diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 36b35d7fbe..c5a592b33f 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ Bugs fixed
 * #6220, #6225: napoleon: AttributeError is raised for raised section having
   references
 * #6245: circular import error on importing SerializingHTMLBuilder
+* #6243: LaTeX: 'releasename' setting for latex_elements is ignored
 
 Testing
 --------
diff --git a/sphinx/builders/latex/__init__.py b/sphinx/builders/latex/__init__.py
index 9c3a2da6e7..791f9b4f35 100644
--- a/sphinx/builders/latex/__init__.py
+++ b/sphinx/builders/latex/__init__.py
@@ -213,7 +213,7 @@ def init_context(self):
         self.context['indexname'] = _('Index')
         if self.config.release:
             # Show the release label only if release value exists
-            self.context['releasename'] = _('Release')
+            self.context.setdefault('releasename', _('Release'))
 
     def init_babel(self):
         # type: () -> None