diff --git a/examples/googledir/scrapy-ctl.py b/examples/googledir/scrapy-ctl.py
index 8820b5d37..552421ac3 100755
--- a/examples/googledir/scrapy-ctl.py
+++ b/examples/googledir/scrapy-ctl.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 
 import os
-os.environ.setdefault('SCRAPYSETTINGS_MODULE', 'googledir.settings')
+os.environ.setdefault('SCRAPY_SETTINGS_MODULE', 'googledir.settings')
 
 from scrapy.command.cmdline import execute
 execute()
diff --git a/scrapy/conf/__init__.py b/scrapy/conf/__init__.py
index d7c20d68e..782c19792 100644
--- a/scrapy/conf/__init__.py
+++ b/scrapy/conf/__init__.py
@@ -17,8 +17,8 @@ class Settings(object):
         self.defaults = {}
         self.global_defaults = import_(self.default_settings_module)
         self.disabled = os.environ.get('SCRAPY_SETTINGS_DISABLED', False)
-        settings_module_path = os.environ.get('SCRAPYSETTINGS_MODULE', \
-            'scrapy_settings')
+        settings_module_path = os.environ.get('SCRAPY_SETTINGS_MODULE', \
+            os.environ.get('SCRAPYSETTINGS_MODULE', 'scrapy_settings'))
         self.set_settings_module(settings_module_path)
 
         # XXX: find a better solution for this hack
diff --git a/scrapy/templates/project/root/scrapy-ctl.py b/scrapy/templates/project/root/scrapy-ctl.py
index 2d2ed44e9..0c5176f10 100755
--- a/scrapy/templates/project/root/scrapy-ctl.py
+++ b/scrapy/templates/project/root/scrapy-ctl.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 
 import os
-os.environ.setdefault('SCRAPYSETTINGS_MODULE', '${project_name}.settings')
+os.environ.setdefault('SCRAPY_SETTINGS_MODULE', '${project_name}.settings')
 
 from scrapy.command.cmdline import execute
 execute()