diff --git a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-sqlalchemy/CHANGELOG.md b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-sqlalchemy/CHANGELOG.md
index 73fa087a11..4d58e52c03 100644
--- a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-sqlalchemy/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-sqlalchemy/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+- Update sqlalchemy instrumentation to follow semantic conventions
+([#202](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python-contrib/pull/202))
+
 ## Version 0.13b0
 
 Released 2020-09-17
diff --git a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-sqlalchemy/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/sqlalchemy/__init__.py b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-sqlalchemy/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/sqlalchemy/__init__.py
index befc4df73a..d10cb385a4 100644
--- a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-sqlalchemy/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/sqlalchemy/__init__.py
+++ b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-sqlalchemy/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/sqlalchemy/__init__.py
@@ -34,7 +34,6 @@
     engine = create_engine("sqlite:///:memory:")
     SQLAlchemyInstrumentor().instrument(
         engine=engine,
-        service="service-A",
     )
 
 API
@@ -66,7 +65,6 @@ def _instrument(self, **kwargs):
             **kwargs: Optional arguments
                 ``engine``: a SQLAlchemy engine instance
                 ``tracer_provider``: a TracerProvider, defaults to global
-                ``service``: the name of the service to trace.
 
         Returns:
             An instrumented engine if passed in as an argument, None otherwise.
@@ -78,7 +76,6 @@ def _instrument(self, **kwargs):
                 _get_tracer(
                     kwargs.get("engine"), kwargs.get("tracer_provider")
                 ),
-                kwargs.get("service"),
                 kwargs.get("engine"),
             )
         return None
diff --git a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-sqlalchemy/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/sqlalchemy/engine.py b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-sqlalchemy/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/sqlalchemy/engine.py
index 7c97c685da..07e86d5856 100644
--- a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-sqlalchemy/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/sqlalchemy/engine.py
+++ b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-sqlalchemy/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/sqlalchemy/engine.py
@@ -24,10 +24,9 @@
 _PORT = "net.peer.port"
 # Database semantic conventions here:
 # https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-specification/blob/master/specification/trace/semantic_conventions/database.md
-_ROWS = "sql.rows"  # number of rows returned by a query
 _STMT = "db.statement"
-_DB = "db.type"
-_URL = "db.url"
+_DB = "db.name"
+_USER = "db.user"
 
 
 def _normalize_vendor(vendor):
@@ -39,7 +38,7 @@ def _normalize_vendor(vendor):
         return "sqlite"
 
     if "postgres" in vendor or vendor == "psycopg2":
-        return "postgres"
+        return "postgresql"
 
     return vendor
 
@@ -58,17 +57,15 @@ def _wrap_create_engine(func, module, args, kwargs):
     object that will listen to SQLAlchemy events.
     """
     engine = func(*args, **kwargs)
-    EngineTracer(_get_tracer(engine), None, engine)
+    EngineTracer(_get_tracer(engine), engine)
     return engine
 
 
 class EngineTracer:
-    def __init__(self, tracer, service, engine):
+    def __init__(self, tracer, engine):
         self.tracer = tracer
         self.engine = engine
         self.vendor = _normalize_vendor(engine.name)
-        self.service = service or self.vendor
-        self.name = "%s.query" % self.vendor
         self.current_span = None
 
         listen(engine, "before_cursor_execute", self._before_cur_exec)
@@ -77,11 +74,11 @@ def __init__(self, tracer, service, engine):
 
