diff --git a/connection.go b/connection.go
index df116fb3..42098199 100644
--- a/connection.go
+++ b/connection.go
@@ -15,13 +15,14 @@ var Connections = map[string]*Connection{}
 
 // Connection represents all necessary details to talk with a datastore
 type Connection struct {
-	ID          string
-	Store       store
-	Dialect     dialect
-	Elapsed     int64
-	TX          *Tx
-	eager       bool
-	eagerFields []string
+	ID            string
+	Store         store
+	Dialect       dialect
+	Elapsed       int64
+	TX            *Tx
+	eager         bool
+	eagerFields   []string
+	OptimizeCount bool
 }
 
 func (c *Connection) String() string {
diff --git a/finders.go b/finders.go
index 9026d14b..504bb44f 100644
--- a/finders.go
+++ b/finders.go
@@ -348,10 +348,32 @@ func (q Query) CountByField(model interface{}, field string) (int, error) {
 		tmpQuery.Paginator = nil
 		tmpQuery.orderClauses = clauses{}
 		tmpQuery.limitResults = 0
-		query, args := tmpQuery.ToSQL(&Model{Value: model})
-		// when query contains custom selected fields / executed using RawQuery,
-		//	sql may already contains limit and offset
 
+		var query, countQuery string
+		var args []interface{}
+		var isRaw bool
+
+		if tmpQuery.RawSQL != nil && tmpQuery.RawSQL.Fragment != "" {
+			isRaw = true
+		}
+
+		// Count can't be optimized if the query contains raw SQL due to ToSQL internals
+		if tmpQuery.OptimizeCount && !isRaw {
+			tmpQuery.addColumns = []string{} // Optimizing Count means giving up selecting any distinct columns.
+			// This can be changed in the future but will also have to address the issue of
+			// table aliasing in column names -- AKA reevaluating how Model.ignoreTableName works.
+			query, args = tmpQuery.ToSQL(&Model{Value: model, ignoreTableName: true},
+				fmt.Sprintf("COUNT(%s) as row_count", field))
+		} else {
+			if tmpQuery.OptimizeCount && isRaw {
+				log(logging.Warn, "Query contains raw SQL; COUNT cannot be optimized")
+			}
+
+			query, args = tmpQuery.ToSQL(&Model{Value: model})
+		}
+
+		//when query contains custom selected fields / executed using RawQuery,
+		//	sql may already contains limit and offset
 		if rLimitOffset.MatchString(query) {
 			foundLimit := rLimitOffset.FindString(query)
 			query = query[0 : len(query)-len(foundLimit)]
@@ -360,7 +382,12 @@ func (q Query) CountByField(model interface{}, field string) (int, error) {
 			query = query[0 : len(query)-len(foundLimit)]
 		}
 
-		countQuery := fmt.Sprintf("SELECT COUNT(%s) AS row_count FROM (%s) a", field, query)
+		if tmpQuery.OptimizeCount {
+			countQuery = query
+		} else {
+			countQuery = fmt.Sprintf("SELECT COUNT(%s) AS row_count FROM (%s) a", field, query)
+		}
+
 		log(logging.SQL, countQuery, args...)
 		return q.Connection.Store.Get(res, countQuery, args...)
 	})
diff --git a/finders_test.go b/finders_test.go
index 389dc80a..7ff3e51d 100644
--- a/finders_test.go
+++ b/finders_test.go
@@ -727,6 +727,40 @@ func Test_Count(t *testing.T) {
 	})
 }
 
+func Test_Count_Optimized(t *testing.T) {
+	if PDB == nil {
+		t.Skip("skipping integration tests")
+	}
+	transaction(func(tx *Connection) {
+		r := require.New(t)
+
+		tx.OptimizeCount = true
+
+		user := User{Name: nulls.NewString("Dylan")}
+		err := tx.Create(&user)
+		r.NoError(err)
+		c, err := tx.Count(&user)
+		r.NoError(err)
+		r.Equal(c, 1)
+
+		c, err = tx.Where("1=1").CountByField(&user, "distinct id")
+		r.NoError(err)
+		r.Equal(c, 1)
+		// should ignore order in count
+
+		c, err = tx.Order("id desc").Count(&user)
+		r.NoError(err)
+		r.Equal(c, 1)
+
+		var uAQ []UsersAddressQuery
+		_, err = Q(tx).Select("users_addresses.*").LeftJoin("users", "users.id=users_addresses.user_id").Count(&uAQ)
+		r.NoError(err)
+
+		_, err = Q(tx).Select("users_addresses.*", "users.name", "users.email").LeftJoin("users", "users.id=users_addresses.user_id").Count(&uAQ)
+		r.NoError(err)
+	})
+}
+
 func Test_Count_Disregards_Pagination(t *testing.T) {
 	if PDB == nil {
 		t.Skip("skipping integration tests")
diff --git a/model.go b/model.go
index 58019f73..e5512675 100644
--- a/model.go
+++ b/model.go
@@ -27,8 +27,9 @@ type modelIterable func(*Model) error
 // that is passed in to many functions.
 type Model struct {
 	Value
-	tableName string
-	As        string
+	tableName       string
+	As              string
+	ignoreTableName bool
 }
 
 // ID returns the ID of the Model. All models must have an `ID` field this is
diff --git a/query.go b/query.go
index b9af3998..64937388 100644
--- a/query.go
+++ b/query.go
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ type Query struct {
 	havingClauses           havingClauses
 	Paginator               *Paginator
 	Connection              *Connection
+	OptimizeCount           bool
 }
 
 // Clone will fill targetQ query with the connection used in q, if
@@ -42,6 +43,7 @@ func (q *Query) Clone(targetQ *Query) {
 	targetQ.groupClauses = q.groupClauses
 	targetQ.havingClauses = q.havingClauses
 	targetQ.addColumns = q.addColumns
+	targetQ.OptimizeCount = q.OptimizeCount
 
 	if q.Paginator != nil {
 		paginator := *q.Paginator
@@ -196,6 +198,7 @@ func Q(c *Connection) *Query {
 		eager:       c.eager,
 		eagerFields: c.eagerFields,
 		eagerMode:   eagerModeNil,
+    OptimizeCount: c.OptimizeCount,
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/sql_builder.go b/sql_builder.go
index edd05c46..103a33ed 100644
--- a/sql_builder.go
+++ b/sql_builder.go
@@ -216,10 +216,13 @@ var columnCacheMutex = sync.RWMutex{}
 
 func (sq *sqlBuilder) buildColumns() columns.Columns {
 	tableName := sq.Model.TableName()
+
 	asName := sq.Model.As
-	if asName == "" {
+	// If asName is not explicitly set and ignoreTableName is set, then don't us an AS name (alias)
+	if asName == "" && !sq.Model.ignoreTableName {
 		asName = strings.Replace(tableName, ".", "_", -1)
 	}
+
 	acl := len(sq.AddColumns)
 	if acl == 0 {
 		columnCacheMutex.RLock()