diff --git a/readme.md b/readme.md
index 1236002..091292b 100644
--- a/readme.md
+++ b/readme.md
@@ -160,7 +160,16 @@ route1: {
 }
 ```
 
-The name of a parent routes' path param should be set to `language` in order for this pattern to work.
+The name of a parent routes' path param should be set to `language` in order for this pattern to work. If you want to use a different name you need to provide this as configuration to the route map:
+
+```js
+asRouteMap(
+  {
+    ...
+  },
+  { languageParamName: 'locale' }
+)
+```
 
 ---
 ### Reverse route
diff --git a/src/routeMap.js b/src/routeMap.js
index a1ee764..d3b86dc 100644
--- a/src/routeMap.js
+++ b/src/routeMap.js
@@ -60,7 +60,8 @@ function interpolate(routePath, params) {
 function pickFromChildren(pathSegments, children, previousParams = {}) {
   const preparedChildren = children
     .map(route => {
-      const path = normalizePath(route.path, previousParams.language)
+      const { languageParamName = 'language' } = route[routeSymbol].config
+      const path = normalizePath(route.path, previousParams[languageParamName])
       if (path === null) return null
 
       return { route, routeSegments: path.split('/') }
@@ -163,12 +164,13 @@ function createRoute(config, name, path, data, children, getParent) {
       get parent() { return getParent() },
       children,
       name,
+      config,
     },
   })
 }
 
 function withReverseRoute(config, route) {
-  const { trailingSlash = false } = config
+  const { trailingSlash = false, languageParamName = 'language' } = config
   return Object.assign(reverseRoute, route)
 
   function reverseRoute(params = {}) {
@@ -176,7 +178,7 @@ function withReverseRoute(config, route) {
 
     const resolvedPath = [...parentPaths, route.path].reduce(
       (base, path) => {
-        const { language } = params
+        const { [languageParamName]: language } = params
         const normalizedPath = normalizePath(path, language)
         if (normalizedPath === null) throwError(`Could not determine path from ${JSON.stringify(path)} with language ${language}`)
         return resolve(normalizedPath, base, params)
diff --git a/src/routeMap.test.js b/src/routeMap.test.js
index c1744d8..5f2290f 100644
--- a/src/routeMap.test.js
+++ b/src/routeMap.test.js
@@ -115,6 +115,27 @@ describe('asRouteMap', () => {
         expect(map.language.a({ language: 'en' })).toBe('/en/b')
         expect(pick('nl/b', [map, (_, x) => x])).toBe(null)
       })
+      test('language - custom language param name', () => {
+        const map = asRouteMap(
+          {
+            language: {
+              path: ':locale',
+
+              a: { path: { nl: 'a', en: 'b' } } },
+          },
+          {
+            languageParamName: 'locale'
+          }
+        )
+
+        expect(pick('nl/a', [map, (_, x) => x])).toBe(map.language.a)
+        expect(map.language.a({ locale: 'nl' })).toBe('/nl/a')
+        expect(pick('en/a', [map, (_, x) => x])).toBe(null)
+
+        expect(pick('en/b', [map, (_, x) => x])).toBe(map.language.a)
+        expect(map.language.a({ locale: 'en' })).toBe('/en/b')
+        expect(pick('nl/b', [map, (_, x) => x])).toBe(null)
+      })
     })
     describe('reverse routing', () => {
       test('path static', () => {
diff --git a/src/types.ts b/src/types.ts
index cde2b46..e8268b0 100644
--- a/src/types.ts
+++ b/src/types.ts
@@ -60,4 +60,5 @@ type LanguageSupport = { language?: string }
 
 export type Config = {
   trailingSlash?: boolean
+  languageParamName?: string
 }