diff --git a/ratex/ratelimit.go b/ratex/ratelimit.go
index 683a70fe..2ed5beb5 100644
--- a/ratex/ratelimit.go
+++ b/ratex/ratelimit.go
@@ -18,16 +18,17 @@ import (
 type RateLimitParams struct {
 	RateLimiter *rate.Limiter // can be nil to create a new rate limiter
 
-	// RetryAttempt represents the current retry attempt, starting at 1. This will increment for each retry
-	RetryAttempt int
-	MinDuration  time.Duration
-	MaxDuration  time.Duration
+	// Attempt represents the current attempt, starting at 1. This will increment for each (re)try
+	Attempt int
+
+	MinDuration time.Duration
+	MaxDuration time.Duration
 }
 
 func RateLimit(ctx context.Context, params RateLimitParams) (*rate.Limiter, error) {
 	ctx, span := telemetry.StartSpan(ctx, "rate-limiter-wait",
 		trace.WithAttributes(
-			attribute.Int("retry_attempt", params.RetryAttempt),
+			attribute.Int("attempt", params.Attempt),
 			attribute.Int64("min_duration_ms", params.MinDuration.Milliseconds()),
 			attribute.Int64("max_duration_ms", params.MaxDuration.Milliseconds()),
 		))
@@ -52,7 +53,7 @@ func RateLimit(ctx context.Context, params RateLimitParams) (*rate.Limiter, erro
 
 // generateRateLimiter initializes a new rate limiter or sets a new limit on it.
 func generateRateLimiter(ctx context.Context, params RateLimitParams) (*rate.Limiter, error) {
-	rateLimitDuration, err := generateRateLimitDuration(params.RetryAttempt, params.MinDuration, params.MaxDuration)
+	rateLimitDuration, err := generateRateLimitDuration(params.Attempt, params.MinDuration, params.MaxDuration)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("generating rate limit duration: %w", err)
 	}
@@ -103,7 +104,7 @@ func generateRateLimitDuration(multiplier int, minDuration, maxDuration time.Dur
 
 type RetryParams struct {
 	ShouldRetry func(err error) bool
-	MaxRetries  int
+	MaxAttempts int
 	MinDuration time.Duration
 	MaxDuration time.Duration
 }
@@ -116,8 +117,8 @@ func ExecRetryable[R any](ctx context.Context, closure func(ctx context.Context)
 	)
 
 	// Validate params
-	if params.MaxRetries <= 0 {
-		params.MaxRetries = 1 // Default to at least one try
+	if params.MaxAttempts <= 0 {
+		params.MaxAttempts = 1 // Default to at least one try
 	}
 	if params.MinDuration <= 0 {
 		params.MinDuration = 100 * time.Millisecond // Default min backoff
@@ -126,20 +127,20 @@ func ExecRetryable[R any](ctx context.Context, closure func(ctx context.Context)
 		params.MaxDuration = params.MinDuration * 10 // Default max to 10x min
 	}
 
-	retryFunc := func(ctx context.Context, retryAttempt int) (R, error) {
+	tryFunc := func(ctx context.Context, attemptNum int) (R, error) {
 		tryCtx, span := telemetry.StartSpan(ctx, "try",
 			trace.WithAttributes(
-				attribute.Int("retry_attempt", retryAttempt),
-				attribute.Int("max_tries", params.MaxRetries),
+				attribute.Int("attempt", attemptNum),
+				attribute.Int("max_attempts", params.MaxAttempts),
 			),
 		)
 		defer span.End()
 		return closure(tryCtx)
 	}
 
-	for i := 0; i < params.MaxRetries; i++ {
-		retryAttempt := i + 1
-		retVal, err = retryFunc(ctx, retryAttempt)
+	for i := range params.MaxAttempts {
+		attempt := i + 1
+		retVal, err = tryFunc(ctx, attempt)
 
 		// no error means success - break out
 		if err == nil {
@@ -152,20 +153,20 @@ func ExecRetryable[R any](ctx context.Context, closure func(ctx context.Context)
 		}
 
