diff --git a/include/linux/mmzone.h b/include/linux/mmzone.h
index 4a5c826daec7..628c13f19bec 100644
--- a/include/linux/mmzone.h
+++ b/include/linux/mmzone.h
@@ -2155,7 +2155,7 @@ static inline struct mem_section *__pfn_to_section(unsigned long pfn)
 	return __nr_to_section(pfn_to_section_nr(pfn));
 }
 
-extern unsigned long __highest_present_section_nr;
+extern unsigned long __highest_used_section_nr;
 
 static inline int subsection_map_index(unsigned long pfn)
 {
@@ -2254,7 +2254,7 @@ static inline unsigned long first_valid_pfn(unsigned long pfn, unsigned long end
 
 	rcu_read_lock_sched();
 
-	while (nr <= __highest_present_section_nr && pfn < end_pfn) {
+	while (nr <= __highest_used_section_nr && pfn < end_pfn) {
 		struct mem_section *ms = __pfn_to_section(pfn);
 
 		if (valid_section(ms) &&
@@ -2309,7 +2309,7 @@ static inline int pfn_in_present_section(unsigned long pfn)
 
 static inline unsigned long next_present_section_nr(unsigned long section_nr)
 {
-	while (++section_nr <= __highest_present_section_nr) {
+	while (++section_nr <= __highest_used_section_nr) {
 		if (present_section_nr(section_nr))
 			return section_nr;
 	}
diff --git a/mm/compaction.c b/mm/compaction.c
index 4994e200bbec..f1b2060eb201 100644
--- a/mm/compaction.c
+++ b/mm/compaction.c
@@ -216,7 +216,7 @@ static unsigned long skip_offline_sections(unsigned long start_pfn)
 	if (online_section_nr(start_nr))
 		return 0;
 
-	while (++start_nr <= __highest_present_section_nr) {
+	while (++start_nr <= __highest_used_section_nr) {
 		if (online_section_nr(start_nr))
 			return section_nr_to_pfn(start_nr);
 	}
diff --git a/mm/sparse.c b/mm/sparse.c
index 3c19d4755909..bb89017254f4 100644
--- a/mm/sparse.c
+++ b/mm/sparse.c
@@ -164,15 +164,11 @@ static void __init mminit_validate_memmodel_limits(unsigned long *start_pfn,
 }
 
 /*
- * There are a number of times that we loop over NR_MEM_SECTIONS,
- * looking for section_present() on each.  But, when we have very
- * large physical address spaces, NR_MEM_SECTIONS can also be
- * very large which makes the loops quite long.
- *
- * Keeping track of this gives us an easy way to break out of
- * those loops early.
+ * Looping over all possible memory sections is expensive, especially if
+ * NR_MEM_SECTIONS is large but only a fraction is actually used. Keep track of
+ * the highest section number we ever used.
  */
-unsigned long __highest_present_section_nr;
+unsigned long __highest_used_section_nr;
 
 static inline unsigned long first_present_section_nr(void)
 {
diff --git a/mm/sparse.h b/mm/sparse.h
index 4ee507c34b98..242b7bab0013 100644
--- a/mm/sparse.h
+++ b/mm/sparse.h
@@ -44,8 +44,8 @@ static inline void sparse_init_one_section(struct mem_section *ms,
 static inline void __section_mark_present(struct mem_section *ms,
 		unsigned long section_nr)
 {
-	if (section_nr > __highest_present_section_nr)
-		__highest_present_section_nr = section_nr;
+	if (section_nr > __highest_used_section_nr)
+		__highest_used_section_nr = section_nr;
 
 	ms->section_mem_map |= SECTION_MARKED_PRESENT;
 }