeriesOptions = {
-      format: timeSeriesFormat.TimeSeriesMany,
+      format: timeSeriesFormat.TimeSeriesMulti,
     };
 
     const frames = prepareTimeSeriesTransformer.transformer(config)(source);
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@ describe('Prepare time series transformer', () => {
     `);
   });
 
-  it('should transform all wide to many when mixed', () => {
+  it('should transform all wide to multi when mixed', () => {
     const source = [
       toDataFrame({
         name: 'wide',
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ describe('Prepare time series transformer', () => {
     ];
 
     const config: PrepareTimeSeriesOptions = {
-      format: timeSeriesFormat.TimeSeriesMany,
+      format: timeSeriesFormat.TimeSeriesMulti,
     };
 
     expect(prepareTimeSeriesTransformer.transformer(config)(source)).toEqual([
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ describe('Prepare time series transformer', () => {
         ],
         length: 6,
         meta: {
-          type: DataFrameType.TimeSeriesMany,
+          type: DataFrameType.TimeSeriesMulti,
         },
       }),
       toEquableDataFrame({
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ describe('Prepare time series transformer', () => {
         ],
         length: 6,
         meta: {
-          type: DataFrameType.TimeSeriesMany,
+          type: DataFrameType.TimeSeriesMulti,
         },
       }),
       toEquableDataFrame({
@@ -205,7 +205,7 @@ describe('Prepare time series transformer', () => {
         ],
         length: 6,
         meta: {
-          type: DataFrameType.TimeSeriesMany,
+          type: DataFrameType.TimeSeriesMulti,
         },
       }),
     ]);
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@ describe('Prepare time series transformer', () => {
     ];
 
     const config: PrepareTimeSeriesOptions = {
-      format: timeSeriesFormat.TimeSeriesMany,
+      format: timeSeriesFormat.TimeSeriesMulti,
     };
 
     expect(toEquableDataFrames(prepareTimeSeriesTransformer.transformer(config)(source))).toEqual(
@@ -240,7 +240,7 @@ describe('Prepare time series transformer', () => {
         source.map((frame) => ({
           ...frame,
           meta: {
-            type: DataFrameType.TimeSeriesMany,
+            type: DataFrameType.TimeSeriesMulti,
           },
         }))
       )
@@ -270,13 +270,13 @@ describe('Prepare time series transformer', () => {
     ];
 
     const config: PrepareTimeSeriesOptions = {
-      format: timeSeriesFormat.TimeSeriesMany,
+      format: timeSeriesFormat.TimeSeriesMulti,
     };
 
     expect(prepareTimeSeriesTransformer.transformer(config)(source)).toEqual([]);
   });
 
-  it('should convert long to many', () => {
+  it('should convert long to multi', () => {
     const source = [
       toDataFrame({
         name: 'long',
@@ -289,6 +289,52 @@ describe('Prepare time series transformer', () => {
       }),
     ];
 