 		// record event if we'll be attempting retries
-		err = fmt.Errorf("try %d of %d: %w", retryAttempt, params.MaxRetries, err)
+		err = fmt.Errorf("try %d of %d: %w", attempt, params.MaxAttempts, err)
 		telemetry.AddEvent(ctx, err.Error())
 
-		if retryAttempt != params.MaxRetries {
+		if attempt != params.MaxAttempts {
 			// If error and we haven't hit max tries,
 			// generate rate limiter to delay retries.
 			// This will jitter a wait time before the next iteration.
 			//
 			// We abort on rate limit errors (e.g., ctx cancel) instead of continuing
 			rlParams := RateLimitParams{
-				RateLimiter:  rateLimiter,
-				RetryAttempt: retryAttempt,
-				MinDuration:  params.MinDuration,
-				MaxDuration:  params.MaxDuration,
+				RateLimiter: rateLimiter,
+				Attempt:     attempt,
+				MinDuration: params.MinDuration,
+				MaxDuration: params.MaxDuration,
 			}
 			rateLimiter, err = RateLimit(ctx, rlParams)
 			if err != nil {
@@ -176,7 +177,7 @@ func ExecRetryable[R any](ctx context.Context, closure func(ctx context.Context)
 	}
 
 	if err != nil {
-		return retVal, fmt.Errorf("hit max tries %d: %w", params.MaxRetries, err)
+		return retVal, fmt.Errorf("hit max tries %d: %w", params.MaxAttempts, err)
 	}
 	return retVal, nil
 }
diff --git a/ratex/ratelimit_test.go b/ratex/ratelimit_test.go
index 472aafdc..84d889c1 100644
--- a/ratex/ratelimit_test.go
+++ b/ratex/ratelimit_test.go
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ func TestExecRetryable(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 		params := RetryParams{
 			ShouldRetry: func(err error) bool { return true },
-			MaxRetries:  3,
+			MaxAttempts: 3,
 			MinDuration: 10 * time.Millisecond,
 			MaxDuration: 50 * time.Millisecond,
 		}
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ func TestExecRetryable(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 		params := RetryParams{
 			ShouldRetry: func(err error) bool { return true },
-			MaxRetries:  3,
+			MaxAttempts: 3,
 			MinDuration: 10 * time.Millisecond,
 			MaxDuration: 50 * time.Millisecond,
 		}
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ func TestExecRetryable(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 		params := RetryParams{
 			ShouldRetry: func(err error) bool { return false },
-			MaxRetries:  3,
+			MaxAttempts: 3,
 			MinDuration: 10 * time.Millisecond,
 			MaxDuration: 50 * time.Millisecond,
 		}
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ func TestExecRetryable(t *testing.T) {
 		require.Equal(t, "non-retryable error", err.Error())
 	})
 
-	t.Run("Retryable failures exceeding MaxRetries", func(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Run("Retryable failures exceeding MaxAttempts", func(t *testing.T) {
 		attempts := 0
 		closure := func(ctx context.Context) (string, error) {
 			attempts++
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ func TestExecRetryable(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 		params := RetryParams{
 			ShouldRetry: func(err error) bool { return true },
-			MaxRetries:  3,
+			MaxAttempts: 3,
 			MinDuration: 10 * time.Millisecond,
 			MaxDuration: 50 * time.Millisecond,
 		}
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ func TestExecRetryable(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 		params := RetryParams{
 			ShouldRetry: func(err error) bool { return true },
-			MaxRetries:  3,
+			MaxAttempts: 3,
 			MinDuration: 10 * time.Millisecond,
 			MaxDuration: 50 * time.Millisecond,
 		}
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ func TestExecRetryable(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 		params := RetryParams{
 			ShouldRetry: func(err error) bool { return true },
-			MaxRetries:  3,
+			MaxAttempts: 3,
 			MinDuration: 100 * time.Millisecond,
 			MaxDuration: 200 * time.Millisecond,
 		}
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ func TestExecRetryable(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 		params := RetryParams{
 			ShouldRetry: func(err error) bool { return true },
-			MaxRetries:  0, // Should default to 1
+			MaxAttempts: 0, // Should default to 1
 			MinDuration: 0, // Should default to 100ms
 			MaxDuration: 0, // Should default to 100ms * 10 = 1s
 		}
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ func TestExecRetryable(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 		params := RetryParams{
 			ShouldRetry: func(err error) bool { return true },
-			MaxRetries:  3,
+			MaxAttempts: 3,
 			MinDuration: 100 * time.Millisecond,
 			MaxDuration: 50 * time.Millisecond, // Will be set to 100ms * 10 = 1s
 		}
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ func TestExecRetryable(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 		params := RetryParams{
 			ShouldRetry: func(err error) bool { return true },
-			MaxRetries:  3,
+			MaxAttempts: 3,
 			MinDuration: 10 * time.Millisecond,
 			MaxDuration: 50 * time.Millisecond,
 		}
@@ -234,10 +234,10 @@ func TestRateLimit(t *testing.T) {
 
