diff --git a/src/core/dbus-execute.c b/src/core/dbus-execute.c
index d5ef796e522..88be591fe8b 100644
--- a/src/core/dbus-execute.c
+++ b/src/core/dbus-execute.c
@@ -1606,7 +1606,7 @@ int bus_set_transient_exec_command(
                         if (!exec_chars)
                                 return -ENOMEM;
 
-                        a = unit_concat_strv(c->argv, UNIT_ESCAPE_SPECIFIERS|UNIT_ESCAPE_EXEC_SYNTAX);
+                        a = unit_concat_strv(c->argv, UNIT_ESCAPE_SPECIFIERS|UNIT_ESCAPE_EXEC_SYNTAX_ENV);
                         if (!a)
                                 return -ENOMEM;
 
@@ -1617,7 +1617,7 @@ int bus_set_transient_exec_command(
                                 const char *p;
 
                                 p = unit_escape_setting(c->path,
-                                                        UNIT_ESCAPE_SPECIFIERS|UNIT_ESCAPE_EXEC_SYNTAX, &t);
+                                                        UNIT_ESCAPE_SPECIFIERS|UNIT_ESCAPE_EXEC_SYNTAX_ENV, &t);
                                 if (!p)
                                         return -ENOMEM;
 
diff --git a/src/core/unit.c b/src/core/unit.c
index 2d47d9de8c0..a6a0328e4dd 100644
--- a/src/core/unit.c
+++ b/src/core/unit.c
@@ -4312,7 +4312,7 @@ static const char* unit_drop_in_dir(Unit *u, UnitWriteFlags flags) {
 
 const char* unit_escape_setting(const char *s, UnitWriteFlags flags, char **buf) {
         assert(s);
-        assert(!FLAGS_SET(flags, UNIT_ESCAPE_EXEC_SYNTAX | UNIT_ESCAPE_C));
+        assert(!FLAGS_SET(flags, UNIT_ESCAPE_EXEC_SYNTAX_ENV | UNIT_ESCAPE_C));
         assert(buf);
 
         _cleanup_free_ char *t = NULL;
@@ -4334,7 +4334,7 @@ const char* unit_escape_setting(const char *s, UnitWriteFlags flags, char **buf)
         /* We either do C-escaping or shell-escaping, to additionally escape characters that we parse for
          * ExecStart= and friends, i.e. '$' and quotes. */
 
-        if (flags & UNIT_ESCAPE_EXEC_SYNTAX) {
+        if (flags & UNIT_ESCAPE_EXEC_SYNTAX_ENV) {
                 char *t2;
 
                 t2 = strreplace(s, "$", "$$");
diff --git a/src/core/unit.h b/src/core/unit.h
index 420405b2b77..ff29b785bbe 100644
--- a/src/core/unit.h
+++ b/src/core/unit.h
@@ -528,22 +528,22 @@ typedef struct UnitStatusMessageFormats {
 /* Flags used when writing drop-in files or transient unit files */
 typedef enum UnitWriteFlags {
         /* Write a runtime unit file or drop-in (i.e. one below /run) */
-        UNIT_RUNTIME            = 1 << 0,
+        UNIT_RUNTIME                = 1 << 0,
 
         /* Write a persistent drop-in (i.e. one below /etc) */
-        UNIT_PERSISTENT         = 1 << 1,
+        UNIT_PERSISTENT             = 1 << 1,
 
         /* Place this item in the per-unit-type private section, instead of [Unit] */
-        UNIT_PRIVATE            = 1 << 2,
+        UNIT_PRIVATE                = 1 << 2,
 
-        /* Apply specifier escaping before writing */
-        UNIT_ESCAPE_SPECIFIERS  = 1 << 3,
+        /* Apply specifier escaping */
+        UNIT_ESCAPE_SPECIFIERS      = 1 << 3,
 
-        /* Escape elements of ExecStart= syntax before writing */
-        UNIT_ESCAPE_EXEC_SYNTAX = 1 << 4,
+        /* Escape elements of ExecStart= syntax, incl. prevention of variable expansion */
+        UNIT_ESCAPE_EXEC_SYNTAX_ENV = 1 << 4,
 
         /* Apply C escaping before writing */
-        UNIT_ESCAPE_C           = 1 << 5,
+        UNIT_ESCAPE_C               = 1 << 5,
 } UnitWriteFlags;
 
 /* Returns true if neither persistent, nor runtime storage is requested, i.e. this is a check invocation only */
diff --git a/src/test/test-core-unit.c b/src/test/test-core-unit.c
index ea514a5c8c3..91e6cdd6a36 100644
--- a/src/test/test-core-unit.c
+++ b/src/test/test-core-unit.c
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ static void test_unit_escape_setting_one(
         assert_se(a == NULL);
         assert_se(t == s);
 
-        assert_se(t = unit_escape_setting(s, UNIT_ESCAPE_EXEC_SYNTAX, &b));
+        assert_se(t = unit_escape_setting(s, UNIT_ESCAPE_EXEC_SYNTAX_ENV, &b));
         assert_se(b_esc = cescape(t));
         log_debug("%s: [%s] → [%s]", __func__, s_esc, b_esc);
         assert_se(b == NULL || streq(b, t));
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ static void test_unit_concat_strv_one(
         log_debug("%s: [%s] → [%s]", __func__, s_esc, a_esc);
         assert_se(streq(a, expected_none));
 
-        assert_se(b = unit_concat_strv(s, UNIT_ESCAPE_EXEC_SYNTAX));
+        assert_se(b = unit_concat_strv(s, UNIT_ESCAPE_EXEC_SYNTAX_ENV));
         assert_se(b_esc = cescape(b));
         log_debug("%s: [%s] → [%s]", __func__, s_esc, b_esc);
         assert_se(streq(b, expected_exec));