diff --git a/sqlx-core/src/types/mod.rs b/sqlx-core/src/types/mod.rs
index 549e99a8..20350b97 100644
--- a/sqlx-core/src/types/mod.rs
+++ b/sqlx-core/src/types/mod.rs
@@ -105,11 +105,11 @@ pub use json::Json;
 ///
 /// ##### Attributes
 ///
-/// * `#[sqlx(rename = "<SQL type name>")]` on struct definition: instead of inferring the SQL type name from the inner
-/// field (in the above case, `BIGINT`), explicitly set it to `<SQL type name>` instead. May trigger
-/// errors or unexpected behavior if the encoding of the given type is different than that of the
-/// inferred type (e.g. if you rename the above to `VARCHAR`).
-/// Affects Postgres only.
+/// * `#[sqlx(type_name = "<SQL type name>")]` on struct definition: instead of inferring the SQL
+///   type name from the inner field (in the above case, `BIGINT`), explicitly set it to
+///   `<SQL type name>` instead. May trigger errors or unexpected behavior if the encoding of the
+///   given type is different than that of the inferred type (e.g. if you rename the above to
+///   `VARCHAR`). Affects Postgres only.
 ///
 /// ### Enumeration
 ///
diff --git a/sqlx-macros/src/derives/attributes.rs b/sqlx-macros/src/derives/attributes.rs
index fe67a17f..ba1b382b 100644
--- a/sqlx-macros/src/derives/attributes.rs
+++ b/sqlx-macros/src/derives/attributes.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
-use proc_macro2::Ident;
+use proc_macro2::{Ident, Span, TokenStream};
+use quote::{quote, quote_spanned};
 use syn::punctuated::Punctuated;
+use syn::spanned::Spanned;
 use syn::token::Comma;
 use syn::{Attribute, DeriveInput, Field, Lit, Meta, MetaNameValue, NestedMeta, Variant};
 
@@ -26,6 +28,27 @@ macro_rules! try_set {
     };
 }
 
+pub struct TypeName {
+    pub val: String,
+    pub span: Span,
+    /// Whether the old sqlx(rename) syntax was used instead of sqlx(type_name)
+    pub deprecated_rename: bool,
+}
+
+impl TypeName {
+    pub fn get(&self) -> TokenStream {
+        let val = &self.val;
+        if self.deprecated_rename {
+            quote_spanned!(self.span=> {
+                sqlx::_rename();
+                #val
+            })
+        } else {
+            quote! { #val }
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 #[derive(Copy, Clone)]
 pub enum RenameAll {
     LowerCase,
@@ -39,7 +62,7 @@ pub enum RenameAll {
 
 pub struct SqlxContainerAttributes {
     pub transparent: bool,
-    pub type_name: Option<String>,
+    pub type_name: Option<TypeName>,
     pub rename_all: Option<RenameAll>,
     pub repr: Option<Ident>,
 }
@@ -95,7 +118,31 @@ pub fn parse_container_attributes(input: &[Attribute]) -> syn::Result<SqlxContai
                                 lit: Lit::Str(val),
                                 ..
                             }) if path.is_ident("type_name") => {
-                                try_set!(type_name, val.value(), value)
+                                try_set!(
+                                    type_name,
+                                    TypeName {
+                                        val: val.value(),
+                                        span: value.span(),
+                                        deprecated_rename: false
+                                    },
+                                    value
+                                )
+                            }
+
+                            Meta::NameValue(MetaNameValue {
+                                path,
+                                lit: Lit::Str(val),
+                                ..
+                            }) if path.is_ident("rename") => {
+                                try_set!(
+                                    type_name,
+                                    TypeName {
+                                        val: val.value(),
+                                        span: value.span(),
+                                        deprecated_rename: true
+                                    },
+                                    value
+                                )
                             }
 
                             u => fail!(u, "unexpected attribute"),
diff --git a/sqlx-macros/src/derives/type.rs b/sqlx-macros/src/derives/type.rs
index d44c13bf..143b9c7b 100644
--- a/sqlx-macros/src/derives/type.rs
+++ b/sqlx-macros/src/derives/type.rs
@@ -83,7 +83,10 @@ fn expand_derive_has_sql_type_transparent(
     let mut tts = proc_macro2::TokenStream::new();
 
     if cfg!(feature = "postgres") {
-        let ty_name = attr.type_name.unwrap_or_else(|| ident.to_string());
+        let ty_name = attr
+            .type_name
+            .map(|tn| tn.get())
+            .unwrap_or_else(|| quote! { #ident });
 
         tts.extend(quote!(
             impl sqlx::Type< sqlx::postgres::Postgres > for #ident #ty_generics {
@@ -142,7 +145,10 @@ fn expand_derive_has_sql_type_strong_enum(
     }
 
     if cfg!(feature = "postgres") {
-        let ty_name = attributes.type_name.unwrap_or_else(|| ident.to_string());
+        let ty_name = attributes
+            .type_name
+            .map(|tn| tn.get())
+            .unwrap_or_else(|| quote! { #ident });
 
         tts.extend(quote!(
             impl sqlx::Type< sqlx::Postgres > for #ident {
@@ -180,7 +186,10 @@ fn expand_derive_has_sql_type_struct(
     let mut tts = proc_macro2::TokenStream::new();
 
     if cfg!(feature = "postgres") {
-        let ty_name = attributes.type_name.unwrap_or_else(|| ident.to_string());
+        let ty_name = attributes
+            .type_name
+            .map(|tn| tn.get())
+            .unwrap_or_else(|| quote! { #ident });
 
         tts.extend(quote!(
             impl sqlx::Type< sqlx::Postgres > for #ident {
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index e3bb60a0..97f74294 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -149,3 +149,8 @@ pub mod prelude {
     pub use super::Statement;
     pub use super::Type;
 }
+
+#[doc(hidden)]
+#[inline(always)]
+#[deprecated = "sqlx(rename) is now called sqlx(type_name)"]
+pub fn _rename() {}