     # pylint: disable=unused-argument
     def _before_cur_exec(self, conn, cursor, statement, *args):
-        self.current_span = self.tracer.start_span(self.name)
+        self.current_span = self.tracer.start_span(statement)
         with self.tracer.use_span(self.current_span, end_on_exit=False):
             if self.current_span.is_recording():
-                self.current_span.set_attribute("service", self.vendor)
                 self.current_span.set_attribute(_STMT, statement)
+                self.current_span.set_attribute("db.system", self.vendor)
 
                 if not _set_attributes_from_url(
                     self.current_span, conn.engine.url
@@ -94,16 +91,7 @@ def _before_cur_exec(self, conn, cursor, statement, *args):
     def _after_cur_exec(self, conn, cursor, statement, *args):
         if self.current_span is None:
             return
-
-        try:
-            if (
-                cursor
-                and cursor.rowcount >= 0
-                and self.current_span.is_recording()
-            ):
-                self.current_span.set_attribute(_ROWS, cursor.rowcount)
-        finally:
-            self.current_span.end()
+        self.current_span.end()
 
     def _handle_error(self, context):
         if self.current_span is None:
@@ -127,6 +115,8 @@ def _set_attributes_from_url(span: trace.Span, url):
             span.set_attribute(_PORT, url.port)
         if url.database:
             span.set_attribute(_DB, url.database)
+        if url.username:
+            span.set_attribute(_USER, url.username)
 
     return bool(url.host)
 
@@ -135,7 +125,7 @@ def _set_attributes_from_cursor(span: trace.Span, vendor, cursor):
     """Attempt to set db connection attributes by introspecting the cursor."""
     if not span.is_recording():
         return
-    if vendor == "postgres":
+    if vendor == "postgresql":
         # pylint: disable=import-outside-toplevel
         from psycopg2.extensions import parse_dsn
 
diff --git a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-sqlalchemy/tests/test_sqlalchemy.py b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-sqlalchemy/tests/test_sqlalchemy.py
index 3b2e3548a5..a0187454ba 100644
--- a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-sqlalchemy/tests/test_sqlalchemy.py
+++ b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-sqlalchemy/tests/test_sqlalchemy.py
@@ -27,16 +27,14 @@ def tearDown(self):
     def test_trace_integration(self):
         engine = create_engine("sqlite:///:memory:")
         SQLAlchemyInstrumentor().instrument(
-            engine=engine,
-            tracer_provider=self.tracer_provider,
-            service="my-database",
+            engine=engine, tracer_provider=self.tracer_provider,
         )
         cnx = engine.connect()
         cnx.execute("SELECT	1 + 1;").fetchall()
         spans = self.memory_exporter.get_finished_spans()
 
         self.assertEqual(len(spans), 1)
-        self.assertEqual(spans[0].name, "sqlite.query")
+        self.assertEqual(spans[0].name, "SELECT	1 + 1;")
 
     def test_not_recording(self):
         mock_tracer = mock.Mock()
@@ -49,9 +47,7 @@ def test_not_recording(self):
             tracer.return_value = mock_tracer
             engine = create_engine("sqlite:///:memory:")
             SQLAlchemyInstrumentor().instrument(
-                engine=engine,
-                tracer_provider=self.tracer_provider,
-                service="my-database",
+                engine=engine, tracer_provider=self.tracer_provider,
             )
             cnx = engine.connect()
             cnx.execute("SELECT	1 + 1;").fetchall()
@@ -70,4 +66,4 @@ def test_create_engine_wrapper(self):
         spans = self.memory_exporter.get_finished_spans()
 
         self.assertEqual(len(spans), 1)
-        self.assertEqual(spans[0].name, "sqlite.query")
+        self.assertEqual(spans[0].name, "SELECT	1 + 1;")
diff --git a/tests/opentelemetry-docker-tests/tests/sqlalchemy_tests/mixins.py b/tests/opentelemetry-docker-tests/tests/sqlalchemy_tests/mixins.py
index 72137f83e8..b2e9f24e3d 100644
--- a/tests/opentelemetry-docker-tests/tests/sqlalchemy_tests/mixins.py
+++ b/tests/opentelemetry-docker-tests/tests/sqlalchemy_tests/mixins.py
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 
 from opentelemetry import trace
 from opentelemetry.instrumentation.sqlalchemy import SQLAlchemyInstrumentor
-from opentelemetry.instrumentation.sqlalchemy.engine import _DB, _ROWS, _STMT
+from opentelemetry.instrumentation.sqlalchemy.engine import _DB, _STMT
 from opentelemetry.test.test_base import TestBase
 
