diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index a15a8c1525..becae367d1 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -141,6 +141,8 @@ Trunk (Unreleased)
     HADOOP-11150. hadoop command should show the reason on failure by 
     invalid COMMAND or CLASSNAME (Masatake Iwasaki via aw)
 
+    HADOOP-11208. Replace "daemon" with better name in script subcommands (aw)
+
   BUG FIXES
 
     HADOOP-9451. Fault single-layer config if node group topology is enabled.
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/hdfs b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/hdfs
index f29a5c6753..8ff0ee61f6 100755
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/hdfs
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/bin/hdfs
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ shift
 
 case ${COMMAND} in
   balancer)
-    daemon="true"
+    supportdaemonization="true"
     CLASS=org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.server.balancer.Balancer
     hadoop_debug "Appending HADOOP_BALANCER_OPTS onto HADOOP_OPTS"
     HADOOP_OPTS="${HADOOP_OPTS} ${HADOOP_BALANCER_OPTS}"
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ case ${COMMAND} in
     CLASS=org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.tools.CryptoAdmin
   ;;
   datanode)
-    daemon="true"
+    supportdaemonization="true"
     # Determine if we're starting a secure datanode, and
     # if so, redefine appropriate variables
     if [[ -n "${HADOOP_SECURE_DN_USER}" ]]; then
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ case ${COMMAND} in
     HADOOP_OPTS="${HADOOP_OPTS} ${HADOOP_CLIENT_OPTS}"
   ;;
   journalnode)
-    daemon="true"
+    supportdaemonization="true"
     CLASS='org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.qjournal.server.JournalNode'
     hadoop_debug "Appending HADOOP_JOURNALNODE_OPTS onto HADOOP_OPTS"
     HADOOP_OPTS="${HADOOP_OPTS} ${HADOOP_JOURNALNODE_OPTS}"
@@ -170,19 +170,19 @@ case ${COMMAND} in
     CLASS=org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.tools.snapshot.LsSnapshottableDir
   ;;
   mover)
-    daemon="true"
+    supportdaemonization="true"
     CLASS=org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.server.mover.Mover
     hadoop_debug "Appending HADOOP_MOVER_OPTS onto HADOOP_OPTS"
     HADOOP_OPTS="${HADOOP_OPTS} ${HADOOP_MOVER_OPTS}"
   ;;
   namenode)
-    daemon="true"
+    supportdaemonization="true"
     CLASS='org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.server.namenode.NameNode'
     hadoop_debug "Appending HADOOP_NAMENODE_OPTS onto HADOOP_OPTS"
     HADOOP_OPTS="${HADOOP_OPTS} ${HADOOP_NAMENODE_OPTS}"
   ;;
   nfs3)
-    daemon="true"
+    supportdaemonization="true"
     if [[ -n "${HADOOP_PRIVILEGED_NFS_USER}" ]]; then
       secure_service="true"
       secure_user="${HADOOP_PRIVILEGED_NFS_USER}"
@@ -211,13 +211,13 @@ case ${COMMAND} in
     CLASS=org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.tools.offlineImageViewer.OfflineImageViewer
   ;;
   portmap)
-    daemon="true"
+    supportdaemonization="true"
     CLASS=org.apache.hadoop.portmap.Portmap
     hadoop_debug "Appending HADOOP_PORTMAP_OPTS onto HADOOP_OPTS"
     HADOOP_OPTS="${HADOOP_OPTS} ${HADOOP_PORTMAP_OPTS}"
   ;;
   secondarynamenode)
-    daemon="true"
+    supportdaemonization="true"
     CLASS='org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.server.namenode.SecondaryNameNode'
     hadoop_debug "Appending HADOOP_SECONDARYNAMENODE_OPTS onto HADOOP_OPTS"
     HADOOP_OPTS="${HADOOP_OPTS} ${HADOOP_SECONDARYNAMENODE_OPTS}"
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@ case ${COMMAND} in
     CLASS=org.apache.hadoop.util.VersionInfo
   ;;
   zkfc)
-    daemon="true"
+    supportdaemonization="true"
     CLASS='org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.tools.DFSZKFailoverController'
     hadoop_debug "Appending HADOOP_ZKFC_OPTS onto HADOOP_OPTS"
     HADOOP_OPTS="${HADOOP_OPTS} ${HADOOP_ZKFC_OPTS}"
@@ -274,7 +274,7 @@ fi
 hadoop_add_param HADOOP_OPTS Xmx "${JAVA_HEAP_MAX}"
 hadoop_finalize
 
