diff --git a/modules/lang/cc/README.org b/modules/lang/cc/README.org
index 72526207d..ecb9d6f88 100644
--- a/modules/lang/cc/README.org
+++ b/modules/lang/cc/README.org
@@ -81,8 +81,8 @@ rc -J $PROJECT_ROOT  # loads PROJECT_ROOT's compile_commands.json
 * Configure
 ** Compile settings
 By default, a set of default compile settings are defined in
-~+cc-compiler-options~ for C, C++ and Objective C. Irony, rtags and flycheck
-will fall back to these.
+~+cc-default-compiler-options~ for C, C++ and Objective C. Irony, rtags and
+flycheck will fall back to these.
 
 To make these tools aware of project specific build settings, you need a JSON
 [[https://sarcasm.github.io/notes/dev/compilation-database.html#ninja][compilation database]] present (i.e. a ~compile_commands.json~ file).
diff --git a/modules/lang/cc/autoload.el b/modules/lang/cc/autoload.el
index 390816f1e..d40bcd104 100644
--- a/modules/lang/cc/autoload.el
+++ b/modules/lang/cc/autoload.el
@@ -85,8 +85,8 @@
 ;;;###autoload
 (defun +cc|irony-init-compile-options ()
   "Initialize compiler options for irony-mode. It searches for the nearest
-compilation database and initailizes it. If none was found, it uses
-`+cc-c++-compiler-options'.
+compilation database and initailizes it, otherwise falling back on
+`+cc-default-compiler-options' and `+cc-default-include-paths'.
 
 See https://github.com/Sarcasm/irony-mode#compilation-database for details on
 compilation dbs."
@@ -94,8 +94,8 @@ compilation dbs."
     (require 'irony-cdb)
     (unless (irony-cdb-autosetup-compile-options)
       (irony-cdb--update-compile-options
-       (append (delq nil (cdr-safe (assq major-mode +cc-compiler-options)))
-               (cl-loop for path in +cc-include-paths
+       (append (delq nil (cdr-safe (assq major-mode +cc-default-compiler-options)))
+               (cl-loop for path in +cc-default-include-paths
                         nconc (list "-I" path)))
        (doom-project-root)))))
 
diff --git a/modules/lang/cc/config.el b/modules/lang/cc/config.el
index aa5021713..369b874cc 100644
--- a/modules/lang/cc/config.el
+++ b/modules/lang/cc/config.el
@@ -1,13 +1,11 @@
 ;;; lang/cc/config.el --- c, c++, and obj-c -*- lexical-binding: t; -*-
 
-(defvar +cc-include-paths (list "include/")
-  "A list of paths, relative to a project root, to search for headers in C/C++.
-Paths can be absolute.
+(defvar +cc-default-include-paths (list "include/")
+  "A list of default paths, relative to a project root, to search for headers in
+C/C++. Paths can be absolute. This is ignored if your project has a JSON
+compilation database.")
 
-The purpose of this variable is to ensure syntax checkers and code-completion
-knows where to look for headers.")
-
-(defvar +cc-compiler-options
+(defvar +cc-default-compiler-options
   `((c-mode . nil)
     (c++-mode
      . ,(list "-std=c++11" ; use C++11 by default
@@ -117,7 +115,7 @@ compilation database is present in the project.")
   (unless (file-directory-p irony-server-install-prefix)
     (warn "irony-mode: server isn't installed; run M-x irony-install-server"))
   ;; Initialize compilation database, if present. Otherwise, fall back on
-  ;; `+cc-compiler-options'.
+  ;; `+cc-default-compiler-options'.
   (add-hook 'irony-mode-hook #'+cc|irony-init-compile-options))
 
 (def-package! irony-eldoc