diff --git a/plugins/discourse-local-dates/assets/javascripts/discourse-local-dates.js b/plugins/discourse-local-dates/assets/javascripts/discourse-local-dates.js
index abced1835d5..a043ec3ea7d 100644
--- a/plugins/discourse-local-dates/assets/javascripts/discourse-local-dates.js
+++ b/plugins/discourse-local-dates/assets/javascripts/discourse-local-dates.js
@@ -12,9 +12,9 @@
       }
 
       var relativeTime;
-      if (options.forceTimezone) {
+      if (options.timezone) {
         relativeTime = moment
-          .tz(options.date + " " + options.time, options.forceTimezone)
+          .tz(options.date + " " + options.time, options.timezone)
           .utc();
       } else {
         relativeTime = moment.utc(options.date + " " + options.time);
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@
       options.time = $this.attr("data-time") || "00:00:00";
       options.recurring = $this.attr("data-recurring");
       options.timezones = $this.attr("data-timezones");
-      options.forceTimezone = $this.attr("data-force-timezone");
+      options.timezone = $this.attr("data-timezone");
 
       processElement($this, options);
     });
diff --git a/plugins/discourse-local-dates/assets/javascripts/lib/discourse-markdown/discourse-local-dates.js.es6 b/plugins/discourse-local-dates/assets/javascripts/lib/discourse-markdown/discourse-local-dates.js.es6
index 83bd99c903c..ab4386f622f 100644
--- a/plugins/discourse-local-dates/assets/javascripts/lib/discourse-markdown/discourse-local-dates.js.es6
+++ b/plugins/discourse-local-dates/assets/javascripts/lib/discourse-markdown/discourse-local-dates.js.es6
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ function addLocalDate(buffer, matches, state) {
   let config = {
     date: null,
     time: null,
-    forceTimezone: null,
+    timezone: null,
     format: "YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss",
     timezones: "Etc/UTC"
   };
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ function addLocalDate(buffer, matches, state) {
 
   config.date = parsed.attrs.date;
   config.time = parsed.attrs.time;
-  config.forceTimezone = parsed.attrs.forceTimezone || parsed.attrs.timezone;
+  config.timezone = parsed.attrs.timezone;
   config.recurring = parsed.attrs.recurring;
   config.format = parsed.attrs.format || config.format;
   config.timezones = parsed.attrs.timezones || config.timezones;
@@ -37,12 +37,12 @@ function addLocalDate(buffer, matches, state) {
   }
 
   let dateTime;
-  if (config.forceTimezone) {
+  if (config.timezone) {
     token.attrs.push([
-      "data-force-timezone",
-      state.md.utils.escapeHtml(config.forceTimezone)
+      "data-timezone",
+      state.md.utils.escapeHtml(config.timezone)
     ]);
-    dateTime = moment.tz(`${config.date} ${config.time}`, config.forceTimezone);
+    dateTime = moment.tz(`${config.date} ${config.time}`, config.timezone);
   } else {
     dateTime = moment.utc(`${config.date} ${config.time}`);
   }
diff --git a/plugins/discourse-local-dates/plugin.rb b/plugins/discourse-local-dates/plugin.rb
index c2b299b521e..54fe359ff00 100644
--- a/plugins/discourse-local-dates/plugin.rb
+++ b/plugins/discourse-local-dates/plugin.rb
@@ -27,9 +27,10 @@ after_initialize do
     dates = doc.css('span.discourse-local-date').map do |cooked_date|
       date = {}
       cooked_date.attributes.values.each do |attribute|
-        if attribute.name && ['data-date', 'data-time'].include?(attribute.name)
+        data_name = attribute.name&.gsub('data-', '')
+        if data_name && ['date', 'time', 'timezone'].include?(data_name)
           unless attribute.value == 'undefined'
-            date[attribute.name.gsub('data-', '')] = CGI.escapeHTML(attribute.value || "")
+            date[data_name] = CGI.escapeHTML(attribute.value || "")
           end
         end
       end
diff --git a/plugins/discourse-local-dates/spec/integration/local_dates_spec.rb b/plugins/discourse-local-dates/spec/integration/local_dates_spec.rb
index 2fed2e2dc0a..738eb8f332b 100644
--- a/plugins/discourse-local-dates/spec/integration/local_dates_spec.rb
+++ b/plugins/discourse-local-dates/spec/integration/local_dates_spec.rb
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ RSpec.describe "Local Dates" do
     expect(cooked).to include('class="discourse-local-date"')
     expect(cooked).to include('data-date="2018-05-08"')
     expect(cooked).to include('data-format="L LTS"')
-    expect(cooked).not_to include('data-force-timezone=')
+    expect(cooked).not_to include('data-timezone=')
 
     expect(cooked).to include(
       'data-timezones="Europe/Paris|America/Los_Angeles"'
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ RSpec.describe "Local Dates" do
 
     cooked = post.cooked
 
-    expect(cooked).to include('data-force-timezone="Asia/Calcutta"')
+    expect(cooked).to include('data-timezone="Asia/Calcutta"')
     expect(cooked).to include('05/08/2018 4:30:00 PM')
   end
 
diff --git a/plugins/discourse-local-dates/spec/models/post_spec.rb b/plugins/discourse-local-dates/spec/models/post_spec.rb
index 29793fb5410..13e7e9a5ac2 100644
--- a/plugins/discourse-local-dates/spec/models/post_spec.rb
+++ b/plugins/discourse-local-dates/spec/models/post_spec.rb
@@ -9,13 +9,14 @@ describe Post do
   describe '#local_dates' do
     it "should have correct custom fields" do
       post = Fabricate(:post, raw: <<~SQL)
-        [date=2018-09-17 time=01:39:00 format="LLL" timezones="Europe/Paris|America/Los_Angeles"]
+        [date=2018-09-17 time=01:39:00 format="LLL" timezone="Europe/Paris" timezones="Europe/Paris|America/Los_Angeles"]
       SQL
       CookedPostProcessor.new(post).post_process
 
       expect(post.local_dates.count).to eq(1)
       expect(post.local_dates[0]["date"]).to eq("2018-09-17")
       expect(post.local_dates[0]["time"]).to eq("01:39:00")
+      expect(post.local_dates[0]["timezone"]).to eq("Europe/Paris")
 
       post.raw = "Text removed"
       post.save