diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 37e7a669780..46c1b7d7144 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ New:
 Updates:
 
 - Add semantic convention for NGINX custom HTTP 499 status code.
+- Adapt semantic conventions for the span name of messaging systems ([#690](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-specification/pull/690))
 
 ## v0.6.0 (07-01-2020)
 
diff --git a/specification/trace/semantic_conventions/messaging.md b/specification/trace/semantic_conventions/messaging.md
index 91d832a6536..2b627c7adaa 100644
--- a/specification/trace/semantic_conventions/messaging.md
+++ b/specification/trace/semantic_conventions/messaging.md
@@ -5,9 +5,21 @@
 <!-- toc -->
 
 - [Definitions](#definitions)
+  * [Destinations](#destinations)
+  * [Message consumption](#message-consumption)
+  * [Conversations](#conversations)
+  * [Temporary destinations](#temporary-destinations)
 - [Conventions](#conventions)
+  * [Span name](#span-name)
+  * [Span kind](#span-kind)
+  * [Operation names](#operation-names)
 - [Messaging attributes](#messaging-attributes)
+  * [Attributes specific to certain messaging systems](#attributes-specific-to-certain-messaging-systems)
+    + [RabbitMQ](#rabbitmq)
 - [Examples](#examples)
+  * [Topic with multiple consumers](#topic-with-multiple-consumers)
+  * [Batch receiving](#batch-receiving)
+  * [Batch processing](#batch-processing)
 
 <!-- tocstop -->
 
@@ -20,35 +32,80 @@ A *message* usually consists of headers (or properties, or meta information) and
 * Physically: some message *broker* (which can be e.g., a single server, or a cluster, or a local process reached via IPC). The broker handles the actual routing, delivery, re-delivery, persistence, etc. In some messaging systems the broker may be identical or co-located with (some) message consumers.
 * Logically: some particular message *destination*.
 
+### Destinations
+
 A destination is usually identified by some name unique within the messaging system instance, which might look like an URL or a simple one-word identifier.
 Two kinds of destinations are distinguished: *topic*s and *queue*s.
 A message that is sent (the send-operation is often called "*publish*" in this context) to a *topic* is broadcasted to all *subscribers* of the topic.
 A message submitted to a queue is processed by a message *consumer* (usually exactly once although some message systems support a more performant at-least-once mode for messages with [idempotent][] processing).
 
+[idempotent]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idempotence
+
+### Message consumption
+
 The consumption of a message can happen in multiple steps.
 First, the lower-level receiving of a message at a consumer, and then the logical processing of the message.
 Often, the waiting for a message is not particularly interesting and hidden away in a framework that only invokes some handler function to process a message once one is received
 (in the same way that the listening on a TCP port for an incoming HTTP message is not particularly interesting).
 However, in a synchronous conversation, the wait time for a message is important.
 
-In some messaging systems, a message can receive a reply message that answers a particular other message that was sent earlier. All messages that are grouped together by such a reply-relationship are called a *conversation*. The grouping usually happens through some sort of "In-Reply-To:" meta information or an explicit conversation ID. Sometimes a conversation can span multiple message destinations (e.g. initiated via a topic, continued on a temporary one-to-one queue).
+### Conversations
 
-Some messaging systems support the concept of *temporary destination* (often only temporary queues) that are established just for a particular set of communication partners (often one to one) or conversation. Often such destinations are unnamed or have an auto-generated name.
+In some messaging systems, a message can receive a reply message that answers a particular other message that was sent earlier. All messages that are grouped together by such a reply-relationship are called a *conversation*.
+The grouping usually happens through some sort of "In-Reply-To:" meta information or an explicit *conversation ID* (sometimes called *correlation ID*).
+Sometimes a conversation can span multiple message destinations (e.g. initiated via a topic, continued on a temporary one-to-one queue).
 
-[idempotent]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idempotence
+### Temporary destinations
+
+Some messaging systems support the concept of *temporary destination* (often only temporary queues) that are established just for a particular set of communication partners (often one to one) or conversation.
+Often such destinations are unnamed or have an auto-generated name.
 
