diff --git a/django/contrib/admin/options.py b/django/contrib/admin/options.py
index 0b79ac75ef..33c86d2ba9 100644
--- a/django/contrib/admin/options.py
+++ b/django/contrib/admin/options.py
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ from django.contrib.admin.exceptions import DisallowedModelAdminToField
 from django.contrib.admin.templatetags.admin_urls import add_preserved_filters
 from django.contrib.admin.utils import (
     NestedObjects, construct_change_message, flatten_fieldsets,
-    get_deleted_objects, lookup_needs_distinct, model_format_dict,
+    get_deleted_objects, lookup_spawns_duplicates, model_format_dict,
     model_ngettext, quote, unquote,
 )
 from django.contrib.admin.widgets import (
@@ -1031,7 +1031,7 @@ class ModelAdmin(BaseModelAdmin):
                               for orm_lookup in orm_lookups]
                 queryset = queryset.filter(reduce(operator.or_, or_queries))
             may_have_duplicates |= any(
-                lookup_needs_distinct(self.opts, search_spec)
+                lookup_spawns_duplicates(self.opts, search_spec)
                 for search_spec in orm_lookups
             )
         return queryset, may_have_duplicates
diff --git a/django/contrib/admin/utils.py b/django/contrib/admin/utils.py
index ba06da5211..7eea70b194 100644
--- a/django/contrib/admin/utils.py
+++ b/django/contrib/admin/utils.py
@@ -25,9 +25,9 @@ class FieldIsAForeignKeyColumnName(Exception):
     pass
 
 
-def lookup_needs_distinct(opts, lookup_path):
+def lookup_spawns_duplicates(opts, lookup_path):
     """
-    Return True if 'distinct()' should be used to query the given lookup path.
+    Return True if the given lookup path spawns duplicates.
     """
     lookup_fields = lookup_path.split(LOOKUP_SEP)
     # Go through the fields (following all relations) and look for an m2m.
@@ -45,7 +45,8 @@ def lookup_needs_distinct(opts, lookup_path):
                 path_info = field.get_path_info()
                 opts = path_info[-1].to_opts
                 if any(path.m2m for path in path_info):
-                    # This field is a m2m relation so distinct must be called.
+                    # This field is a m2m relation so duplicates must be
+                    # handled.
                     return True
     return False
 
diff --git a/django/contrib/admin/views/main.py b/django/contrib/admin/views/main.py
index a54ef25f23..2e3e758164 100644
--- a/django/contrib/admin/views/main.py
+++ b/django/contrib/admin/views/main.py
@@ -11,7 +11,8 @@ from django.contrib.admin.options import (
     IS_POPUP_VAR, TO_FIELD_VAR, IncorrectLookupParameters,
 )
 from django.contrib.admin.utils import (
-    get_fields_from_path, lookup_needs_distinct, prepare_lookup_value, quote,
+    get_fields_from_path, lookup_spawns_duplicates, prepare_lookup_value,
+    quote,
 )
 from django.core.exceptions import (
     FieldDoesNotExist, ImproperlyConfigured, SuspiciousOperation,
@@ -154,10 +155,12 @@ class ChangeList:
                     self.model, self.model_admin, field_path=field_path,
                 )
                 # field_list_filter_class removes any lookup_params it
-                # processes. If that happened, check if distinct() is needed to
-                # remove duplicate results.
+                # processes. If that happened, check if duplicates should be
+                # removed.
                 if lookup_params_count > len(lookup_params):
-                    may_have_duplicates |= lookup_needs_distinct(self.lookup_opts, field_path)
+                    may_have_duplicates |= lookup_spawns_duplicates(
+                        self.lookup_opts, field_path,
+                    )
             if spec and spec.has_output():
                 filter_specs.append(spec)
                 if lookup_params_count > len(lookup_params):
@@ -198,12 +201,12 @@ class ChangeList:
         # have been removed from lookup_params, which now only contains other
         # parameters passed via the query string. We now loop through the
         # remaining parameters both to ensure that all the parameters are valid
-        # fields and to determine if at least one of them needs distinct(). If
+        # fields and to determine if at least one of them spawns duplicates. If
         # the lookup parameters aren't real fields, then bail out.
         try:
             for key, value in lookup_params.items():
                 lookup_params[key] = prepare_lookup_value(key, value)
-                may_have_duplicates |= lookup_needs_distinct(self.lookup_opts, key)
+                may_have_duplicates |= lookup_spawns_duplicates(self.lookup_opts, key)
             return (
                 filter_specs, bool(filter_specs), lookup_params, may_have_duplicates,
                 has_active_filters,
diff --git a/docs/releases/4.0.txt b/docs/releases/4.0.txt
index ab65c31094..e7eab6fa43 100644
--- a/docs/releases/4.0.txt
+++ b/docs/releases/4.0.txt
@@ -396,6 +396,9 @@ Miscellaneous
   As a side-effect ``makemigrations`` might generate no-op ``AlterField``
   operations for ``ForeignKey`` fields in some cases.
 
+* The undocumented ``django.contrib.admin.utils.lookup_needs_distinct()``
+  function is renamed to ``lookup_spawns_duplicates()``.
+
 .. _deprecated-features-4.0:
 
 Features deprecated in 4.0