 Base = declarative_base()
@@ -109,9 +109,8 @@ def tearDown(self):
         SQLAlchemyInstrumentor().uninstrument()
         super().tearDown()
 
-    def _check_span(self, span):
-        self.assertEqual(span.name, "{}.query".format(self.VENDOR))
-        self.assertEqual(span.attributes.get("service"), self.SERVICE)
+    def _check_span(self, span, name):
+        self.assertEqual(span.name, name)
         self.assertEqual(span.attributes.get(_DB), self.SQL_DB)
         self.assertIs(span.status.status_code, trace.status.StatusCode.UNSET)
         self.assertGreater((span.end_time - span.start_time), 0)
@@ -125,9 +124,13 @@ def test_orm_insert(self):
         spans = self.memory_exporter.get_finished_spans()
         self.assertEqual(len(spans), 1)
         span = spans[0]
-        self._check_span(span)
+        stmt = "INSERT INTO players (id, name) VALUES "
+        if span.attributes.get("db.system") == "sqlite":
+            stmt += "(?, ?)"
+        else:
+            stmt += "(%(id)s, %(name)s)"
+        self._check_span(span, stmt)
         self.assertIn("INSERT INTO players", span.attributes.get(_STMT))
-        self.assertEqual(span.attributes.get(_ROWS), 1)
         self.check_meta(span)
 
     def test_session_query(self):
@@ -138,7 +141,12 @@ def test_session_query(self):
         spans = self.memory_exporter.get_finished_spans()
         self.assertEqual(len(spans), 1)
         span = spans[0]
-        self._check_span(span)
+        stmt = "SELECT players.id AS players_id, players.name AS players_name \nFROM players \nWHERE players.name = "
+        if span.attributes.get("db.system") == "sqlite":
+            stmt += "?"
+        else:
+            stmt += "%(name_1)s"
+        self._check_span(span, stmt)
         self.assertIn(
             "SELECT players.id AS players_id, players.name AS players_name \nFROM players \nWHERE players.name",
             span.attributes.get(_STMT),
@@ -147,24 +155,26 @@ def test_session_query(self):
 
     def test_engine_connect_execute(self):
         # ensures that engine.connect() is properly traced
+        stmt = "SELECT * FROM players"
         with self.connection() as conn:
-            rows = conn.execute("SELECT * FROM players").fetchall()
+            rows = conn.execute(stmt).fetchall()
             self.assertEqual(len(rows), 0)
 
         spans = self.memory_exporter.get_finished_spans()
         self.assertEqual(len(spans), 1)
         span = spans[0]
-        self._check_span(span)
+        self._check_span(span, stmt)
         self.assertEqual(span.attributes.get(_STMT), "SELECT * FROM players")
         self.check_meta(span)
 
     def test_parent(self):
         """Ensure that sqlalchemy works with opentelemetry."""
+        stmt = "SELECT * FROM players"
         tracer = self.tracer_provider.get_tracer("sqlalch_svc")
 
         with tracer.start_as_current_span("sqlalch_op"):
             with self.connection() as conn:
-                rows = conn.execute("SELECT * FROM players").fetchall()
+                rows = conn.execute(stmt).fetchall()
                 self.assertEqual(len(rows), 0)
 
         spans = self.memory_exporter.get_finished_spans()
@@ -178,5 +188,4 @@ def test_parent(self):
         self.assertEqual(parent_span.name, "sqlalch_op")
         self.assertEqual(parent_span.instrumentation_info.name, "sqlalch_svc")
 