 ## Conventions
 
 Given these definitions, the remainder of this section describes the semantic conventions that shall be followed for Spans describing interactions with messaging systems.
 
-**Span name:** The span name should usually be set to the message destination name.
-The conversation ID should be used instead when it is expected to have lower cardinality.
-In particular, the conversation ID must be used if the message destination is unnamed or temporary unless multiple conversations can be combined to a logical destination of lower cardinality.
+### Span name
+
+The span name SHOULD be set to the message destination name and the operation being performed in the following format:
+
+```
+<destination name> <operation name>
+```
+
+The destination name SHOULD only be used for the span name if it is known to be of low cardinality (cf. [general span name guidelines](../api.md#span)).
+This can be assumed if it is statically derived from application code or configuration.
+If the destination name is dynamic, such as a [conversation ID](#conversations) or a value obtained from a `Reply-To` header, it SHOULD NOT be used for the span name.
+In these cases, an artificial destination name that best expresses the destination, or a generic, static fallback like `"(temporary)"` for [temporary destinations](#temporary-destinations) SHOULD be used instead.
+
+The values allowed for `<operation name>` are defined in the section [Operation names](#operation-names) below.
+If the format above is used, the operation name MUST match the `messaging.operation` attribute defined for message consumer spans below.
+
+Examples:
+
+* `shop.orders send`
+* `shop.orders receive`
+* `shop.orders process`
+* `print_jobs send`
+* `topic with spaces process`
+* `AuthenticationRequest-Conversations process`
+* `(temporary) send` (`(temporary)` being a stable identifier for randomly generated, temporary destination names)
 
-**Span kind:** A producer of a message should set the span kind to `PRODUCER` unless it synchronously waits for a response: then it should use `CLIENT`.
+### Span kind
+
+A producer of a message should set the span kind to `PRODUCER` unless it synchronously waits for a response: then it should use `CLIENT`.
 The processor of the message should set the kind to `CONSUMER`, unless it always sends back a reply that is directed to the producer of the message
 (as opposed to e.g., a queue on which the producer happens to listen): then it should use `SERVER`.
 
+### Operation names
+
+The following operations related to messages are defined for these semantic conventions:
+
+| Operation name | Description |
+| -------------- | ----------- |
+| `send`         | A message is sent to a destination by a message producer/client.       |
+| `receive`      | A message is received from a destination by a message consumer/server. |
+| `process`      | A message that was previously received from a destination is processed by a message consumer/server. |
+
 ## Messaging attributes
 
 | Attribute name |                          Notes and examples                            | Required? |
@@ -56,12 +113,12 @@ The processor of the message should set the kind to `CONSUMER`, unless it always
 | `messaging.system` | A string identifying the messaging system such as `kafka`, `rabbitmq` or `activemq`. | Yes |
 | `messaging.destination` | The message destination name, e.g. `MyQueue` or `MyTopic`. This might be equal to the span name but is required nevertheless. | Yes |
 | `messaging.destination_kind` | The kind of message destination: Either `queue` or `topic`. | Yes, if either of them applies. |
-| `messaging.temp_destination` | A boolean that is `true` if the message destination is temporary. | If temporary (assumed to be `false` if missing). |
+| `messaging.temp_destination` | A boolean that is `true` if the message destination is [temporary](#temporary-destinations). | If temporary (assumed to be `false` if missing). |
 | `messaging.protocol` | The name of the transport protocol such as `AMQP` or `MQTT`. | No |
 | `messaging.protocol_version` | The version of the transport protocol such as `0.9.1`. | No |
 | `messaging.url` | Connection string such as `tibjmsnaming://localhost:7222` or `https://queue.amazonaws.com/80398EXAMPLE/MyQueue`. | No |
 | `messaging.message_id` | A value used by the messaging system as an identifier for the message, represented as a string. | No |
-| `messaging.conversation_id` | A value identifying the conversation to which the message belongs, represented as a string. Sometimes called "Correlation ID". | No |
+| `messaging.conversation_id` | The [conversation ID](#conversations) identifying the conversation to which the message belongs, represented as a string. Sometimes called "Correlation ID". | No |
 | `messaging.message_payload_size_bytes` | The (uncompressed) size of the message payload in bytes. Also use this attribute if it is unknown whether the compressed or uncompressed payload size is reported. | No |
 | `messaging.message_payload_compressed_size_bytes` | The compressed size of the message payload in bytes. | No |
 
