diff --git a/include/qom/cpu.h b/include/qom/cpu.h
index 1d6099e5d4..d28c690b27 100644
--- a/include/qom/cpu.h
+++ b/include/qom/cpu.h
@@ -689,15 +689,15 @@ ObjectClass *cpu_class_by_name(const char *typename, const char *cpu_model);
 CPUState *cpu_create(const char *typename);
 
 /**
- * parse_cpu_model:
- * @cpu_model: The model string including optional parameters.
+ * parse_cpu_option:
+ * @cpu_option: The -cpu option including optional parameters.
  *
  * processes optional parameters and registers them as global properties
  *
  * Returns: type of CPU to create or prints error and terminates process
  *          if an error occurred.
  */
-const char *parse_cpu_model(const char *cpu_model);
+const char *parse_cpu_option(const char *cpu_option);
 
 /**
  * cpu_has_work:
diff --git a/bsd-user/main.c b/bsd-user/main.c
index 0d3156974c..a6c055f5fb 100644
--- a/bsd-user/main.c
+++ b/bsd-user/main.c
@@ -903,7 +903,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
     /* init tcg before creating CPUs and to get qemu_host_page_size */
     tcg_exec_init(0);
 
-    cpu_type = parse_cpu_model(cpu_model);
+    cpu_type = parse_cpu_option(cpu_model);
     cpu = cpu_create(cpu_type);
     env = cpu->env_ptr;
 #if defined(TARGET_SPARC) || defined(TARGET_PPC)
diff --git a/exec.c b/exec.c
index 6ab62f4eee..840677f15f 100644
--- a/exec.c
+++ b/exec.c
@@ -982,14 +982,14 @@ void cpu_exec_realizefn(CPUState *cpu, Error **errp)
 #endif
 }
 
-const char *parse_cpu_model(const char *cpu_model)
+const char *parse_cpu_option(const char *cpu_option)
 {
     ObjectClass *oc;
     CPUClass *cc;
     gchar **model_pieces;
     const char *cpu_type;
 
-    model_pieces = g_strsplit(cpu_model, ",", 2);
+    model_pieces = g_strsplit(cpu_option, ",", 2);
 
     oc = cpu_class_by_name(CPU_RESOLVING_TYPE, model_pieces[0]);
     if (oc == NULL) {
diff --git a/linux-user/main.c b/linux-user/main.c
index a0aba9cb1e..20e0f51cfa 100644
--- a/linux-user/main.c
+++ b/linux-user/main.c
@@ -660,7 +660,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv, char **envp)
     if (cpu_model == NULL) {
         cpu_model = cpu_get_model(get_elf_eflags(execfd));
     }
-    cpu_type = parse_cpu_model(cpu_model);
+    cpu_type = parse_cpu_option(cpu_model);
 
     /* init tcg before creating CPUs and to get qemu_host_page_size */
     tcg_exec_init(0);
diff --git a/vl.c b/vl.c
index c696ad2a13..c57e28d1da 100644
--- a/vl.c
+++ b/vl.c
@@ -3002,7 +3002,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv, char **envp)
     const char *optarg;
     const char *loadvm = NULL;
     MachineClass *machine_class;
-    const char *cpu_model;
+    const char *cpu_option;
     const char *vga_model = NULL;
     const char *qtest_chrdev = NULL;
     const char *qtest_log = NULL;
@@ -3081,7 +3081,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv, char **envp)
     QLIST_INIT (&vm_change_state_head);
     os_setup_early_signal_handling();
 
-    cpu_model = NULL;
+    cpu_option = NULL;
     snapshot = 0;
 
     nb_nics = 0;
@@ -3133,7 +3133,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv, char **envp)
             switch(popt->index) {
             case QEMU_OPTION_cpu:
                 /* hw initialization will check this */
-                cpu_model = optarg;
+                cpu_option = optarg;
                 break;
             case QEMU_OPTION_hda:
             case QEMU_OPTION_hdb:
@@ -4050,8 +4050,8 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv, char **envp)
         qemu_set_hw_version(machine_class->hw_version);
     }
 
-    if (cpu_model && is_help_option(cpu_model)) {
-        list_cpus(stdout, &fprintf, cpu_model);
+    if (cpu_option && is_help_option(cpu_option)) {
+        list_cpus(stdout, &fprintf, cpu_option);
         exit(0);
     }
 
@@ -4299,9 +4299,9 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv, char **envp)
      * Global properties get set up by qdev_prop_register_global(),
      * called from user_register_global_props(), and certain option
      * desugaring.  Also in CPU feature desugaring (buried in
-     * parse_cpu_model()), which happens below this point, but may
+     * parse_cpu_option()), which happens below this point, but may
      * only target the CPU type, which can only be created after
-     * parse_cpu_model() returned the type.
+     * parse_cpu_option() returned the type.
      *
      * Machine compat properties: object_set_machine_compat_props().
      * Accelerator compat props: object_set_accelerator_compat_props(),
@@ -4465,8 +4465,8 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv, char **envp)
 
     /* parse features once if machine provides default cpu_type */
     current_machine->cpu_type = machine_class->default_cpu_type;
-    if (cpu_model) {
-        current_machine->cpu_type = parse_cpu_model(cpu_model);
+    if (cpu_option) {
+        current_machine->cpu_type = parse_cpu_option(cpu_option);
     }
     parse_numa_opts(current_machine);
 
