diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/SparkContext.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/SparkContext.scala
index 7b077f052f722..2e48e376d3533 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/SparkContext.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/SparkContext.scala
@@ -232,11 +232,11 @@ class SparkContext(config: SparkConf) extends Logging {
   /** A default Hadoop Configuration for the Hadoop code (e.g. file systems) that we reuse. */
   val hadoopConfiguration = SparkHadoopUtil.get.newConfiguration(conf)
 
-  /** Control our logLevel
+  /** Control our logLevel. This overrides any user-defined log settings.
    * @param logLevel The desired log level as a string.
    */
   def setLoggingLevel(logLevel: String) = {
-    Utils.setLogLevel(org.apache.log4j.Level.toLevel(logLevel))
+    Utils.setLoggingLevel(org.apache.log4j.Level.toLevel(logLevel))
   }
   // Optionally log Spark events
   private[spark] val eventLogger: Option[EventLoggingListener] = {
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/Utils.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/Utils.scala
index 461aa290f4f53..7c58523cd12af 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/Utils.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/Utils.scala
@@ -1455,7 +1455,7 @@ private[spark] object Utils extends Logging {
   /**
    * configure a new log4j level
    */
-  def setLogLevel(l: org.apache.log4j.Level) {
+  def setLoggingLevel(l: org.apache.log4j.Level) {
     org.apache.log4j.Logger.getRootLogger().setLevel(l)
   }
 
diff --git a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/util/UtilsSuite.scala b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/util/UtilsSuite.scala
index c1639d6d2040b..2040f38ee1758 100644
--- a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/util/UtilsSuite.scala
+++ b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/util/UtilsSuite.scala
@@ -301,9 +301,9 @@ class UtilsSuite extends FunSuite with Logging {
 
   // Test for using the util function to change our log levels.
   test("log4j log level change") {
-    Utils.setLogLevel(org.apache.log4j.Level.ALL)
+    Utils.setLoggingLevel(org.apache.log4j.Level.ALL)
     assert(log.isInfoEnabled())
-    Utils.setLogLevel(org.apache.log4j.Level.ERROR)
+    Utils.setLoggingLevel(org.apache.log4j.Level.ERROR)
     assert(!log.isInfoEnabled())
     assert(log.isErrorEnabled())
   }