diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 90bea40..ad6e449 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -57,28 +57,33 @@ Metrics that don't match any mapping in the configuration file are translated
 into Prometheus metrics without any labels and with certain characters escaped
 (`_` -> `__`; `-` -> `__`; `.` -> `_`).
 
-In general, the different metric types are translated as follows, with certain
-suffixes appended to the Prometheus metric names:
+In general, the different metric types are translated as follows:
 
-    StatsD gauge   -> Prometheus gauge (suffix `_gauge`)
+    StatsD gauge   -> Prometheus gauge
 
-    StatsD counter -> Prometheus counter (suffix `_counter`)
+    StatsD counter -> Prometheus counter
 
-    StatsD timer   -> Prometheus summary (suffix `_timer`)        <-- indicates timer quantiles
-                   -> Prometheus counter (suffix `_timer_total`)  <-- indicates total time spent
-                   -> Prometheus counter (suffix `_timer_count`)  <-- indicates total number of timer events
+    StatsD timer   -> Prometheus summary                    <-- indicates timer quantiles
+                   -> Prometheus counter (suffix `_total`)  <-- indicates total time spent
+                   -> Prometheus counter (suffix `_count`)  <-- indicates total number of timer events
 
-An example mapping configuration:
+If `-statsd.add-suffix` is set, the exporter appends the metric type (`_gauge`,
+`_counter`, `_timer`) to the resulting metrics. This is enabled by default for
+backward compatibility but discouraged to use. Instead, it is better to
+explicitly define the full metric name in your mapping and run the exporter
+with `-statsd.add-suffix=false`.
+
+An example mapping configuration with `-statsd.add-suffix=false`:
 
     test.dispatcher.*.*.*
-    name="dispatcher_events"
+    name="dispatcher_events_total"
     processor="$1"
     action="$2"
     outcome="$3"
     job="test_dispatcher"
 
     *.signup.*.*
-    name="signup_events"
+    name="signup_events_total"
     provider="$2"
     outcome="$3"
     job="${1}_server"
@@ -86,14 +91,14 @@ An example mapping configuration:
 This would transform these example StatsD metrics into Prometheus metrics as
 follows:
 
-    test.dispatcher.FooProcessor.send.success (counter)
-     => dispatcher_events_counter{processor="FooProcessor", action="send", outcome="success", job="test_dispatcher"}
+    test.dispatcher.FooProcessor.send.success
+     => dispatcher_events_total{processor="FooProcessor", action="send", outcome="success", job="test_dispatcher"}
 
-    foo_product.signup.facebook.failure (counter)
-     => signup_events_counter{provider="facebook", outcome="failure", job="foo_product_server"}
+    foo_product.signup.facebook.failure
+     => signup_events_total{provider="facebook", outcome="failure", job="foo_product_server"}
 
-    test.web-server.foo.bar (gauge)
-     => test_web__server_foo_bar_gauge{}
+    test.web-server.foo.bar
+     => test_web__server_foo_bar{}
 
 ## Using Docker
 
diff --git a/exporter.go b/exporter.go
index c09fe07..0eea62b 100644
--- a/exporter.go
+++ b/exporter.go
@@ -176,6 +176,7 @@ type Exporter struct {
 	Gauges    *GaugeContainer
 	Summaries *SummaryContainer
 	mapper    *metricMapper
+	addSuffix bool
 }
 
 func escapeMetricName(metricName string) string {
@@ -189,6 +190,14 @@ func escapeMetricName(metricName string) string {
 	return metricName
 }
 
+func (b *Exporter) suffix(metricName, suffix string) string {
+	str := metricName
+	if b.addSuffix {
+		str += "_" + suffix
+	}
+	return str
+}
+
 func (b *Exporter) Listen(e <-chan Events) {
 	for {
 		events, ok := <-e
@@ -215,7 +224,7 @@ func (b *Exporter) Listen(e <-chan Events) {
 			switch event.(type) {
 			case *CounterEvent:
 				counter := b.Counters.Get(
-					metricName+"_counter",
+					b.suffix(metricName, "counter"),
 					prometheusLabels,
 				)
 				// We don't accept negative values for counters. Incrementing the counter with a negative number
@@ -231,7 +240,7 @@ func (b *Exporter) Listen(e <-chan Events) {
 
 			case *GaugeEvent:
 				gauge := b.Gauges.Get(
-					metricName+"_gauge",
+					b.suffix(metricName, "gauge"),
 					prometheusLabels,
 				)
 				gauge.Set(event.Value())
@@ -240,7 +249,7 @@ func (b *Exporter) Listen(e <-chan Events) {
 
 			case *TimerEvent:
 				summary := b.Summaries.Get(
-					metricName+"_timer",
+					b.suffix(metricName, "timer"),
 					prometheusLabels,
 				)
 				summary.Observe(event.Value())
@@ -255,8 +264,9 @@ func (b *Exporter) Listen(e <-chan Events) {
 	}
 }
 
-func NewExporter(mapper *metricMapper) *Exporter {
+func NewExporter(mapper *metricMapper, addSuffix bool) *Exporter {
 	return &Exporter{
+		addSuffix: addSuffix,
 		Counters:  NewCounterContainer(),
 		Gauges:    NewGaugeContainer(),
 		Summaries: NewSummaryContainer(),
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index fe2a134..da8ff36 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ var (
 	statsdListenAddress = flag.String("statsd.listen-address", ":9125", "The UDP address on which to receive statsd metric lines.")
 	mappingConfig       = flag.String("statsd.mapping-config", "", "Metric mapping configuration file name.")
 	readBuffer          = flag.Int("statsd.read-buffer", 0, "Size (in bytes) of the operating system's transmit read buffer associated with the UDP connection. Please make sure the kernel parameters net.core.rmem_max is set to a value greater than the value specified.")
+	addSuffix           = flag.Bool("statsd.add-suffix", true, "Add the metric type (counter/gauge/timer) as suffix to the generated Prometheus metric (NOT recommended, but set by default for backward compatibility).")
 )
 
 func serveHTTP() {
@@ -108,6 +109,9 @@ func watchConfig(fileName string, mapper *metricMapper) {
 func main() {
 	flag.Parse()
 
+	if *addSuffix {
+		log.Println("Warning: Using -statsd.add-suffix is discouraged. We recommend explicitly naming metrics appropriately in the mapping configuration.")
+	}
 	log.Println("Starting StatsD -> Prometheus Exporter...")
 	log.Println("Accepting StatsD Traffic on", *statsdListenAddress)
 	log.Println("Accepting Prometheus Requests on", *listenAddress)
@@ -141,6 +145,6 @@ func main() {
 		}
 		go watchConfig(*mappingConfig, mapper)
 	}
-	exporter := NewExporter(mapper)
+	exporter := NewExporter(mapper, *addSuffix)
 	exporter.Listen(events)
 }