@@ -77,10 +134,12 @@ For message consumers, the following additional attributes may be set:
 
 | Attribute name |                          Notes and examples                            | Required? |
 | -------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------- |
-| `messaging.operation` | A string identifying which part and kind of message consumption this span describes: either `receive` or `process`. (If the operation is `send`, this attribute must not be set: the operation can be inferred from the span kind in that case.) | No |
+| `messaging.operation` | A string identifying the kind of message consumption as defined in the [Operation names](#operation-names) section above. Only `"receive"` and `"process"` are used for this attribute. If the operation is `"send"`, this attribute MUST NOT be set, since the operation can be inferred from the span kind in that case. | No |
 
 The _receive_ span is be used to track the time used for receiving the message(s), whereas the _process_ span(s) track the time for processing the message(s).
 Note that one or multiple Spans with `messaging.operation` = `process` may often be the children of a Span with `messaging.operation` = `receive`.
+The distinction between receiving and processing of messages is not always of particular interest or sometimes hidden away in a framework (see the [Message consumption](#message-consumption) section above) and therefore the attribute can be left out.
+For batch receiving and processing (see the [Batch receiving](#batch-receiving) and [Batch processing](#batch-processing) examples below) in particular, the attribute SHOULD be set.
 Even though in that case one might think that the processing span's kind should be `INTERNAL`, that kind MUST NOT be used.
 Instead span kind should be set to either `CONSUMER` or `SERVER` according to the rules defined above.
 
@@ -108,7 +167,7 @@ Process CB:                 | Span CB1 |
 
 | Field or Attribute | Span Prod1 | Span CA1 | Span CB1 |
 |-|-|-|-|
-| Name | `"T"` | `"T"` | `"T"` |
+| Span name | `"T send"` | `"T process"` | `"T process"` |
 | Parent |  | Span Prod1 | Span Prod1 |
 | Links |  |  |  |
 | SpanKind | `PRODUCER` | `CONSUMER` | `CONSUMER` |
@@ -137,7 +196,7 @@ Process C:                      | Span Recv1 |
 
 | Field or Attribute | Span Prod1 | Span Prod2 | Span Recv1 | Span Proc1 | Span Proc2 |
 |-|-|-|-|-|-|
-| Name | `"Q"` | `"Q"` | `"Q"` | `"Q"` | `"Q"` |
+| Span name | `"Q send"` | `"Q send"` | `"Q receive"` | `"Q process"` | `"Q process"` |
 | Parent |  |  |  | Span Recv1 | Span Recv1 |
 | Links |  |  |  | Span Prod1 | Span Prod2 |
 | SpanKind | `PRODUCER` | `PRODUCER` | `CONSUMER` | `CONSUMER` | `CONSUMER` |
@@ -170,7 +229,7 @@ Process C:                              | Span Recv1 | Span Recv2 |
 
 | Field or Attribute | Span Prod1 | Span Prod2 | Span Recv1 | Span Recv2 | Span Proc1 |
 |-|-|-|-|-|-|
-| Name | `"Q"` | `"Q"` | `"Q"` | `"Q"` | `"Q"` |
+| Span name | `"Q send"` | `"Q send"` | `"Q receive"` | `"Q receive"` | `"Q process"` |
 | Parent |  |  | Span Prod1 | Span Prod2 |  |
 | Links |  |  |  |  | Span Prod1 + Prod2 |
 | SpanKind | `PRODUCER` | `PRODUCER` | `CONSUMER` | `CONSUMER` | `CONSUMER` |