diff --git a/src/ui/public/agg_types/__tests__/metrics/std_deviation.js b/src/ui/public/agg_types/__tests__/metrics/std_deviation.js
index 96deddcf3b670..c16d9691e9744 100644
--- a/src/ui/public/agg_types/__tests__/metrics/std_deviation.js
+++ b/src/ui/public/agg_types/__tests__/metrics/std_deviation.js
@@ -33,9 +33,29 @@ describe('AggTypeMetricStandardDeviationProvider class', function () {
     let avgLabel = responseAggs[1].makeLabel();
     let upperStdDevLabel = responseAggs[2].makeLabel();
 
-    expect(lowerStdDevLabel).to.be('Lower custom label of memory');
+    expect(lowerStdDevLabel).to.be('Lower custom label');
     expect(avgLabel).to.be('Average of memory'); // not expected to use custom label
-    expect(upperStdDevLabel).to.be('Upper custom label of memory');
+    expect(upperStdDevLabel).to.be('Upper custom label');
+  });
+
+  it('uses the default labels if custom label is not set', function () {
+    let vis = new Vis(indexPattern, {});
+
+    // Grab the aggConfig off the vis (we don't actually use the vis for
+    // anything else)
+    let aggConfig = vis.aggs[0];
+    aggConfig.params.field = {
+      displayName: 'memory'
+    };
+
+    let responseAggs = aggTypeMetricStandardDeviation.getResponseAggs(aggConfig);
+    let lowerStdDevLabel = responseAggs[0].makeLabel();
+    let avgLabel = responseAggs[1].makeLabel();
+    let upperStdDevLabel = responseAggs[2].makeLabel();
+
+    expect(lowerStdDevLabel).to.be('Lower Standard Deviation of memory');
+    expect(avgLabel).to.be('Average of memory'); // not expected to use custom label
+    expect(upperStdDevLabel).to.be('Upper Standard Deviation of memory');
   });
 
 });
diff --git a/src/ui/public/agg_types/metrics/std_deviation.js b/src/ui/public/agg_types/metrics/std_deviation.js
index 36340ee4fbc6b..9982dd65a9a3c 100644
--- a/src/ui/public/agg_types/metrics/std_deviation.js
+++ b/src/ui/public/agg_types/metrics/std_deviation.js
@@ -11,11 +11,12 @@ export default function AggTypeMetricStandardDeviationProvider(Private) {
       return details.valProp;
     },
     makeLabel: function () {
-      let details = this.keyedDetails(this.params.customLabel)[this.key];
-      return details.title + ' of ' + this.fieldDisplayName();
+      const fieldDisplayName = this.fieldDisplayName();
+      const details = this.keyedDetails(this.params.customLabel, fieldDisplayName);
+      return _.get(details, [this.key, 'title']);
     },
-    keyedDetails: function (customLabel) {
-      const label = customLabel ? customLabel : 'Standard Deviation';
+    keyedDetails: function (customLabel, fieldDisplayName) {
+      const label = customLabel ? customLabel : 'Standard Deviation of ' + fieldDisplayName;
       return {
         std_lower: {
           valProp: ['std_deviation_bounds', 'lower'],
@@ -23,7 +24,7 @@ export default function AggTypeMetricStandardDeviationProvider(Private) {
         },
         avg: {
           valProp: 'avg',
-          title: 'Average'
+          title: 'Average of ' + fieldDisplayName
         },
         std_upper: {
           valProp: ['std_deviation_bounds', 'upper'],