diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 3a13705f..7fbe063a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -162,13 +162,13 @@ or `application/x-www-form-urlencoded` body was *not* sent as
 utf-8, eg. if the form had an `accept-charset` parameter or the
 containing page had a different character set.
 
-**qs** supports this mechanism via the `utf8Sentinel` option.
+**qs** supports this mechanism via the `charsetSentinel` option.
 If specified, the `utf8` parameter will be omitted from the
 returned object. It will be used to switch to `iso-8859-1`/`utf-8`
 mode depending on how the checkmark is encoded.
 
 **Important**: When you specify both the `charset` option and the
-`utf8Sentinel` option, the `charset` will be overridden when
+`charsetSentinel` option, the `charset` will be overridden when
 the request contains a `utf8` parameter from which the actual
 charset can be deduced. In that sense the `charset` will behave
 as the default charset rather than the authoritative charset.
@@ -176,14 +176,14 @@ as the default charset rather than the authoritative charset.
 ```javascript
 var detectedAsUtf8 = qs.parse('utf8=%E2%9C%93&a=%C3%B8', {
     charset: 'iso-8859-1',
-    utf8Sentinel: true
+    charsetSentinel: true
 });
 assert.deepEqual(detectedAsUtf8, { a: 'ø' });
 
 // Browsers encode the checkmark as ✓ when submitting as iso-8859-1:
 var detectedAsIso8859_1 = qs.parse('utf8=%26%2310003%3B&a=%F8', {
     charset: 'utf-8',
-    utf8Sentinel: true
+    charsetSentinel: true
 });
 assert.deepEqual(detectedAsIso8859_1, { a: 'ø' });
 ```
@@ -199,7 +199,7 @@ var detectedAsIso8859_1 = qs.parse('a=%26%239786%3B', {
 assert.deepEqual(detectedAsIso8859_1, { a: '☺' });
 ```
 
-It also works when the charset has been detected in `utf8Sentinel`
+It also works when the charset has been detected in `charsetSentinel`
 mode.
 
 ### Parsing Arrays
@@ -498,15 +498,15 @@ var numeric = qs.stringify({ a: '☺' }, { charset: 'iso-8859-1' });
 assert.equal(numeric, 'a=%26%239786%3B');
 ```
 
-You can use the `utf8Sentinel` option to announce the character by
+You can use the `charsetSentinel` option to announce the character by
 including an `utf8=✓` parameter with the proper encoding if the checkmark,
 similar to what Ruby on Rails and others do when submitting forms.
 
 ```javascript
-var sentinel = qs.stringify({ a: '☺' }, { utf8Sentinel: true });
+var sentinel = qs.stringify({ a: '☺' }, { charsetSentinel: true });
 assert.equal(sentinel, 'utf8=%E2%9C%93&a=%E2%98%BA');
 
-var isoSentinel = qs.stringify({ a: 'æ' }, { utf8Sentinel: true, charset: 'iso-8859-1' });
+var isoSentinel = qs.stringify({ a: 'æ' }, { charsetSentinel: true, charset: 'iso-8859-1' });
 assert.equal(isoSentinel, 'utf8=%26%2310003%3B&a=%E6');
 ```
 
diff --git a/lib/parse.js b/lib/parse.js
index 89cbce91..25eea389 100644
--- a/lib/parse.js
+++ b/lib/parse.js
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ var defaults = {
     parameterLimit: 1000,
     plainObjects: false,
     strictNullHandling: false,
-    utf8Sentinel: false
+    charsetSentinel: false
 };
 
 var interpretNumericEntities = function (str) {
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ var isoSentinel = 'utf8=%26%2310003%3B'; // encodeURIComponent('✓')
 
 // These are the percent-encoded utf-8 octets representing a checkmark, indicating
 // that the request actually is utf-8 encoded.
-var utf8Sentinel = 'utf8=%E2%9C%93'; // encodeURIComponent('✓')
+var charsetSentinel = 'utf8=%E2%9C%93'; // encodeURIComponent('✓')
 
 var parseValues = function parseQueryStringValues(str, options) {
     var obj = {};
@@ -48,10 +48,10 @@ var parseValues = function parseQueryStringValues(str, options) {
     if (charset !== undefined && charset !== 'utf-8' && charset !== 'iso-8859-1') {
         throw new Error('The charset option must be either utf-8, iso-8859-1, or undefined');
     }
-    if (options.utf8Sentinel) {
+    if (options.charsetSentinel) {
         for (i = 0; i < parts.length; ++i) {
             if (parts[i].indexOf('utf8=') === 0) {
-                if (parts[i] === utf8Sentinel) {
+                if (parts[i] === charsetSentinel) {
                     charset = 'utf-8';
                 } else if (parts[i] === isoSentinel) {
                     charset = 'iso-8859-1';
diff --git a/lib/stringify.js b/lib/stringify.js
index 61c3dfa7..5bf5e8b5 100644
--- a/lib/stringify.js
+++ b/lib/stringify.js
@@ -215,7 +215,7 @@ module.exports = function (object, opts) {
     var joined = keys.join(delimiter);
     var prefix = options.addQueryPrefix === true ? '?' : '';
 