+    const config: PrepareTimeSeriesOptions = {
+      format: timeSeriesFormat.TimeSeriesMulti,
+    };
+
+    const frames = prepareTimeSeriesTransformer.transformer(config)(source);
+    expect(frames).toEqual([
+      toEquableDataFrame({
+        name: 'long',
+        refId: 'X',
+        fields: [
+          { name: 'time', type: FieldType.time, values: [1, 2, 3] },
+          { name: 'value', labels: { region: 'a' }, type: FieldType.number, values: [10, 30, 50] },
+        ],
+        length: 3,
+        meta: {
+          type: DataFrameType.TimeSeriesMulti,
+        },
+      }),
+      toEquableDataFrame({
+        name: 'long',
+        refId: 'X',
+        fields: [
+          { name: 'time', type: FieldType.time, values: [1, 2, 3] },
+          { name: 'value', labels: { region: 'b' }, type: FieldType.number, values: [20, 40, 60] },
+        ],
+        length: 3,
+        meta: {
+          type: DataFrameType.TimeSeriesMulti,
+        },
+      }),
+    ]);
+  });
+
+  it('should migrate many to multi and still convert correctly', () => {
+    const source = [
+      toDataFrame({
+        name: 'wants-to-be-many',
+        refId: 'X',
+        fields: [
+          { name: 'time', type: FieldType.time, values: [1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3] },
+          { name: 'value', type: FieldType.number, values: [10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60] },
+          { name: 'region', type: FieldType.string, values: ['a', 'b', 'a', 'b', 'a', 'b'] },
+        ],
+      }),
+    ];
+
     const config: PrepareTimeSeriesOptions = {
       format: timeSeriesFormat.TimeSeriesMany,
     };
@@ -296,7 +342,7 @@ describe('Prepare time series transformer', () => {
     const frames = prepareTimeSeriesTransformer.transformer(config)(source);
     expect(frames).toEqual([
       toEquableDataFrame({
-        name: 'long',
+        name: 'wants-to-be-many',
         refId: 'X',
         fields: [
           { name: 'time', type: FieldType.time, values: [1, 2, 3] },
@@ -304,11 +350,11 @@ describe('Prepare time series transformer', () => {
         ],
         length: 3,
         meta: {
-          type: DataFrameType.TimeSeriesMany,
+          type: DataFrameType.TimeSeriesMulti,
         },
       }),
       toEquableDataFrame({
-        name: 'long',
+        name: 'wants-to-be-many',
         refId: 'X',
         fields: [
           { name: 'time', type: FieldType.time, values: [1, 2, 3] },
@@ -316,7 +362,7 @@ describe('Prepare time series transformer', () => {
         ],
         length: 3,
         meta: {
-          type: DataFrameType.TimeSeriesMany,
+          type: DataFrameType.TimeSeriesMulti,
         },
       }),
     ]);
diff --git a/public/app/features/transformers/prepareTimeSeries/prepareTimeSeries.ts b/public/app/features/transformers/prepareTimeSeries/prepareTimeSeries.ts
index 14b68b3fd3c..e53b7a4cb60 100644
--- a/public/app/features/transformers/prepareTimeSeries/prepareTimeSeries.ts
+++ b/public/app/features/transformers/prepareTimeSeries/prepareTimeSeries.ts
@@ -24,10 +24,12 @@ import { Labels } from 'app/types/unified-alerting-dto';
  *
  * @internal -- TBD
  */
+
 export enum timeSeriesFormat {
-  TimeSeriesWide = 'wide', // [time,...values]
-  TimeSeriesMany = 'many', // All frames have [time,number]
+  TimeSeriesWide = 'wide',
+  TimeSeriesMany = 'many',
   TimeSeriesLong = 'long',
+  TimeSeriesMulti = 'multi',
 }
 
 export type PrepareTimeSeriesOptions = {
@@ -37,7 +39,7 @@ export type PrepareTimeSeriesOptions = {
 /**
  * Convert to [][time,number]
  */
-export function toTimeSeriesMany(data: DataFrame[]): DataFrame[] {
+export function toTimeSeriesMulti(data: DataFrame[]): DataFrame[] {
   if (!Array.isArray(data) || data.length === 0) {
     return data;
   }
@@ -104,7 +106,7 @@ export function toTimeSeriesMany(data: DataFrame[]): DataFrame[] {
             refId: frame.refId,
             meta: {
               ...frame.meta,
-              type: DataFrameType.TimeSeriesMany,
+              type: DataFrameType.TimeSeriesMulti,
             },
             fields: [
               {
@@ -126,7 +128,7 @@ export function toTimeSeriesMany(data: DataFrame[]): DataFrame[] {
           refId: frame.refId,
           meta: {
             ...frame.meta,
-            type: DataFrameType.TimeSeriesMany,
+            type: DataFrameType.TimeSeriesMulti,
           },
           fields: [timeField, field],
           length: frame.length,
@@ -291,8 +293,8 @@ export const prepareTimeSeriesTransformer: SynchronousDataTransformerInfo<Prepar
 
   transformer: (options: PrepareTimeSeriesOptions) => {
     const format = options?.format ?? timeSeriesFormat.TimeSeriesWide;
-    if (format === timeSeriesFormat.TimeSeriesMany) {
-      return toTimeSeriesMany;
+    if (format === timeSeriesFormat.TimeSeriesMany || timeSeriesFormat.TimeSeriesMulti) {
+      return toTimeSeriesMulti;
     } else if (format === timeSeriesFormat.TimeSeriesLong) {
       return toTimeSeriesLong;
     }