diff --git a/doc/device-tree-bindings/config.txt b/doc/device-tree-bindings/config.txt
index a617e7f84f8..fffb69e75de 100644
--- a/doc/device-tree-bindings/config.txt
+++ b/doc/device-tree-bindings/config.txt
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ u-boot,mmc-env-partition (int)
 	precedence. In that case, only if the partition is not found,
 	mmc-env-offset* will be tried.
 
-	Note that CONFIG_ENV_MMC_PARTITION overrides this device-tree setting.
+	Note that CONFIG_ENV_MMC_SW_PARTITION overrides this device-tree setting.
 
 u-boot,no-apm-finalize (bool)
 	For x86 devices running on coreboot, this tells U-Boot not to lock
diff --git a/env/Kconfig b/env/Kconfig
index 3317f3c5603..52f5cb86584 100644
--- a/env/Kconfig
+++ b/env/Kconfig
@@ -719,17 +719,20 @@ config ENV_MMC_EMMC_HW_PARTITION
 	  partition 0 or the first boot partition, which is 1 or some other defined
 	  partition.
 
-config USE_ENV_MMC_PARTITION
-	bool "use the mmc environment partition name"
+config ENV_MMC_USE_SW_PARTITION
+	bool "Use SD/MMC environment software partition name"
 	depends on ENV_IS_IN_MMC
 
-config ENV_MMC_PARTITION
-	string "mmc environment partition name"
-	depends on USE_ENV_MMC_PARTITION
+config ENV_MMC_SW_PARTITION
+	bool "SD/MMC environment software partition name"
+	depends on ENV_MMC_USE_SW_PARTITION
 	help
-	  MMC partition name used to save environment variables.
-	  If this variable is unset, u-boot will try to get the env partition name
-	  from the device-tree's /config node.
+	  SD/MMC software partition name used to save environment variables.
+	  This is a software partition name, i.e. one in partition table, not
+	  an eMMC HW partition (see ENV_MMC_EMMC_HW_PARTITION for eMMC HW
+	  partition configuration). If this variable is unset, u-boot will
+	  try to get the env partition name from the device-tree's /config
+	  node.
 
 config ENV_MMC_USE_DT
 	bool "Read partition name and offset in DT"
diff --git a/env/mmc.c b/env/mmc.c
index 5d1cb78e5ca..11375bd4464 100644
--- a/env/mmc.c
+++ b/env/mmc.c
@@ -161,8 +161,8 @@ static inline s64 mmc_offset(struct mmc *mmc, int copy)
 	hwpart = mmc_get_env_part(mmc);
 #endif
 
-#if defined(CONFIG_ENV_MMC_PARTITION)
-	str = CONFIG_ENV_MMC_PARTITION;
+#if defined(CONFIG_ENV_MMC_SW_PARTITION)
+	str = CONFIG_ENV_MMC_SW_PARTITION;
 #else
 	/* look for the partition in mmc CONFIG_ENV_MMC_DEVICE_INDEX */
 	str = ofnode_conf_read_str(dt_prop.partition);