diff --git a/packages/ember/index.js b/packages/ember/index.js
index a52f38c888f..27ff11d4650 100644
--- a/packages/ember/index.js
+++ b/packages/ember/index.js
@@ -202,7 +202,19 @@ Ember.canInvoke = utils.canInvoke;
 Ember.tryInvoke = utils.tryInvoke;
 Ember.wrap = utils.wrap;
 Ember.uuid = utils.uuid;
-Ember.NAME_KEY = utils.NAME_KEY;
+
+Object.defineProperty(Ember, 'NAME_KEY', {
+  enumerable: false,
+  get() {
+    deprecate('Using `Ember.NAME_KEY` is deprecated, override `.toString` instead', false, {
+      id: 'ember-name-key-usage',
+      until: '3.5.0',
+    });
+
+    return utils.NAME_KEY;
+  },
+});
+
 Ember._Cache = utils.Cache;
 
 // ****container****
diff --git a/packages/ember/tests/reexports_test.js b/packages/ember/tests/reexports_test.js
index 71b4962169d..6770720666f 100644
--- a/packages/ember/tests/reexports_test.js
+++ b/packages/ember/tests/reexports_test.js
@@ -34,6 +34,12 @@ moduleFor(
       }, /EXTEND_PROTOTYPES is deprecated/);
     }
 
+    ['@test Ember.NAME_KEY is deprecated']() {
+      expectDeprecation(() => {
+        Ember.NAME_KEY;
+      }, 'Using `Ember.NAME_KEY` is deprecated, override `.toString` instead');
+    }
+
     '@test Ember.FEATURES is exported'(assert) {
       for (let feature in FEATURES) {
         assert.equal(
@@ -64,7 +70,6 @@ let allExports = [
   ['canInvoke', 'ember-utils'],
   ['tryInvoke', 'ember-utils'],
   ['wrap', 'ember-utils'],
-  ['NAME_KEY', 'ember-utils'],
 
   // container
   ['Registry', 'container', 'Registry'],