diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/lens/public/indexpattern_datasource/counter_rate/counter_rate.test.ts b/x-pack/plugins/lens/public/indexpattern_datasource/counter_rate/counter_rate.test.ts
index e9c59184785101..a18b04cc8fa622 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/lens/public/indexpattern_datasource/counter_rate/counter_rate.test.ts
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/lens/public/indexpattern_datasource/counter_rate/counter_rate.test.ts
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ import { counterRate, CounterRateArgs } from '../counter_rate';
 import { Datatable } from 'src/plugins/expressions/public';
 import { functionWrapper } from 'src/plugins/expressions/common/expression_functions/specs/tests/utils';
 
-describe('counter_rate', () => {
+describe('lens_counter_rate', () => {
   const fn = functionWrapper(counterRate);
   const runFn = (input: Datatable, args: CounterRateArgs) => fn(input, args) as Datatable;
 
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/lens/public/indexpattern_datasource/counter_rate/index.ts b/x-pack/plugins/lens/public/indexpattern_datasource/counter_rate/index.ts
index 89dedd846aaf91..d514922fde7544 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/lens/public/indexpattern_datasource/counter_rate/index.ts
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/lens/public/indexpattern_datasource/counter_rate/index.ts
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ export interface CounterRateArgs {
 }
 
 export type ExpressionFunctionCounterRate = ExpressionFunctionDefinition<
-  'counter_rate',
+  'lens_counter_rate',
   Datatable,
   CounterRateArgs,
   Datatable
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ export type ExpressionFunctionCounterRate = ExpressionFunctionDefinition<
  *   Missing values (`null` and `undefined`) will be treated as empty strings.
  */
 export const counterRate: ExpressionFunctionCounterRate = {
-  name: 'counter_rate',
+  name: 'lens_counter_rate',
   type: 'datatable',
 
   inputTypes: ['datatable'],
@@ -94,6 +94,16 @@ export const counterRate: ExpressionFunctionCounterRate = {
   },
 
   fn(input, { by, inputColumnId, outputColumnId, outputColumnName }) {
+    const resultColumns = buildResultColumns(
+      input,
+      outputColumnId,
+      inputColumnId,
+      outputColumnName
+    );
+
+    if (!resultColumns) {
+      return input;
+    }
     const previousValues: Partial<Record<string, number>> = {};
     return {
       ...input,