diff --git a/elasticsearch5/README.md b/elasticsearch5/README.md
index 846f10f22bba39acd1d56696f452eb3772097121..015d15110b006bfa7573454dafadfd7197bc37d6 100644
--- a/elasticsearch5/README.md
+++ b/elasticsearch5/README.md
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ The default setting for the Elasticsearch node that is created is as follows:
     es.index.key=es.ycsb
     es.number_of_shards=1
     es.number_of_replicas=0
-    es.newdb=false
+    es.new_index=false
     es.hosts.list=localhost:9300
 
 ### Custom Configuration
diff --git a/elasticsearch5/src/main/java/com/yahoo/ycsb/db/elasticsearch5/ElasticsearchClient.java b/elasticsearch5/src/main/java/com/yahoo/ycsb/db/elasticsearch5/ElasticsearchClient.java
index 1d2bec9337949daf2814a8d2be5ca6c26842fdec..d6a77bd35b2fa984cf87fcc90a94465475e6663e 100644
--- a/elasticsearch5/src/main/java/com/yahoo/ycsb/db/elasticsearch5/ElasticsearchClient.java
+++ b/elasticsearch5/src/main/java/com/yahoo/ycsb/db/elasticsearch5/ElasticsearchClient.java
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ public class ElasticsearchClient extends DB {
     final int numberOfShards = parseIntegerProperty(props, "es.number_of_shards", NUMBER_OF_SHARDS);
     final int numberOfReplicas = parseIntegerProperty(props, "es.number_of_replicas", NUMBER_OF_REPLICAS);
 
-    final Boolean newdb = Boolean.parseBoolean(props.getProperty("es.newdb", "false"));
+    final Boolean newIndex = Boolean.parseBoolean(props.getProperty("es.new_index", "false"));
     final Builder settings = Settings.builder().put("cluster.name", DEFAULT_CLUSTER_NAME);
 
     // if properties file contains elasticsearch user defined properties
@@ -123,10 +123,10 @@ public class ElasticsearchClient extends DB {
         client.admin().indices()
             .exists(Requests.indicesExistsRequest(indexKey)).actionGet()
             .isExists();
-    if (exists && newdb) {
+    if (exists && newIndex) {
       client.admin().indices().prepareDelete(indexKey).get();
     }
-    if (!exists || newdb) {
+    if (!exists || newIndex) {
       client.admin().indices().create(
           new CreateIndexRequest(indexKey)
               .settings(
diff --git a/elasticsearch5/src/main/java/com/yahoo/ycsb/db/elasticsearch5/ElasticsearchRestClient.java b/elasticsearch5/src/main/java/com/yahoo/ycsb/db/elasticsearch5/ElasticsearchRestClient.java
index c6b83626ab703205d9a02e7152169b2ce944cd7f..ebc8f66bd40b5b294cc263415aca8077a2bf8c1b 100644
--- a/elasticsearch5/src/main/java/com/yahoo/ycsb/db/elasticsearch5/ElasticsearchRestClient.java
+++ b/elasticsearch5/src/main/java/com/yahoo/ycsb/db/elasticsearch5/ElasticsearchRestClient.java
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ public class ElasticsearchRestClient extends DB {
     final int numberOfShards = parseIntegerProperty(props, "es.number_of_shards", NUMBER_OF_SHARDS);
     final int numberOfReplicas = parseIntegerProperty(props, "es.number_of_replicas", NUMBER_OF_REPLICAS);
 
-    final Boolean newdb = Boolean.parseBoolean(props.getProperty("es.newdb", "false"));
+    final Boolean newIndex = Boolean.parseBoolean(props.getProperty("es.new_index", "false"));
 
     final String[] nodeList = props.getProperty("es.hosts.list", DEFAULT_REMOTE_HOST).split(",");
 
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ public class ElasticsearchRestClient extends DB {
     final Response existsResponse = performRequest(restClient, "HEAD", "/" + indexKey);
     final boolean exists = existsResponse.getStatusLine().getStatusCode() == 200;
 
-    if (exists && newdb) {
+    if (exists && newIndex) {
       final Response deleteResponse = performRequest(restClient, "DELETE", "/" + indexKey);
       final int statusCode = deleteResponse.getStatusLine().getStatusCode();
       if (statusCode != 200) {
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ public class ElasticsearchRestClient extends DB {
       }
     }
 
-    if (!exists || newdb) {
+    if (!exists || newIndex) {
       try (XContentBuilder builder = jsonBuilder()) {
         builder.startObject();
         builder.startObject("settings");
diff --git a/elasticsearch5/src/test/java/com/yahoo/ycsb/db/elasticsearch5/ElasticsearchClientIT.java b/elasticsearch5/src/test/java/com/yahoo/ycsb/db/elasticsearch5/ElasticsearchClientIT.java
index 1e7ac3f04d305aea48525d85b275e8a436a68f81..2f8eabe083e2e5bec0d13df6569d36ab246f5c79 100644
--- a/elasticsearch5/src/test/java/com/yahoo/ycsb/db/elasticsearch5/ElasticsearchClientIT.java
+++ b/elasticsearch5/src/test/java/com/yahoo/ycsb/db/elasticsearch5/ElasticsearchClientIT.java
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ public class ElasticsearchClientIT {
     @Before
     public void setUp() throws DBException {
         final Properties props = new Properties();
-        props.put("es.newdb", "true");
+        props.put("es.new_index", "true");
         props.put("es.setting.cluster.name", "test");
         instance.setProperties(props);
         instance.init();
diff --git a/elasticsearch5/src/test/java/com/yahoo/ycsb/db/elasticsearch5/ElasticsearchRestClientIT.java b/elasticsearch5/src/test/java/com/yahoo/ycsb/db/elasticsearch5/ElasticsearchRestClientIT.java
index 20aeb6a7379a0e01a65c5c687627c45e87424bf9..5b833c1465132ffe932e3f63de68d4d11156c74c 100644
--- a/elasticsearch5/src/test/java/com/yahoo/ycsb/db/elasticsearch5/ElasticsearchRestClientIT.java
+++ b/elasticsearch5/src/test/java/com/yahoo/ycsb/db/elasticsearch5/ElasticsearchRestClientIT.java
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ public class ElasticsearchRestClientIT {
   @Before
   public void setUp() throws DBException, IOException {
     final Properties props = new Properties();
-    props.put("es.newdb", "true");
+    props.put("es.new_index", "true");
     instance.setProperties(props);
     instance.init();
     for (int i = 0; i < 16; i++) {