-        self.assertEqual(child_span.name, "{}.query".format(self.VENDOR))
-        self.assertEqual(child_span.attributes.get("service"), self.SERVICE)
+        self.assertEqual(child_span.name, stmt)
diff --git a/tests/opentelemetry-docker-tests/tests/sqlalchemy_tests/test_instrument.py b/tests/opentelemetry-docker-tests/tests/sqlalchemy_tests/test_instrument.py
index c408c63d94..3da823d5ba 100644
--- a/tests/opentelemetry-docker-tests/tests/sqlalchemy_tests/test_instrument.py
+++ b/tests/opentelemetry-docker-tests/tests/sqlalchemy_tests/test_instrument.py
@@ -64,7 +64,6 @@ def test_engine_traced(self):
         self.assertEqual(len(traces), 1)
         span = traces[0]
         # check subset of span fields
-        self.assertEqual(span.name, "postgres.query")
-        self.assertEqual(span.attributes.get("service"), "postgres")
+        self.assertEqual(span.name, "SELECT 1")
         self.assertIs(span.status.status_code, trace.status.StatusCode.UNSET)
         self.assertGreater((span.end_time - span.start_time), 0)
diff --git a/tests/opentelemetry-docker-tests/tests/sqlalchemy_tests/test_mysql.py b/tests/opentelemetry-docker-tests/tests/sqlalchemy_tests/test_mysql.py
index 310cd91f73..e37fa4d51e 100644
--- a/tests/opentelemetry-docker-tests/tests/sqlalchemy_tests/test_mysql.py
+++ b/tests/opentelemetry-docker-tests/tests/sqlalchemy_tests/test_mysql.py
@@ -23,8 +23,8 @@
     _DB,
     _HOST,
     _PORT,
-    _ROWS,
     _STMT,
+    _USER,
 )
 
 from .mixins import SQLAlchemyTestMixin
@@ -45,7 +45,6 @@ class MysqlConnectorTestCase(SQLAlchemyTestMixin):
 
     VENDOR = "mysql"
     SQL_DB = "opentelemetry-tests"
-    SERVICE = "mysql"
     ENGINE_ARGS = {
         "url": "mysql+mysqlconnector://%(user)s:%(password)s@%(host)s:%(port)s/%(database)s"
         % MYSQL_CONFIG
@@ -55,6 +54,8 @@ def check_meta(self, span):
         # check database connection tags
         self.assertEqual(span.attributes.get(_HOST), MYSQL_CONFIG["host"])
         self.assertEqual(span.attributes.get(_PORT), MYSQL_CONFIG["port"])
+        self.assertEqual(span.attributes.get(_DB), MYSQL_CONFIG["database"])
+        self.assertEqual(span.attributes.get(_USER), MYSQL_CONFIG["user"])
 
     def test_engine_execute_errors(self):
         # ensures that SQL errors are reported
@@ -66,13 +67,11 @@ def test_engine_execute_errors(self):
         self.assertEqual(len(spans), 1)
         span = spans[0]
         # span fields
-        self.assertEqual(span.name, "{}.query".format(self.VENDOR))
-        self.assertEqual(span.attributes.get("service"), self.SERVICE)
+        self.assertEqual(span.name, "SELECT * FROM a_wrong_table")
         self.assertEqual(
             span.attributes.get(_STMT), "SELECT * FROM a_wrong_table"
         )
         self.assertEqual(span.attributes.get(_DB), self.SQL_DB)
-        self.assertIsNone(span.attributes.get(_ROWS))
         self.check_meta(span)
         self.assertTrue(span.end_time - span.start_time > 0)
         # check the error
diff --git a/tests/opentelemetry-docker-tests/tests/sqlalchemy_tests/test_postgres.py b/tests/opentelemetry-docker-tests/tests/sqlalchemy_tests/test_postgres.py
index 91fb123c97..2642d52a74 100644
--- a/tests/opentelemetry-docker-tests/tests/sqlalchemy_tests/test_postgres.py
+++ b/tests/opentelemetry-docker-tests/tests/sqlalchemy_tests/test_postgres.py
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@
     _DB,
     _HOST,
     _PORT,
-    _ROWS,
     _STMT,
 )
 
