diff --git a/changelog.d/7889.doc b/changelog.d/7889.doc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d91f62fd39
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/7889.doc
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Change the sample config postgres user section to use `synapse_user` instead of `synapse` to align with the documentation.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/docs/sample_config.yaml b/docs/sample_config.yaml
index 0e83f855bb..2e001fb674 100644
--- a/docs/sample_config.yaml
+++ b/docs/sample_config.yaml
@@ -685,7 +685,7 @@ caches:
 #database:
 #  name: psycopg2
 #  args:
-#    user: synapse
+#    user: synapse_user
 #    password: secretpassword
 #    database: synapse
 #    host: localhost
diff --git a/synapse/config/database.py b/synapse/config/database.py
index 1064c2697b..62bccd9ef5 100644
--- a/synapse/config/database.py
+++ b/synapse/config/database.py
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ DEFAULT_CONFIG = """\
 #database:
 #  name: psycopg2
 #  args:
-#    user: synapse
+#    user: synapse_user
 #    password: secretpassword
 #    database: synapse
 #    host: localhost