diff --git a/Documentation/kbuild/kconfig.txt b/Documentation/kbuild/kconfig.txt
index bbc99c0..7233118 100644
--- a/Documentation/kbuild/kconfig.txt
+++ b/Documentation/kbuild/kconfig.txt
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ Examples:
 		15% of tristates will be set to 'y', 15% to 'm', 70% to 'n'
 
 ______________________________________________________________________
-Environment variables for 'silentoldconfig'
+Environment variables for 'syncconfig'
 
 KCONFIG_NOSILENTUPDATE
 --------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/Documentation/networking/i40e.txt b/Documentation/networking/i40e.txt
index 57e616e..c2d6e18 100644
--- a/Documentation/networking/i40e.txt
+++ b/Documentation/networking/i40e.txt
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ Enabling the driver
 The driver is enabled via the standard kernel configuration system,
 using the make command:
 
-     Make oldconfig/silentoldconfig/menuconfig/etc.
+     make config/oldconfig/menuconfig/etc.
 
 The driver is located in the menu structure at:
 
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 7f0aba6..4fb97e9 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -597,7 +597,7 @@ $(KCONFIG_CONFIG) include/config/auto.conf.cmd: ;
 # include/generated/ and include/config/. Update them if .config is newer than
 # include/config/auto.conf (which mirrors .config).
 include/config/%.conf: $(KCONFIG_CONFIG) include/config/auto.conf.cmd
-	$(Q)$(MAKE) -f $(srctree)/Makefile silentoldconfig
+	$(Q)$(MAKE) -f $(srctree)/Makefile syncconfig
 else
 # external modules needs include/generated/autoconf.h and include/config/auto.conf
 # but do not care if they are up-to-date. Use auto.conf to trigger the test
diff --git a/scripts/kconfig/Makefile b/scripts/kconfig/Makefile
index 41e2a9f..753a6de4 100644
--- a/scripts/kconfig/Makefile
+++ b/scripts/kconfig/Makefile
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 # Kernel configuration targets
 # These targets are used from top-level makefile
 
-PHONY += xconfig gconfig menuconfig config silentoldconfig update-po-config \
+PHONY += xconfig gconfig menuconfig config syncconfig update-po-config \
 	localmodconfig localyesconfig
 
 ifdef KBUILD_KCONFIG
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ nconfig: $(obj)/nconf
 
 # This has become an internal implementation detail and is now deprecated
 # for external use.
-silentoldconfig: $(obj)/conf
+syncconfig: $(obj)/conf
 	$(Q)mkdir -p include/config include/generated
 	$(Q)test -e include/generated/autoksyms.h || \
 	    touch   include/generated/autoksyms.h
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ PHONY += $(simple-targets)
 $(simple-targets): $(obj)/conf
 	$< $(silent) --$@ $(Kconfig)
 
-PHONY += oldnoconfig savedefconfig defconfig
+PHONY += oldnoconfig silentoldconfig savedefconfig defconfig
 
 # oldnoconfig is an alias of olddefconfig, because people already are dependent
 # on its behavior (sets new symbols to their default value but not 'n') with the
@@ -97,6 +97,13 @@ oldnoconfig: olddefconfig
 	@echo "  WARNING: \"oldnoconfig\" target will be removed after Linux 4.19"
 	@echo "            Please use \"olddefconfig\" instead, which is an alias."
 
+# We do not expect manual invokcation of "silentoldcofig" (or "syncconfig").
+silentoldconfig: syncconfig
+	@echo "  WARNING: \"silentoldconfig\" has been renamed to \"syncconfig\""
+	@echo "            and is now an internal implementation detail."
+	@echo "            What you want is probably \"oldconfig\"."
+	@echo "            \"silentoldconfig\" will be removed after Linux 4.19"
+
 savedefconfig: $(obj)/conf
 	$< $(silent) --$@=defconfig $(Kconfig)
 
diff --git a/scripts/kconfig/conf.c b/scripts/kconfig/conf.c
index 11a4e45..4e08121 100644
--- a/scripts/kconfig/conf.c
+++ b/scripts/kconfig/conf.c
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ static void check_conf(struct menu *menu);
 
 enum input_mode {
 	oldaskconfig,
-	silentoldconfig,
+	syncconfig,
 	oldconfig,
 	allnoconfig,
 	allyesconfig,
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ static int conf_askvalue(struct symbol *sym, const char *def)
 
 	switch (input_mode) {
 	case oldconfig:
-	case silentoldconfig:
+	case syncconfig:
 		if (sym_has_value(sym)) {
 			printf("%s\n", def);
 			return 0;
@@ -293,7 +293,7 @@ static int conf_choice(struct menu *menu)
 		printf("[1-%d?]: ", cnt);
 		switch (input_mode) {
 		case oldconfig:
-		case silentoldconfig:
+		case syncconfig:
 			if (!is_new) {
 				cnt = def;
 				printf("%d\n", cnt);
@@ -441,7 +441,7 @@ static void check_conf(struct menu *menu)
 static struct option long_opts[] = {
 	{"oldaskconfig",    no_argument,       NULL, oldaskconfig},
 	{"oldconfig",       no_argument,       NULL, oldconfig},
-	{"silentoldconfig", no_argument,       NULL, silentoldconfig},
+	{"syncconfig",      no_argument,       NULL, syncconfig},
 	{"defconfig",       optional_argument, NULL, defconfig},
 	{"savedefconfig",   required_argument, NULL, savedefconfig},
 	{"allnoconfig",     no_argument,       NULL, allnoconfig},
@@ -468,8 +468,8 @@ static void conf_usage(const char *progname)
 	printf("  --listnewconfig         List new options\n");
 	printf("  --oldaskconfig          Start a new configuration using a line-oriented program\n");
 	printf("  --oldconfig             Update a configuration using a provided .config as base\n");
-	printf("  --silentoldconfig       Similar to oldconfig but generates configuration in\n"
-	       "                          include/{generated/,config/} (oldconfig used to be more verbose)\n");
+	printf("  --syncconfig            Similar to oldconfig but generates configuration in\n"
+	       "                          include/{generated/,config/}\n");
 	printf("  --olddefconfig          Same as oldconfig but sets new symbols to their default value\n");
 	printf("  --oldnoconfig           An alias of olddefconfig\n");
 	printf("  --defconfig <file>      New config with default defined in <file>\n");
@@ -501,7 +501,7 @@ int main(int ac, char **av)
 		}
 		input_mode = (enum input_mode)opt;
 		switch (opt) {
-		case silentoldconfig:
+		case syncconfig:
 			sync_kconfig = 1;
 			break;
 		case defconfig:
@@ -583,7 +583,7 @@ int main(int ac, char **av)
 		}
 		break;
 	case savedefconfig:
-	case silentoldconfig:
+	case syncconfig:
 	case oldaskconfig:
 	case oldconfig:
 	case listnewconfig:
@@ -667,7 +667,7 @@ int main(int ac, char **av)
 		/* fall through */
 	case oldconfig:
 	case listnewconfig:
-	case silentoldconfig:
+	case syncconfig:
 		/* Update until a loop caused no more changes */
 		do {
 			conf_cnt = 0;
@@ -680,7 +680,7 @@ int main(int ac, char **av)
 	}
 
 	if (sync_kconfig) {
-		/* silentoldconfig is used during the build so we shall update autoconf.
+		/* syncconfig is used during the build so we shall update autoconf.
 		 * All other commands are only used to generate a config.
 		 */
 		if (conf_get_changed() && conf_write(NULL)) {
