diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/TableMetadataParser.java b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/TableMetadataParser.java
index b27440e26649..1cb997554827 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/TableMetadataParser.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/TableMetadataParser.java
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ private TableMetadataParser() {
   static final String PARTITION_SPEC = "partition-spec";
   static final String PARTITION_SPECS = "partition-specs";
   static final String DEFAULT_SPEC_ID = "default-spec-id";
-  static final String LAST_ASSIGNED_PARTITION_ID = "last-assigned-partition-id";
+  static final String LAST_PARTITION_ID = "last-partition-id";
   static final String DEFAULT_SORT_ORDER_ID = "default-sort-order-id";
   static final String SORT_ORDERS = "sort-orders";
   static final String PROPERTIES = "properties";
@@ -179,7 +179,7 @@ private static void toJson(TableMetadata metadata, JsonGenerator generator) thro
     }
     generator.writeEndArray();
 
-    generator.writeNumberField(LAST_ASSIGNED_PARTITION_ID, metadata.lastAssignedPartitionId());
+    generator.writeNumberField(LAST_PARTITION_ID, metadata.lastAssignedPartitionId());
 
     generator.writeNumberField(DEFAULT_SORT_ORDER_ID, metadata.defaultSortOrderId());
     generator.writeArrayFieldStart(SORT_ORDERS);
@@ -291,10 +291,10 @@ static TableMetadata fromJson(FileIO io, InputFile file, JsonNode node) {
           schema, TableMetadata.INITIAL_SPEC_ID, node.get(PARTITION_SPEC)));
     }
 
-    Integer lastAssignedPartitionId = JsonUtil.getIntOrNull(LAST_ASSIGNED_PARTITION_ID, node);
+    Integer lastAssignedPartitionId = JsonUtil.getIntOrNull(LAST_PARTITION_ID, node);
     if (lastAssignedPartitionId == null) {
       Preconditions.checkArgument(formatVersion == 1,
-          "%s must exist in format v%s", LAST_ASSIGNED_PARTITION_ID, formatVersion);
+          "%s must exist in format v%s", LAST_PARTITION_ID, formatVersion);
       lastAssignedPartitionId = specs.stream().mapToInt(PartitionSpec::lastAssignedFieldId).max().orElse(999);
     }
 
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/TestTableMetadata.java b/core/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/TestTableMetadata.java
index 1c4040f0ecaf..62b35f84e038 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/TestTableMetadata.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/TestTableMetadata.java
@@ -483,9 +483,9 @@ public void testParserV2PartitionSpecsValidation() throws Exception {
 
   @Test
   public void testParserV2LastAssignedFieldIdValidation() throws Exception {
-    String unsupportedVersion = readTableMetadataInputFile("TableMetadataV2MissingLastAssignedPartitionId.json");
-    AssertHelpers.assertThrows("Should reject v2 metadata without last assigned partition id",
-        IllegalArgumentException.class, "last-assigned-partition-id must exist in format v2",
+    String unsupportedVersion = readTableMetadataInputFile("TableMetadataV2MissingLastPartitionId.json");
+    AssertHelpers.assertThrows("Should reject v2 metadata without last assigned partition field id",
+        IllegalArgumentException.class, "last-partition-id must exist in format v2",
         () -> TableMetadataParser.fromJson(
             ops.io(), null, JsonUtil.mapper().readValue(unsupportedVersion, JsonNode.class))
     );
diff --git a/core/src/test/resources/TableMetadataV2MissingLastAssignedPartitionId.json b/core/src/test/resources/TableMetadataV2MissingLastPartitionId.json
similarity index 100%
rename from core/src/test/resources/TableMetadataV2MissingLastAssignedPartitionId.json
rename to core/src/test/resources/TableMetadataV2MissingLastPartitionId.json
diff --git a/core/src/test/resources/TableMetadataV2MissingSortOrder.json b/core/src/test/resources/TableMetadataV2MissingSortOrder.json
index f656e08ff5ad..93e6f879d4f0 100644
--- a/core/src/test/resources/TableMetadataV2MissingSortOrder.json
+++ b/core/src/test/resources/TableMetadataV2MissingSortOrder.json
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@
       ]
     }
   ],
-  "last-assigned-partition-id": 1000,
+  "last-partition-id": 1000,
   "properties": {},
   "current-snapshot-id": -1,
   "snapshots": [],
diff --git a/core/src/test/resources/TableMetadataV2Valid.json b/core/src/test/resources/TableMetadataV2Valid.json
index aee3de6c360f..fabd9726561c 100644
--- a/core/src/test/resources/TableMetadataV2Valid.json
+++ b/core/src/test/resources/TableMetadataV2Valid.json
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@
       ]
     }
   ],
-  "last-assigned-partition-id": 1000,
+  "last-partition-id": 1000,
   "default-sort-order-id": 3,
   "sort-orders": [
     {