diff --git a/Documentation/git-rebase.txt b/Documentation/git-rebase.txt
index 17133bf382..00a9453a39 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-rebase.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-rebase.txt
@@ -289,23 +289,24 @@ See also INCOMPATIBLE OPTIONS below.
 +
 See also INCOMPATIBLE OPTIONS below.
 
---empty=(ask|drop|keep)::
+--empty=(drop|keep|stop)::
 	How to handle commits that are not empty to start and are not
 	clean cherry-picks of any upstream commit, but which become
 	empty after rebasing (because they contain a subset of already
 	upstream changes):
 +
 --
-`ask`;;
-	The rebase will halt when the commit is applied, allowing you to
-	choose whether to drop it, edit files more, or just commit the empty
-	changes. This option is implied when `-i`/`--interactive` is
-	specified.
 `drop`;;
 	The commit will be dropped. This is the default behavior.
 `keep`;;
 	The commit will be kept. This option is implied when `--exec` is
 	specified unless `-i`/`--interactive` is also specified.
+`stop`;;
+`ask`;;
+	The rebase will halt when the commit is applied, allowing you to
+	choose whether to drop it, edit files more, or just commit the empty
+	changes. This option is implied when `-i`/`--interactive` is
+	specified. `ask` is a deprecated synonym of `stop`.
 --
 +
 Note that commits which start empty are kept (unless `--no-keep-empty`
@@ -711,7 +712,7 @@ be dropped automatically with `--no-keep-empty`).
 Similar to the apply backend, by default the merge backend drops
 commits that become empty unless `-i`/`--interactive` is specified (in
 which case it stops and asks the user what to do).  The merge backend
-also has an `--empty=(ask|drop|keep)` option for changing the behavior
+also has an `--empty=(drop|keep|stop)` option for changing the behavior
 of handling commits that become empty.
 
 Directory rename detection
diff --git a/builtin/rebase.c b/builtin/rebase.c
index 6ead9465a4..ab3e187473 100644
--- a/builtin/rebase.c
+++ b/builtin/rebase.c
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ enum empty_type {
 	EMPTY_UNSPECIFIED = -1,
 	EMPTY_DROP,
 	EMPTY_KEEP,
-	EMPTY_ASK
+	EMPTY_STOP
 };
 
 enum action {
@@ -951,10 +951,14 @@ static enum empty_type parse_empty_value(const char *value)
 		return EMPTY_DROP;
 	else if (!strcasecmp(value, "keep"))
 		return EMPTY_KEEP;
-	else if (!strcasecmp(value, "ask"))
-		return EMPTY_ASK;
+	else if (!strcasecmp(value, "stop"))
+		return EMPTY_STOP;
+	else if (!strcasecmp(value, "ask")) {
+		warning(_("--empty=ask is deprecated; use '--empty=stop' instead."));
+		return EMPTY_STOP;
+	}
 
-	die(_("unrecognized empty type '%s'; valid values are \"drop\", \"keep\", and \"ask\"."), value);
+	die(_("unrecognized empty type '%s'; valid values are \"drop\", \"keep\", and \"stop\"."), value);
 }
 
 static int parse_opt_keep_empty(const struct option *opt, const char *arg,
@@ -1133,7 +1137,7 @@ int cmd_rebase(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 				 "instead of ignoring them"),
 			      1, PARSE_OPT_HIDDEN),
 		OPT_RERERE_AUTOUPDATE(&options.allow_rerere_autoupdate),
-		OPT_CALLBACK_F(0, "empty", &options, "(drop|keep|ask)",
+		OPT_CALLBACK_F(0, "empty", &options, "(drop|keep|stop)",
 			       N_("how to handle commits that become empty"),
 			       PARSE_OPT_NONEG, parse_opt_empty),
 		OPT_CALLBACK_F('k', "keep-empty", &options, NULL,
@@ -1550,7 +1554,7 @@ int cmd_rebase(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 
 	if (options.empty == EMPTY_UNSPECIFIED) {
 		if (options.flags & REBASE_INTERACTIVE_EXPLICIT)
-			options.empty = EMPTY_ASK;
+			options.empty = EMPTY_STOP;
 		else if (options.exec.nr > 0)
 			options.empty = EMPTY_KEEP;
 		else
diff --git a/t/t3424-rebase-empty.sh b/t/t3424-rebase-empty.sh
index 73ff35ced2..1ee6b00fd5 100755
--- a/t/t3424-rebase-empty.sh
+++ b/t/t3424-rebase-empty.sh
@@ -72,6 +72,17 @@ test_expect_success 'rebase --merge --empty=keep' '
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'rebase --merge --empty=stop' '
+	git checkout -B testing localmods &&
+	test_must_fail git rebase --merge --empty=stop upstream &&
+
+	git rebase --skip &&
+
+	test_write_lines D C B A >expect &&
+	git log --format=%s >actual &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'rebase --merge --empty=ask' '
 	git checkout -B testing localmods &&
 	test_must_fail git rebase --merge --empty=ask upstream &&
@@ -101,9 +112,9 @@ test_expect_success 'rebase --interactive --empty=keep' '
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'rebase --interactive --empty=ask' '
+test_expect_success 'rebase --interactive --empty=stop' '
 	git checkout -B testing localmods &&
-	test_must_fail git rebase --interactive --empty=ask upstream &&
+	test_must_fail git rebase --interactive --empty=stop upstream &&
 
 	git rebase --skip &&
 
@@ -112,7 +123,7 @@ test_expect_success 'rebase --interactive --empty=ask' '
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'rebase --interactive uses default of --empty=ask' '
+test_expect_success 'rebase --interactive uses default of --empty=stop' '
 	git checkout -B testing localmods &&
 	test_must_fail git rebase --interactive upstream &&
 
@@ -194,9 +205,9 @@ test_expect_success 'rebase --exec uses default of --empty=keep' '
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'rebase --exec --empty=ask' '
+test_expect_success 'rebase --exec --empty=stop' '
 	git checkout -B testing localmods &&
-	test_must_fail git rebase --exec "true" --empty=ask upstream &&
+	test_must_fail git rebase --exec "true" --empty=stop upstream &&
 
 	git rebase --skip &&