diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 9a0d014e78bc..f2d847b96804 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 - `prometheusremotewriteexporter`: Handling Staleness flag from OTLP (#6679)
 - `mysqlreceiver`: Add Integration test (#6916)
 - `datadogexporter`: Add compatibility with ECS Fargate semantic conventions (#6670)
+- `datadogexporter`: Add configuration option to use OTel span name into the Datatog resource name (#6611)
 - `k8s_observer`: discover k8s.node endpoints (#6820)
 - `redisreceiver`: Add missing description fields to keyspace metrics (#6940)
 - `kafkaexporter`: Allow controlling Kafka acknowledgment behaviour  (#6301)
diff --git a/exporter/datadogexporter/README.md b/exporter/datadogexporter/README.md
index df94f1262835..fd24c42127ea 100644
--- a/exporter/datadogexporter/README.md
+++ b/exporter/datadogexporter/README.md
@@ -28,6 +28,16 @@ datadog:
     site: datadoghq.eu
 ```
 
+ If you want to use the OpenTelemetry Span Name as the Datadog Resource Name you can set the `span_name_as_resource_name` configuration option to `true` (default is `false`). For more info on the downsides of this option check [this](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/issues/1909) issue.
+
+ ```yaml
+datadog:
+  api:
+    key: "<API key>"
+    traces:
+      span_name_as_resource_name: true
+```
+
 The hostname, environment, service and version can be set in the configuration for unified service tagging.
 The exporter will try to retrieve a hostname following the OpenTelemetry semantic conventions if there is one available.
 
diff --git a/exporter/datadogexporter/config/config.go b/exporter/datadogexporter/config/config.go
index a2359da6c7c2..467bf07c62a5 100644
--- a/exporter/datadogexporter/config/config.go
+++ b/exporter/datadogexporter/config/config.go
@@ -153,6 +153,11 @@ type TracesConfig struct {
 	//   instrumentation:express.server: express
 	//   go.opentelemetry.io_contrib_instrumentation_net_http_otelhttp.client: http.client
 	SpanNameRemappings map[string]string `mapstructure:"span_name_remappings"`
+
+	// If set to true the OpenTelemetry span name will used in the Datadog resource name.
+	// If set to false the resource name will be filled with the instrumentation library name + span kind.
+	// The default value is `false`.
+	SpanNameAsResourceName bool `mapstructure:"span_name_as_resource_name"`
 }
 
 // TagsConfig defines the tag-related configuration
diff --git a/exporter/datadogexporter/example/config.yaml b/exporter/datadogexporter/example/config.yaml
index 3c3466842d60..20089322de33 100644
--- a/exporter/datadogexporter/example/config.yaml
+++ b/exporter/datadogexporter/example/config.yaml
@@ -148,6 +148,13 @@ exporters:
       #   instrumentation:express.server: express
       #   go.opentelemetry.io_contrib_instrumentation_net_http_otelhttp.client: http.client
 
+      ## @param span_name_as_resource_name - use OpenTelemetry semantic convention for span naming - optional
+      ## Option created to maintain similarity with the OpenTelemetry semantic conventions as discussed in the issue below.
+      ## https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-specification/tree/main/specification/trace/semantic_conventions
+      ## https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/issues/1909
+      #
+      # span_name_as_resource_name: true
+
 
 service:
   pipelines:
diff --git a/exporter/datadogexporter/translate_traces.go b/exporter/datadogexporter/translate_traces.go
index 8b5b6293d987..64799ba95643 100644
--- a/exporter/datadogexporter/translate_traces.go
+++ b/exporter/datadogexporter/translate_traces.go
@@ -304,10 +304,15 @@ func spanToDatadogSpan(s pdata.Span,
 
 	resourceName := getDatadogResourceName(s, tags)
 
+	name := s.Name()
+	if !cfg.Traces.SpanNameAsResourceName {
+		name = getDatadogSpanName(s, tags)
+	}
+
 	span := &pb.Span{
 		TraceID:  decodeAPMTraceID(s.TraceID().Bytes()),
 		SpanID:   decodeAPMSpanID(s.SpanID().Bytes()),
-		Name:     remapDatadogSpanName(getDatadogSpanName(s, tags), spanNameMap),
+		Name:     remapDatadogSpanName(name, spanNameMap),
 		Resource: resourceName,
 		Service:  normalizedServiceName,
 		Start:    int64(startTime),
diff --git a/exporter/datadogexporter/translate_traces_test.go b/exporter/datadogexporter/translate_traces_test.go
index 9d382c6de317..4fa910787b13 100644
--- a/exporter/datadogexporter/translate_traces_test.go
+++ b/exporter/datadogexporter/translate_traces_test.go
@@ -1571,3 +1571,32 @@ func TestSpanRateLimitTag(t *testing.T) {
 
 	assert.Equal(t, 0.5, outputTraces[0].Traces[0].Spans[0].Metrics["_sample_rate"])
 }
+
+func TestTracesSpanNamingOption(t *testing.T) {
+	hostname := "testhostname"
+	denylister := newDenylister([]string{})
+
+	// generate mock trace, span and parent span ids
+	mockTraceID := [16]byte{0x00, 0x01, 0x02, 0x03, 0x04, 0x05, 0x06, 0x07, 0x08, 0x09, 0x0A, 0x0B, 0x0C, 0x0D, 0x0E, 0x0F}
+	mockSpanID := [8]byte{0xF1, 0xF2, 0xF3, 0xF4, 0xF5, 0xF6, 0xF7, 0xF8}
+	mockParentSpanID := [8]byte{0xEF, 0xEE, 0xED, 0xEC, 0xEB, 0xEA, 0xE9, 0xE8}
+
+	mockEndTime := time.Now().Round(time.Second)
+
+	// create mock resource span data
+	// toggle on errors and custom service naming to test edge case code paths
+	rs := NewResourceSpansData(mockTraceID, mockSpanID, mockParentSpanID, pdata.StatusCodeUnset, false, mockEndTime)
+
+	// start with span name as resource name set to true
+	cfgSpanNameAsResourceName := config.Config{
+		Traces: config.TracesConfig{
+			SpanNameAsResourceName: true,
+		},
+	}
+
+	// translate mocks to datadog traces
+	datadogPayloadSpanNameAsResourceName := resourceSpansToDatadogSpans(rs, hostname, &cfgSpanNameAsResourceName, denylister, map[string]string{})
+
+	// ensure the resource name is replaced with the span name when the option is set
+	assert.Equal(t, "End-To-End Here", datadogPayloadSpanNameAsResourceName.Traces[0].Spans[0].Name)
+}