 	t.Run("New limiter", func(t *testing.T) {
 		params := RateLimitParams{
-			RateLimiter:  nil,
-			RetryAttempt: 1,
-			MinDuration:  10 * time.Millisecond,
-			MaxDuration:  20 * time.Millisecond,
+			RateLimiter: nil,
+			Attempt:     1,
+			MinDuration: 10 * time.Millisecond,
+			MaxDuration: 20 * time.Millisecond,
 		}
 		limiter, err := RateLimit(ctx, params)
 		require.NoError(t, err)
@@ -247,10 +247,10 @@ func TestRateLimit(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Run("Existing limiter update", func(t *testing.T) {
 		existing := rate.NewLimiter(rate.Every(100*time.Millisecond), 1)
 		params := RateLimitParams{
-			RateLimiter:  existing,
-			RetryAttempt: 2,
-			MinDuration:  10 * time.Millisecond,
-			MaxDuration:  20 * time.Millisecond,
+			RateLimiter: existing,
+			Attempt:     2,
+			MinDuration: 10 * time.Millisecond,
+			MaxDuration: 20 * time.Millisecond,
 		}
 		limiter, err := RateLimit(ctx, params)
 		require.NoError(t, err)
@@ -260,10 +260,10 @@ func TestRateLimit(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Run("Context cancel during wait", func(t *testing.T) {
 		ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(context.Background())
 		params := RateLimitParams{
-			RateLimiter:  nil,
-			RetryAttempt: 1,
-			MinDuration:  100 * time.Millisecond,
-			MaxDuration:  200 * time.Millisecond,
+			RateLimiter: nil,
+			Attempt:     1,
+			MinDuration: 100 * time.Millisecond,
+			MaxDuration: 200 * time.Millisecond,
 		}
 		go func() {
 			time.Sleep(50 * time.Millisecond)
diff --git a/sql/sql_test.go b/sql/sql_test.go
index d352ee1c..90a01c4f 100644
--- a/sql/sql_test.go
+++ b/sql/sql_test.go
@@ -380,7 +380,7 @@ func TestDBRetryableOperations(t *testing.T) {
 
 	retryParams := ratex.RetryParams{
 		ShouldRetry: func(err error) bool { return true },
-		MaxRetries:  3,
+		MaxAttempts: 3,
 		MinDuration: 10 * time.Millisecond,
 		MaxDuration: 50 * time.Millisecond,
 	}
@@ -412,7 +412,7 @@ func TestDBRetryableOperations(t *testing.T) {
 		require.Error(t, err)
 	})
 
-	t.Run("ExecContextRetryable - Retryable failures exceeding MaxRetries", func(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Run("ExecContextRetryable - Retryable failures exceeding MaxAttempts", func(t *testing.T) {
 		closure := func(ctx context.Context) (gosql.Result, error) {
 			return nil, errors.New("retryable error")
 		}