@@ -44,9 +43,8 @@ class PostgresTestCase(SQLAlchemyTestMixin):
 
     __test__ = True
 
-    VENDOR = "postgres"
+    VENDOR = "postgresql"
     SQL_DB = "opentelemetry-tests"
-    SERVICE = "postgres"
     ENGINE_ARGS = {
         "url": "postgresql://%(user)s:%(password)s@%(host)s:%(port)s/%(dbname)s"
         % POSTGRES_CONFIG
@@ -67,13 +65,11 @@ def test_engine_execute_errors(self):
         self.assertEqual(len(spans), 1)
         span = spans[0]
         # span fields
-        self.assertEqual(span.name, "{}.query".format(self.VENDOR))
-        self.assertEqual(span.attributes.get("service"), self.SERVICE)
+        self.assertEqual(span.name, "SELECT * FROM a_wrong_table")
         self.assertEqual(
             span.attributes.get(_STMT), "SELECT * FROM a_wrong_table"
         )
         self.assertEqual(span.attributes.get(_DB), self.SQL_DB)
-        self.assertIsNone(span.attributes.get(_ROWS))
         self.check_meta(span)
         self.assertTrue(span.end_time - span.start_time > 0)
         # check the error
@@ -88,9 +84,8 @@ class PostgresCreatorTestCase(PostgresTestCase):
     of `PostgresTestCase`, but it uses a specific `creator` function.
     """
 
-    VENDOR = "postgres"
+    VENDOR = "postgresql"
     SQL_DB = "opentelemetry-tests"
-    SERVICE = "postgres"
     ENGINE_ARGS = {
         "url": "postgresql://",
         "creator": lambda: psycopg2.connect(**POSTGRES_CONFIG),
diff --git a/tests/opentelemetry-docker-tests/tests/sqlalchemy_tests/test_sqlite.py b/tests/opentelemetry-docker-tests/tests/sqlalchemy_tests/test_sqlite.py
index 309dd73ccc..a3fae96bb8 100644
--- a/tests/opentelemetry-docker-tests/tests/sqlalchemy_tests/test_sqlite.py
+++ b/tests/opentelemetry-docker-tests/tests/sqlalchemy_tests/test_sqlite.py
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 from sqlalchemy.exc import OperationalError
 
 from opentelemetry import trace
-from opentelemetry.instrumentation.sqlalchemy.engine import _DB, _ROWS, _STMT
+from opentelemetry.instrumentation.sqlalchemy.engine import _DB, _STMT
 
 from .mixins import SQLAlchemyTestMixin
 
@@ -30,26 +30,24 @@ class SQLiteTestCase(SQLAlchemyTestMixin):
 
     VENDOR = "sqlite"
     SQL_DB = ":memory:"
-    SERVICE = "sqlite"
     ENGINE_ARGS = {"url": "sqlite:///:memory:"}
 
     def test_engine_execute_errors(self):
         # ensures that SQL errors are reported
+        stmt = "SELECT * FROM a_wrong_table"
         with pytest.raises(OperationalError):
             with self.connection() as conn:
-                conn.execute("SELECT * FROM a_wrong_table").fetchall()
+                conn.execute(stmt).fetchall()
 
         spans = self.memory_exporter.get_finished_spans()
         self.assertEqual(len(spans), 1)
         span = spans[0]
         # span fields
-        self.assertEqual(span.name, "{}.query".format(self.VENDOR))
-        self.assertEqual(span.attributes.get("service"), self.SERVICE)
+        self.assertEqual(span.name, stmt)
         self.assertEqual(
             span.attributes.get(_STMT), "SELECT * FROM a_wrong_table"
         )
         self.assertEqual(span.attributes.get(_DB), self.SQL_DB)
-        self.assertIsNone(span.attributes.get(_ROWS))
         self.assertTrue((span.end_time - span.start_time) > 0)
         # check the error
         self.assertIs(