diff --git a/docs/docsite/rst/user_guide/playbooks_filters.rst b/docs/docsite/rst/user_guide/playbooks_filters.rst
index 7eab897cc0d..37adc0f3e14 100644
--- a/docs/docsite/rst/user_guide/playbooks_filters.rst
+++ b/docs/docsite/rst/user_guide/playbooks_filters.rst
@@ -200,6 +200,25 @@ into::
     - key: Environment
       value: dev
 
+.. versionadded:: 2.8
+
+``dict2items`` accepts 2 keyword arguments, ``key_name`` and ``value_name`` that allow configuration of the names of the keys to use for the transformation::
+
+    {{ files | dict2items(key_name='file', value_name='path') }}
+
+Which turns::
+
+    files:
+      users: /etc/passwd
+      groups: /etc/group
+
+into::
+
+    - file: users
+      path: /etc/passwd
+    - file: groups
+      path: /etc/group
+
 items2dict filter
 `````````````````
 
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/filter/core.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/filter/core.py
index 17309dd8aa5..26489864328 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/filter/core.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/filter/core.py
@@ -494,7 +494,7 @@ def subelements(obj, subelements, skip_missing=False):
     return results
 
 
-def dict_to_list_of_dict_key_value_elements(mydict):
+def dict_to_list_of_dict_key_value_elements(mydict, key_name='key', value_name='value'):
     ''' takes a dictionary and transforms it into a list of dictionaries,
         with each having a 'key' and 'value' keys that correspond to the keys and values of the original '''
 
@@ -503,7 +503,7 @@ def dict_to_list_of_dict_key_value_elements(mydict):
 
     ret = []
     for key in mydict:
-        ret.append({'key': key, 'value': mydict[key]})
+        ret.append({key_name: key, value_name: mydict[key]})
     return ret