diff --git a/vb_suite/timeseries.py b/vb_suite/timeseries.py
index 733deb8e7f470..1727db1285cd1 100644
--- a/vb_suite/timeseries.py
+++ b/vb_suite/timeseries.py
@@ -211,4 +211,4 @@ def date_range(start=None, end=None, periods=None, freq=None):
 """
 
 datetimeindex_unique = Benchmark('index.unique()', setup,
-                                 date=datetime(2012, 7, 1))
+                                 start_date=datetime(2012, 7, 1))