diff --git a/doc/source/advanced.rst b/doc/source/advanced.rst
index 563c869eff54d..b3d5f596f7cdd 100644
--- a/doc/source/advanced.rst
+++ b/doc/source/advanced.rst
@@ -49,6 +49,11 @@ analysis.
 
 See the :ref:`cookbook<cookbook.multi_index>` for some advanced strategies.
 
+.. versionchanged:: 0.24.0
+
+   :attr:`MultiIndex.labels` has been renamed to :attr:`MultiIndex.codes`
+   and :attr:`MultiIndex.set_labels` to :attr:`MultiIndex.set_codes`.
+
 Creating a MultiIndex (hierarchical index) object
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
@@ -468,7 +473,7 @@ values across a level. For instance:
 .. ipython:: python
 
    midx = pd.MultiIndex(levels=[['zero', 'one'], ['x','y']],
-                        labels=[[1,1,0,0],[1,0,1,0]])
+                        codes=[[1,1,0,0],[1,0,1,0]])
    df = pd.DataFrame(np.random.randn(4,2), index=midx)
    df
    df2 = df.mean(level=0)
diff --git a/doc/source/api.rst b/doc/source/api.rst
index 81bb420c47a99..a32ba92704e8d 100644
--- a/doc/source/api.rst
+++ b/doc/source/api.rst
@@ -1711,7 +1711,7 @@ MultiIndex Attributes
 
    MultiIndex.names
    MultiIndex.levels
-   MultiIndex.labels
+   MultiIndex.codes
    MultiIndex.nlevels
    MultiIndex.levshape
 
@@ -1722,7 +1722,7 @@ MultiIndex Components
    :toctree: generated/
 
    MultiIndex.set_levels
-   MultiIndex.set_labels
+   MultiIndex.set_codes
    MultiIndex.to_hierarchical
    MultiIndex.to_flat_index
    MultiIndex.to_frame
diff --git a/doc/source/dsintro.rst b/doc/source/dsintro.rst
index ccd530d11b8f9..2947ca358eab9 100644
--- a/doc/source/dsintro.rst
+++ b/doc/source/dsintro.rst
@@ -923,7 +923,7 @@ From DataFrame using ``to_panel`` method
 .. ipython:: python
    :okwarning:
 
-   midx = pd.MultiIndex(levels=[['one', 'two'], ['x','y']], labels=[[1,1,0,0],[1,0,1,0]])
+   midx = pd.MultiIndex(levels=[['one', 'two'], ['x','y']], codes=[[1,1,0,0],[1,0,1,0]])
    df = pd.DataFrame({'A' : [1, 2, 3, 4], 'B': [5, 6, 7, 8]}, index=midx)
    df.to_panel()
 
diff --git a/doc/source/indexing.rst b/doc/source/indexing.rst
index 5740ab5fa6921..c430e575a9b5d 100644
--- a/doc/source/indexing.rst
+++ b/doc/source/indexing.rst
@@ -1571,9 +1571,9 @@ Setting metadata
 
 Indexes are "mostly immutable", but it is possible to set and change their
 metadata, like the index ``name`` (or, for ``MultiIndex``, ``levels`` and
-``labels``).
+``codes``).
 
-You can use the ``rename``, ``set_names``, ``set_levels``, and ``set_labels``
+You can use the ``rename``, ``set_names``, ``set_levels``, and ``set_codes``
 to set these attributes directly. They default to returning a copy; however,
 you can specify ``inplace=True`` to have the data change in place.
 
@@ -1588,7 +1588,7 @@ See :ref:`Advanced Indexing <advanced>` for usage of MultiIndexes.
   ind.name = "bob"
   ind
 
-``set_names``, ``set_levels``, and ``set_labels`` also take an optional
+``set_names``, ``set_levels``, and ``set_codes`` also take an optional
 `level`` argument
 
 .. ipython:: python
diff --git a/doc/source/internals.rst b/doc/source/internals.rst
index fce99fc633440..b021797c9ee3f 100644
--- a/doc/source/internals.rst
+++ b/doc/source/internals.rst
@@ -73,22 +73,22 @@ MultiIndex
 ~~~~~~~~~~
 
 Internally, the ``MultiIndex`` consists of a few things: the **levels**, the
-integer **labels**, and the level **names**:
+integer **codes** (until version 0.24 named *labels*), and the level **names**:
 
 .. ipython:: python
 
    index = pd.MultiIndex.from_product([range(3), ['one', 'two']], names=['first', 'second'])
    index
    index.levels
-   index.labels
+   index.codes
    index.names
 
-You can probably guess that the labels determine which unique element is
+You can probably guess that the codes determine which unique element is
 identified with that location at each layer of the index. It's important to
-note that sortedness is determined **solely** from the integer labels and does
+note that sortedness is determined **solely** from the integer codes and does
 not check (or care) whether the levels themselves are sorted. Fortunately, the
 constructors ``from_tuples`` and ``from_arrays`` ensure that this is true, but
-if you compute the levels and labels yourself, please be careful.
+if you compute the levels and codes yourself, please be careful.
 
 Values
 ~~~~~~
diff --git a/doc/source/io.rst b/doc/source/io.rst
index 92fc28af0281a..398a234b817b0 100644
--- a/doc/source/io.rst
+++ b/doc/source/io.rst
@@ -3685,8 +3685,8 @@ storing/selecting from homogeneous index ``DataFrames``.
 
         index = pd.MultiIndex(levels=[['foo', 'bar', 'baz', 'qux'],
                                       ['one', 'two', 'three']],
-                              labels=[[0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3],
-                                      [0, 1, 2, 0, 1, 1, 2, 0, 1, 2]],
+                              codes=[[0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3],
+                                     [0, 1, 2, 0, 1, 1, 2, 0, 1, 2]],
                               names=['foo', 'bar'])
         df_mi = pd.DataFrame(np.random.randn(10, 3), index=index,
                              columns=['A', 'B', 'C'])