diff --git a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-1909.xml b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-1909.xml
index ca2f26ec4a82..4fe82e10ae6d 100644
--- a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-1909.xml
+++ b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-1909.xml
@@ -435,6 +435,14 @@
      idiom or extract that anonymous mapping function to a named one. Both can still be used
      but <literal>lib.forEach</literal> is preferred over <literal>lib.flip map</literal>.
     </para>
+    <para>
+      The <literal>/etc/sysctl.d/nixos.conf</literal> file containing all the options set via
+      <link linkend="opt-boot.kernel.sysctl">boot.kernel.sysctl</link> was moved to
+      <literal>/etc/sysctl.d/60-nixos.conf</literal>, as
+      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sysctl.d</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
+      recommends prefixing all filenames in <literal>/etc/sysctl.d</literal> with a
+      two-digit number and a dash to simplify the ordering of the files.
+    </para>
    </listitem>
   </itemizedlist>
  </section>
diff --git a/nixos/modules/config/sysctl.nix b/nixos/modules/config/sysctl.nix
index 0c6a7e2431aa..112e5e744d4c 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/config/sysctl.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/config/sysctl.nix
@@ -42,14 +42,14 @@ in
 
   config = {
 
-    environment.etc."sysctl.d/nixos.conf".text =
+    environment.etc."sysctl.d/60-nixos.conf".text =
       concatStrings (mapAttrsToList (n: v:
         optionalString (v != null) "${n}=${if v == false then "0" else toString v}\n"
       ) config.boot.kernel.sysctl);
 
     systemd.services.systemd-sysctl =
       { wantedBy = [ "multi-user.target" ];
-        restartTriggers = [ config.environment.etc."sysctl.d/nixos.conf".source ];
+        restartTriggers = [ config.environment.etc."sysctl.d/60-nixos.conf".source ];
       };
 
     # Enable hardlink and symlink restrictions.  See