-    if (options.utf8Sentinel) {
+    if (options.charsetSentinel) {
         if (charset === 'iso-8859-1') {
             // encodeURIComponent('&#10003;'), the "numeric entity" representation of a checkmark
             prefix += 'utf8=%26%2310003%3B&';
diff --git a/test/parse.js b/test/parse.js
index 53a8ce1a..f0ce23b5 100644
--- a/test/parse.js
+++ b/test/parse.js
@@ -595,32 +595,32 @@ test('parse()', function (t) {
     var urlEncodedNumSmiley = '%26%239786%3B';
 
     t.test('prefers an utf-8 charset specified by the utf8 sentinel to a default charset of iso-8859-1', function (st) {
-        st.deepEqual(qs.parse('utf8=' + urlEncodedCheckmarkInUtf8 + '&' + urlEncodedOSlashInUtf8 + '=' + urlEncodedOSlashInUtf8, { utf8Sentinel: true, charset: 'iso-8859-1' }), { ø: 'ø' });
+        st.deepEqual(qs.parse('utf8=' + urlEncodedCheckmarkInUtf8 + '&' + urlEncodedOSlashInUtf8 + '=' + urlEncodedOSlashInUtf8, { charsetSentinel: true, charset: 'iso-8859-1' }), { ø: 'ø' });
         st.end();
     });
 
     t.test('prefers an iso-8859-1 charset specified by the utf8 sentinel to a default charset of utf-8', function (st) {
-        st.deepEqual(qs.parse('utf8=' + urlEncodedNumCheckmark + '&' + urlEncodedOSlashInUtf8 + '=' + urlEncodedOSlashInUtf8, { utf8Sentinel: true, charset: 'utf-8' }), { 'ø': 'ø' });
+        st.deepEqual(qs.parse('utf8=' + urlEncodedNumCheckmark + '&' + urlEncodedOSlashInUtf8 + '=' + urlEncodedOSlashInUtf8, { charsetSentinel: true, charset: 'utf-8' }), { 'ø': 'ø' });
         st.end();
     });
 
     t.test('does not require the utf8 sentinel to be defined before the parameters whose decoding it affects', function (st) {
-        st.deepEqual(qs.parse('a=' + urlEncodedOSlashInUtf8 + '&utf8=' + urlEncodedNumCheckmark, { utf8Sentinel: true, charset: 'utf-8' }), { a: 'ø' });
+        st.deepEqual(qs.parse('a=' + urlEncodedOSlashInUtf8 + '&utf8=' + urlEncodedNumCheckmark, { charsetSentinel: true, charset: 'utf-8' }), { a: 'ø' });
         st.end();
     });
 
     t.test('should ignore an utf8 sentinel with an unknown value', function (st) {
-        st.deepEqual(qs.parse('utf8=foo&' + urlEncodedOSlashInUtf8 + '=' + urlEncodedOSlashInUtf8, { utf8Sentinel: true, charset: 'utf-8' }), { ø: 'ø' });
+        st.deepEqual(qs.parse('utf8=foo&' + urlEncodedOSlashInUtf8 + '=' + urlEncodedOSlashInUtf8, { charsetSentinel: true, charset: 'utf-8' }), { ø: 'ø' });
         st.end();
     });
 
     t.test('uses the utf8 sentinel to switch to utf-8 when no default charset is given', function (st) {
-        st.deepEqual(qs.parse('utf8=' + urlEncodedCheckmarkInUtf8 + '&' + urlEncodedOSlashInUtf8 + '=' + urlEncodedOSlashInUtf8, { utf8Sentinel: true }), { ø: 'ø' });
+        st.deepEqual(qs.parse('utf8=' + urlEncodedCheckmarkInUtf8 + '&' + urlEncodedOSlashInUtf8 + '=' + urlEncodedOSlashInUtf8, { charsetSentinel: true }), { ø: 'ø' });
         st.end();
     });
 
     t.test('uses the utf8 sentinel to switch to iso-8859-1 when no default charset is given', function (st) {
-        st.deepEqual(qs.parse('utf8=' + urlEncodedNumCheckmark + '&' + urlEncodedOSlashInUtf8 + '=' + urlEncodedOSlashInUtf8, { utf8Sentinel: true }), { 'ø': 'ø' });
+        st.deepEqual(qs.parse('utf8=' + urlEncodedNumCheckmark + '&' + urlEncodedOSlashInUtf8 + '=' + urlEncodedOSlashInUtf8, { charsetSentinel: true }), { 'ø': 'ø' });
         st.end();
     });
 
diff --git a/test/stringify.js b/test/stringify.js
index 38075ed3..c54c0df3 100644
--- a/test/stringify.js
+++ b/test/stringify.js
@@ -609,12 +609,12 @@ test('stringify()', function (t) {
     });
 
     t.test('adds the right sentinel when instructed to and the charset is utf-8', function (st) {
-        st.equal(qs.stringify({ a: 'æ' }, { utf8Sentinel: true, charset: 'utf-8' }), 'utf8=%E2%9C%93&a=%C3%A6');
+        st.equal(qs.stringify({ a: 'æ' }, { charsetSentinel: true, charset: 'utf-8' }), 'utf8=%E2%9C%93&a=%C3%A6');
         st.end();
     });
 
     t.test('adds the right sentinel when instructed to and the charset is iso-8859-1', function (st) {
-        st.equal(qs.stringify({ a: 'æ' }, { utf8Sentinel: true, charset: 'iso-8859-1' }), 'utf8=%26%2310003%3B&a=%E6');
+        st.equal(qs.stringify({ a: 'æ' }, { charsetSentinel: true, charset: 'iso-8859-1' }), 'utf8=%26%2310003%3B&a=%E6');
         st.end();
     });