diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/loader/JsonSettingsLoader.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/loader/JsonSettingsLoader.java
index 29a20e6a7ab..02f7a5c37a0 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/loader/JsonSettingsLoader.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/loader/JsonSettingsLoader.java
@@ -27,8 +27,8 @@ import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentType;
  */
 public class JsonSettingsLoader extends XContentSettingsLoader {
 
-    public JsonSettingsLoader(boolean guardAgainstNullValuedSettings) {
-        super(guardAgainstNullValuedSettings);
+    public JsonSettingsLoader(boolean allowNullValues) {
+        super(allowNullValues);
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/loader/SettingsLoaderFactory.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/loader/SettingsLoaderFactory.java
index dc4240b239e..caf9d907c32 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/loader/SettingsLoaderFactory.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/loader/SettingsLoaderFactory.java
@@ -36,14 +36,14 @@ public final class SettingsLoaderFactory {
      */
     public static SettingsLoader loaderFromResource(String resourceName) {
         if (resourceName.endsWith(".json")) {
-            return new JsonSettingsLoader(true);
+            return new JsonSettingsLoader(false);
         } else if (resourceName.endsWith(".yml") || resourceName.endsWith(".yaml")) {
-            return new YamlSettingsLoader(true);
+            return new YamlSettingsLoader(false);
         } else if (resourceName.endsWith(".properties")) {
             return new PropertiesSettingsLoader();
         } else {
             // lets default to the json one
-            return new JsonSettingsLoader(true);
+            return new JsonSettingsLoader(false);
         }
     }
 
@@ -52,10 +52,10 @@ public final class SettingsLoaderFactory {
      */
     public static SettingsLoader loaderFromSource(String source) {
         if (source.indexOf('{') != -1 && source.indexOf('}') != -1) {
-            return new JsonSettingsLoader(false);
+            return new JsonSettingsLoader(true);
         }
         if (source.indexOf(':') != -1) {
-            return new YamlSettingsLoader(false);
+            return new YamlSettingsLoader(true);
         }
         return new PropertiesSettingsLoader();
     }
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/loader/XContentSettingsLoader.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/loader/XContentSettingsLoader.java
index 463dfb83f3e..3875c1ef85a 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/loader/XContentSettingsLoader.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/loader/XContentSettingsLoader.java
@@ -38,10 +38,10 @@ public abstract class XContentSettingsLoader implements SettingsLoader {
 
     public abstract XContentType contentType();
 
-    private final boolean guardAgainstNullValuedSettings;
+    private final boolean allowNullValues;
 
-    XContentSettingsLoader(boolean guardAgainstNullValuedSettings) {
-        this.guardAgainstNullValuedSettings = guardAgainstNullValuedSettings;
+    XContentSettingsLoader(boolean allowNullValues) {
+        this.allowNullValues = allowNullValues;
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -160,7 +160,7 @@ public abstract class XContentSettingsLoader implements SettingsLoader {
             );
         }
 
-        if (guardAgainstNullValuedSettings && currentValue == null) {
+        if (currentValue == null && !allowNullValues) {
             throw new ElasticsearchParseException(
                     "null-valued setting found for key [{}] found at line number [{}], column number [{}]",
                     key,
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/loader/YamlSettingsLoader.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/loader/YamlSettingsLoader.java
index 6768b00d8e4..12cde976691 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/loader/YamlSettingsLoader.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/loader/YamlSettingsLoader.java
@@ -30,8 +30,8 @@ import java.util.Map;
  */
 public class YamlSettingsLoader extends XContentSettingsLoader {
 
-    public YamlSettingsLoader(boolean guardAgainstNullValuedSettings) {
-        super(guardAgainstNullValuedSettings);
+    public YamlSettingsLoader(boolean allowNullValues) {
+        super(allowNullValues);
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/SettingsTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/SettingsTests.java
index 39dc93c3181..eb6cc56816f 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/SettingsTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/SettingsTests.java
@@ -201,8 +201,8 @@ public class SettingsTests extends ESTestCase {
         assertThat(settings.getAsArray("value"), arrayContaining("2", "3"));
 
         settings = settingsBuilder()
-                .put(new YamlSettingsLoader(true).load("value: 1"))
-                .put(new YamlSettingsLoader(true).load("value: [ 2, 3 ]"))
+                .put(new YamlSettingsLoader(false).load("value: 1"))
+                .put(new YamlSettingsLoader(false).load("value: [ 2, 3 ]"))
                 .build();
         assertThat(settings.getAsArray("value"), arrayContaining("2", "3"));
 
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/loader/JsonSettingsLoaderTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/loader/JsonSettingsLoaderTests.java
index df5e71a1178..9750205145e 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/loader/JsonSettingsLoaderTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/loader/JsonSettingsLoaderTests.java
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ public class JsonSettingsLoaderTests extends ESTestCase {
 
     public void testNullValuedSettingThrowsException() {
         final String json = "{\"foo\":null}";
-        final ElasticsearchParseException e = expectThrows(ElasticsearchParseException.class, () -> new JsonSettingsLoader(true).load(json));
+        final ElasticsearchParseException e = expectThrows(ElasticsearchParseException.class, () -> new JsonSettingsLoader(false).load(json));
         assertThat(e.toString(), containsString("null-valued setting found for key [foo] found at line number [1], column number [8]"));
     }
 }
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/loader/YamlSettingsLoaderTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/loader/YamlSettingsLoaderTests.java
index 077cb5088f7..a4536ec21b9 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/loader/YamlSettingsLoaderTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/loader/YamlSettingsLoaderTests.java
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ public class YamlSettingsLoaderTests extends ESTestCase {
 
     public void testNullValuedSettingThrowsException() {
         final String yaml = "foo:";
-        final ElasticsearchParseException e = expectThrows(ElasticsearchParseException.class, () -> new YamlSettingsLoader(true).load(yaml));
+        final ElasticsearchParseException e = expectThrows(ElasticsearchParseException.class, () -> new YamlSettingsLoader(false).load(yaml));
         assertThat(e.toString(), containsString("null-valued setting found for key [foo] found at line number [1], column number [5]"));
     }
 }