diff --git a/Documentation/blame-options.txt b/Documentation/blame-options.txt
index b299b59023..a09969ba08 100644
--- a/Documentation/blame-options.txt
+++ b/Documentation/blame-options.txt
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 	Include additional statistics at the end of blame output.
 
 -L <start>,<end>::
--L :<regex>::
+-L :<funcname>::
 	Annotate only the given line range. May be specified multiple times.
 	Overlapping ranges are allowed.
 +
diff --git a/Documentation/git-log.txt b/Documentation/git-log.txt
index 18bc716a0c..5692945a0b 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-log.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-log.txt
@@ -62,9 +62,9 @@ produced by `--stat`, etc.
 	output by allowing them to allocate space in advance.
 
 -L <start>,<end>:<file>::
--L :<regex>:<file>::
+-L :<funcname>:<file>::
 	Trace the evolution of the line range given by "<start>,<end>"
-	(or the funcname regex <regex>) within the <file>.  You may
+	(or the function name regex <funcname>) within the <file>.  You may
 	not give any pathspec limiters.  This is currently limited to
 	a walk starting from a single revision, i.e., you may only
 	give zero or one positive revision arguments.
diff --git a/Documentation/gitk.txt b/Documentation/gitk.txt
index 7ae50aa26a..6ade002176 100644
--- a/Documentation/gitk.txt
+++ b/Documentation/gitk.txt
@@ -99,10 +99,10 @@ linkgit:git-rev-list[1] for a complete list.
 	detailed explanation.)
 
 -L<start>,<end>:<file>::
--L:<regex>:<file>::
+-L:<funcname>:<file>::
 
 	Trace the evolution of the line range given by "<start>,<end>"
-	(or the funcname regex <regex>) within the <file>.  You may
+	(or the function name regex <funcname>) within the <file>.  You may
 	not give any pathspec limiters.  This is currently limited to
 	a walk starting from a single revision, i.e., you may only
 	give zero or one positive revision arguments.
diff --git a/Documentation/line-range-format.txt b/Documentation/line-range-format.txt
index d7f26039ca..829676ff98 100644
--- a/Documentation/line-range-format.txt
+++ b/Documentation/line-range-format.txt
@@ -22,8 +22,9 @@ This is only valid for <end> and will specify a number
 of lines before or after the line given by <start>.
 
 +
-If ``:<regex>'' is given in place of <start> and <end>, it denotes the range
-from the first funcname line that matches <regex>, up to the next
-funcname line. ``:<regex>'' searches from the end of the previous `-L` range,
-if any, otherwise from the start of file.
-``^:<regex>'' searches from the start of file.
+If ``:<funcname>'' is given in place of <start> and <end>, it is a
+regular expression that denotes the range from the first funcname line
+that matches <funcname>, up to the next funcname line. ``:<funcname>''
+searches from the end of the previous `-L` range, if any, otherwise
+from the start of file. ``^:<funcname>'' searches from the start of
+file.
diff --git a/line-log.c b/line-log.c
index b43ac58698..a5ed9e3642 100644
--- a/line-log.c
+++ b/line-log.c
@@ -575,7 +575,7 @@ parse_lines(struct commit *commit, const char *prefix, struct string_list *args)
 
 		name_part = skip_range_arg(item->string);
 		if (!name_part || *name_part != ':' || !name_part[1])
-			die("-L argument '%s' not of the form start,end:file",
+			die("-L argument not 'start,end:file' or ':funcname:file': %s",
 			    item->string);
 		range_part = xstrndup(item->string, name_part - item->string);
 		name_part++;
diff --git a/t/t4211-line-log.sh b/t/t4211-line-log.sh
index 0901b30982..4451127eb2 100755
--- a/t/t4211-line-log.sh
+++ b/t/t4211-line-log.sh
@@ -54,14 +54,14 @@ canned_test "-L 4:a.c -L 8,12:a.c simple" multiple-superset
 canned_test "-L 8,12:a.c -L 4:a.c simple" multiple-superset
 
 test_bad_opts "-L" "switch.*requires a value"
-test_bad_opts "-L b.c" "argument.*not of the form"
-test_bad_opts "-L 1:" "argument.*not of the form"
+test_bad_opts "-L b.c" "argument not .start,end:file"
+test_bad_opts "-L 1:" "argument not .start,end:file"
 test_bad_opts "-L 1:nonexistent" "There is no path"
 test_bad_opts "-L 1:simple" "There is no path"
-test_bad_opts "-L '/foo:b.c'" "argument.*not of the form"
+test_bad_opts "-L '/foo:b.c'" "argument not .start,end:file"
 test_bad_opts "-L 1000:b.c" "has only.*lines"
 test_bad_opts "-L 1,1000:b.c" "has only.*lines"
-test_bad_opts "-L :b.c" "argument.*not of the form"
+test_bad_opts "-L :b.c" "argument not .start,end:file"
 test_bad_opts "-L :foo:b.c" "no match"
 
 test_expect_success '-L X (X == nlines)' '