diff --git a/docs/getting_started/tests/test_flask.py b/docs/getting_started/tests/test_flask.py
index 4c0430d0a7e..321098ce97e 100644
--- a/docs/getting_started/tests/test_flask.py
+++ b/docs/getting_started/tests/test_flask.py
@@ -38,6 +38,6 @@ def test_flask(self):
             server.terminate()
 
         output = str(server.stdout.read())
-        self.assertIn('"name": ""', output)
+        self.assertIn('"name": "HTTP get"', output)
         self.assertIn('"name": "example-request"', output)
         self.assertIn('"name": "hello"', output)
diff --git a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aiohttp-client/CHANGELOG.md b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aiohttp-client/CHANGELOG.md
index cdbc621d31b..78b989563f3 100644
--- a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aiohttp-client/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aiohttp-client/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+- Updating span name to match semantic conventions
+  ([#972](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python/pull/972))
+
 ## Version 0.12b0
 
 Released 2020-08-14
diff --git a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aiohttp-client/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/aiohttp_client/__init__.py b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aiohttp-client/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/aiohttp_client/__init__.py
index 2d9b8bd7a58..397d5dc80e9 100644
--- a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aiohttp-client/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/aiohttp_client/__init__.py
+++ b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aiohttp-client/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/aiohttp_client/__init__.py
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ async def on_request_start(
     ):
         http_method = params.method.upper()
         if trace_config_ctx.span_name is None:
-            request_span_name = http_method
+            request_span_name = "HTTP {}".format(http_method)
         elif callable(trace_config_ctx.span_name):
             request_span_name = str(trace_config_ctx.span_name(params))
         else:
diff --git a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aiohttp-client/tests/test_aiohttp_client_integration.py b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aiohttp-client/tests/test_aiohttp_client_integration.py
index f44e3df2da6..4a48c38ff70 100644
--- a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aiohttp-client/tests/test_aiohttp_client_integration.py
+++ b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-aiohttp-client/tests/test_aiohttp_client_integration.py
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ def test_status_codes(self):
                 self.assert_spans(
                     [
                         (
-                            "GET",
+                            "HTTP GET",
                             (span_status, None),
                             {
                                 "component": "http",
@@ -192,7 +192,7 @@ def strip_query_params(url: yarl.URL) -> str:
         self.assert_spans(
             [
                 (
-                    "GET",
+                    "HTTP GET",
                     (StatusCanonicalCode.OK, None),
                     {
                         "component": "http",
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@ async def do_request(url):
             self.assert_spans(
                 [
                     (
-                        "GET",
+                        "HTTP GET",
                         (expected_status, None),
                         {
                             "component": "http",
@@ -260,7 +260,7 @@ async def request_handler(request):
         self.assert_spans(
             [
                 (
-                    "GET",
+                    "HTTP GET",
                     (StatusCanonicalCode.DEADLINE_EXCEEDED, None),
                     {
                         "component": "http",
@@ -290,7 +290,7 @@ async def request_handler(request):
         self.assert_spans(
             [
                 (
-                    "GET",
+                    "HTTP GET",
                     (StatusCanonicalCode.DEADLINE_EXCEEDED, None),
                     {
                         "component": "http",
diff --git a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-requests/CHANGELOG.md b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-requests/CHANGELOG.md
index 179f0f68771..3f18f6101bc 100644
--- a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-requests/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-requests/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ Released 2020-08-14
 
 - Change package name to opentelemetry-instrumentation-requests
   ([#961](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python/pull/961))
+- Span name reported updated to follow semantic conventions to reduce
+  cardinality ([#972](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python/pull/972))
 
 ## 0.7b1
 
diff --git a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-requests/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/requests/__init__.py b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-requests/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/requests/__init__.py
index a12f05999e1..e2c54b7f1b0 100644
--- a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-requests/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/requests/__init__.py
+++ b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-requests/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/requests/__init__.py
@@ -80,11 +80,7 @@ def instrumented_request(self, method, url, *args, **kwargs):
 
         # See
         # https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-specification/blob/master/specification/trace/semantic_conventions/http.md#http-client
-        try:
-            parsed_url = urlparse(url)
-            span_name = parsed_url.path
-        except ValueError as exc:  # Invalid URL
-            span_name = "<Unparsable URL: {}>".format(exc)
+        span_name = "HTTP {}".format(method)
 
         exception = None
 
@@ -111,6 +107,7 @@ def instrumented_request(self, method, url, *args, **kwargs):
                 span.set_status(
                     Status(_exception_to_canonical_code(exception))
                 )
+                span.record_exception(exception)
 
             if result is not None:
                 span.set_attribute("http.status_code", result.status_code)
diff --git a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-requests/tests/test_requests_integration.py b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-requests/tests/test_requests_integration.py
index afec0a88d0f..da09118e5bc 100644
--- a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-requests/tests/test_requests_integration.py
+++ b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-requests/tests/test_requests_integration.py
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ def test_basic(self):
         span = span_list[0]
 
         self.assertIs(span.kind, trace.SpanKind.CLIENT)
-        self.assertEqual(span.name, "/status/200")
+        self.assertEqual(span.name, "HTTP get")
 
         self.assertEqual(
             span.attributes,
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ def test_invalid_url(self):
         self.assertEqual(len(span_list), 1)
         span = span_list[0]
 
-        self.assertTrue(span.name.startswith("<Unparsable URL"))
+        self.assertEqual(span.name, "HTTP post")
         self.assertEqual(
             span.attributes,
             {"component": "http", "http.method": "POST", "http.url": url},
diff --git a/opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/__init__.py b/opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/__init__.py
index b76ba49ad4a..65a60025c89 100644
--- a/opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/__init__.py
+++ b/opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/__init__.py
@@ -685,12 +685,20 @@ def __exit__(
 
     def record_exception(self, exception: Exception) -> None:
         """Records an exception as a span event."""
+        try:
+            stacktrace = traceback.format_exc()
+        except Exception:  # pylint: disable=broad-except
+            # workaround for python 3.4, format_exc can raise
+            # an AttributeError if the __context__ on
+            # an exception is None
+            stacktrace = "Exception occurred on stacktrace formatting"
+
         self.add_event(
             name="exception",
             attributes={
                 "exception.type": exception.__class__.__name__,
                 "exception.message": str(exception),
-                "exception.stacktrace": traceback.format_exc(),
+                "exception.stacktrace": stacktrace,
             },
         )