-if [[ -n "${daemon}" ]]; then
+if [[ -n "${supportdaemonization}" ]]; then
   if [[ -n "${secure_service}" ]]; then
     hadoop_secure_daemon_handler \
     "${HADOOP_DAEMON_MODE}" "${COMMAND}" "${CLASS}"\
diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/bin/mapred b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/bin/mapred
index 9131ba7916..667777a4c8 100755
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/bin/mapred
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/bin/mapred
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ case ${COMMAND} in
     HADOOP_OPTS="${HADOOP_OPTS} ${HADOOP_CLIENT_OPTS}"
   ;;
   historyserver)
-    daemon="true"
+    supportdaemonization="true"
     CLASS=org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.v2.hs.JobHistoryServer
     hadoop_debug "Appending HADOOP_JOB_HISTORYSERVER_OPTS onto HADOOP_OPTS"
     HADOOP_OPTS="${HADOOP_OPTS} ${HADOOP_JOB_HISTORYSERVER_OPTS}"
@@ -150,7 +150,7 @@ fi
 hadoop_add_param HADOOP_OPTS Xmx "${JAVA_HEAP_MAX}"
 hadoop_finalize
 
-if [[ -n "${daemon}" ]]; then
+if [[ -n "${supportdaemonization}" ]]; then
   if [[ -n "${secure_service}" ]]; then
     hadoop_secure_daemon_handler "${HADOOP_DAEMON_MODE}" "${COMMAND}"\
     "${CLASS}" "${daemon_pidfile}" "${daemon_outfile}" \
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/bin/yarn b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/bin/yarn
index 90e5527a3a..b98f344c85 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/bin/yarn
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/bin/yarn
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ case "${COMMAND}" in
     YARN_OPTS="${YARN_OPTS} ${YARN_CLIENT_OPTS}"
   ;;
   historyserver)
-    daemon="true"
+    supportdaemonization="true"
     echo "DEPRECATED: Use of this command to start the timeline server is deprecated." 1>&2
     echo "Instead use the timelineserver command for it." 1>&2
     echo "Starting the History Server anyway..." 1>&2
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ case "${COMMAND}" in
     YARN_OPTS="${YARN_OPTS} ${YARN_CLIENT_OPTS}"
   ;;
   nodemanager)
-    daemon="true"
+    supportdaemonization="true"
     CLASS='org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.nodemanager.NodeManager'
     hadoop_debug "Append YARN_NODEMANAGER_OPTS onto YARN_OPTS"
     YARN_OPTS="${YARN_OPTS} ${YARN_NODEMANAGER_OPTS}"
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ case "${COMMAND}" in
     fi
   ;;
   proxyserver)
-    daemon="true"
+    supportdaemonization="true"
     CLASS='org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.webproxy.WebAppProxyServer'
     hadoop_debug "Append YARN_PROXYSERVER_OPTS onto YARN_OPTS"
     YARN_OPTS="${YARN_OPTS} ${YARN_PROXYSERVER_OPTS}"
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ case "${COMMAND}" in
     YARN_OPTS="${YARN_OPTS} ${YARN_CLIENT_OPTS}"
   ;;
   resourcemanager)
-    daemon="true"
+    supportdaemonization="true"
     CLASS='org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.resourcemanager.ResourceManager'
     YARN_OPTS="${YARN_OPTS} ${YARN_RESOURCEMANAGER_OPTS}"
     hadoop_debug "Append YARN_RESOURCEMANAGER_OPTS onto YARN_OPTS"
@@ -149,7 +149,7 @@ case "${COMMAND}" in
     YARN_OPTS="${YARN_OPTS} ${YARN_CLIENT_OPTS}"
   ;;
   timelineserver)
-    daemon="true"
+    supportdaemonization="true"
     CLASS='org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.applicationhistoryservice.ApplicationHistoryServer'
     hadoop_debug "Append YARN_TIMELINESERVER_OPTS onto YARN_OPTS"
     YARN_OPTS="${YARN_OPTS} ${YARN_TIMELINESERVER_OPTS}"
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ case "${COMMAND}" in
     fi
   ;;
   sharedcachemanager)
-    daemon="true"
+    supportdaemonization="true"
     CLASS='org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.sharedcachemanager.SharedCacheManager'
     YARN_OPTS="$YARN_OPTS $YARN_SHAREDCACHEMANAGER_OPTS"
   ;;
@@ -206,7 +206,7 @@ hadoop_add_param HADOOP_OPTS yarn.root.logger "-Dyarn.root.logger=${YARN_ROOT_LO
 
 hadoop_finalize
 
-if [[ -n "${daemon}" ]]; then
+if [[ -n "${supportdaemonization}" ]]; then
   if [[ -n "${secure_service}" ]]; then
     hadoop_secure_daemon_handler "${HADOOP_DAEMON_MODE}" "${COMMAND}" \
     "${CLASS}" "${daemon_pidfile}" "${daemon_outfile}" \