diff --git a/lib/options.nix b/lib/options.nix
index f4d0d9d36cfc930..cf46e05b84706ee 100644
--- a/lib/options.nix
+++ b/lib/options.nix
@@ -438,7 +438,12 @@ rec {
           "*"               # listOf (submodule {})
           "<function body>" # functionTo
         ];
-      in if builtins.elem part specialIdentifiers
+        # If the part is a named placeholder of the form "<...>" don't escape it.
+        # Required for compatibility with: namedAttrsOf
+        # Can lead to wrong escaping if somebody uses literally "<...>" in their option names.
+        # This is the trade-off to allow for named placeholders in option names.
+        isNamedPlaceholder = builtins.match "\<(.*)\>" part != null;
+      in if builtins.elem part specialIdentifiers || isNamedPlaceholder
          then part
          else lib.strings.escapeNixIdentifier part;
     in (concatStringsSep ".") (map escapeOptionPart parts);
diff --git a/lib/types.nix b/lib/types.nix
index 1fe1616c9cef57b..8d066ebd10c8571 100644
--- a/lib/types.nix
+++ b/lib/types.nix
@@ -626,7 +626,7 @@ rec {
           # Push down position info.
           (map (def: mapAttrs (n: v: { inherit (def) file; value = v; }) def.value) defs)));
       emptyValue = { value = {}; };
-      getSubOptions = prefix: elemType.getSubOptions (prefix ++ ["<${attrName}>"]);
+      getSubOptions = prefix: elemType.getSubOptions (prefix ++ ["{${attrName}}"]);
       getSubModules = elemType.getSubModules;
       substSubModules = m: namedAttrsOf attrName (elemType.substSubModules m);
       functor = (defaultFunctor name) // { wrapped = elemType; };