diff --git a/gensim/models/word2vec.py b/gensim/models/word2vec.py
index 50be048f4a..b4fab149aa 100755
--- a/gensim/models/word2vec.py
+++ b/gensim/models/word2vec.py
@@ -425,7 +425,8 @@ class Word2Vec(BaseWordEmbeddingsModel):
     def __init__(self, sentences=None, size=100, alpha=0.025, window=5, min_count=5,
                  max_vocab_size=None, sample=1e-3, seed=1, workers=3, min_alpha=0.0001,
                  sg=0, hs=0, negative=5, cbow_mean=1, hashfxn=hash, iter=5, null_word=0,
-                 trim_rule=None, sorted_vocab=1, batch_words=MAX_WORDS_IN_BATCH, compute_loss=False, callbacks=()):
+                 trim_rule=None, sorted_vocab=1, batch_words=MAX_WORDS_IN_BATCH, compute_loss=False, callbacks=(),
+                 max_final_vocab=None):
         """
         Initialize the model from an iterable of `sentences`. Each sentence is a
         list of words (unicode strings) that will be used for training.
@@ -462,6 +463,10 @@ def __init__(self, sentences=None, size=100, alpha=0.025, window=5, min_count=5,
             Limits the RAM during vocabulary building; if there are more unique
             words than this, then prune the infrequent ones. Every 10 million word types need about 1GB of RAM.
             Set to `None` for no limit.
+        max_final_vocab : int
+            Limits the vocab to a target vocab size by automatically picking a matching min_count. If the specified
+            min_count is more than the calculated min_count, the specified min_count will be used.
+            Set to `None` if not required.
         sample : float
             The threshold for configuring which higher-frequency words are randomly downsampled,
             useful range is (0, 1e-5).
@@ -510,6 +515,7 @@ def __init__(self, sentences=None, size=100, alpha=0.025, window=5, min_count=5,
         >>> say_vector = model['say']  # get vector for word
 
         """
+        self.max_final_vocab = max_final_vocab
 
         self.callbacks = callbacks
         self.load = call_on_class_only
@@ -517,7 +523,7 @@ def __init__(self, sentences=None, size=100, alpha=0.025, window=5, min_count=5,
         self.wv = Word2VecKeyedVectors(size)
         self.vocabulary = Word2VecVocab(
             max_vocab_size=max_vocab_size, min_count=min_count, sample=sample,
-            sorted_vocab=bool(sorted_vocab), null_word=null_word)
+            sorted_vocab=bool(sorted_vocab), null_word=null_word, max_final_vocab=max_final_vocab)
         self.trainables = Word2VecTrainables(seed=seed, vector_size=size, hashfxn=hashfxn)
 
         super(Word2Vec, self).__init__(
@@ -972,7 +978,14 @@ def load(cls, *args, **kwargs):
             Returns the loaded model as an instance of :class: `~gensim.models.word2vec.Word2Vec`.
         """
         try:
-            return super(Word2Vec, cls).load(*args, **kwargs)
+            model = super(Word2Vec, cls).load(*args, **kwargs)
+
+            # for backward compatibility for `max_final_vocab` feature
+            if not hasattr(model, 'max_final_vocab'):
+                model.max_final_vocab = None
+                model.vocabulary.max_final_vocab = None
+
+            return model
         except AttributeError:
             logger.info('Model saved using code from earlier Gensim Version. Re-loading old model in a compatible way.')
             from gensim.models.deprecated.word2vec import load_old_word2vec
@@ -1131,7 +1144,8 @@ def __iter__(self):
 
 
 class Word2VecVocab(utils.SaveLoad):
-    def __init__(self, max_vocab_size=None, min_count=5, sample=1e-3, sorted_vocab=True, null_word=0):
+    def __init__(self, max_vocab_size=None, min_count=5, sample=1e-3, sorted_vocab=True, null_word=0,
+        max_final_vocab=None):
         self.max_vocab_size = max_vocab_size
         self.min_count = min_count
         self.sample = sample
@@ -1139,6 +1153,7 @@ def __init__(self, max_vocab_size=None, min_count=5, sample=1e-3, sorted_vocab=T
         self.null_word = null_word
         self.cum_table = None  # for negative sampling
         self.raw_vocab = None
+        self.max_final_vocab = max_final_vocab
 
     def scan_vocab(self, sentences, progress_per=10000, trim_rule=None):
         """Do an initial scan of all words appearing in sentences."""
@@ -1204,6 +1219,23 @@ def prepare_vocab(self, hs, negative, wv, update=False, keep_raw_vocab=False, tr
         sample = sample or self.sample
         drop_total = drop_unique = 0
 
+        # set effective_min_count to min_count in case max_final_vocab isn't set
+        self.effective_min_count = min_count
+
+        # if max_final_vocab is specified instead of min_count
+        # pick a min_count which satisfies max_final_vocab as well as possible
+        if self.max_final_vocab is not None:
+            sorted_vocab = sorted(self.raw_vocab.keys(), key=lambda word: self.raw_vocab[word], reverse=True)
+            calc_min_count = 1
+
+            if self.max_final_vocab < len(sorted_vocab):
+                calc_min_count = self.raw_vocab[sorted_vocab[self.max_final_vocab]] + 1
+
+            self.effective_min_count = max(calc_min_count, min_count)
+            logger.info("max_final_vocab=%d and min_count=%d resulted in calc_min_count=%d, effective_min_count=%d",
+                        self.max_final_vocab, min_count, calc_min_count, self.effective_min_count
+                )
+
         if not update:
             logger.info("Loading a fresh vocabulary")
             retain_total, retain_words = 0, []
@@ -1216,7 +1248,7 @@ def prepare_vocab(self, hs, negative, wv, update=False, keep_raw_vocab=False, tr
                 wv.vocab = {}
 
             for word, v in iteritems(self.raw_vocab):
-                if keep_vocab_item(word, v, min_count, trim_rule=trim_rule):
+                if keep_vocab_item(word, v, self.effective_min_count, trim_rule=trim_rule):
                     retain_words.append(word)
                     retain_total += v
                     if not dry_run:
@@ -1228,21 +1260,21 @@ def prepare_vocab(self, hs, negative, wv, update=False, keep_raw_vocab=False, tr
             original_unique_total = len(retain_words) + drop_unique
             retain_unique_pct = len(retain_words) * 100 / max(original_unique_total, 1)
             logger.info(
-                "min_count=%d retains %i unique words (%i%% of original %i, drops %i)",
-                min_count, len(retain_words), retain_unique_pct, original_unique_total, drop_unique
+                "effective_min_count=%d retains %i unique words (%i%% of original %i, drops %i)",
+                self.effective_min_count, len(retain_words), retain_unique_pct, original_unique_total, drop_unique
             )
             original_total = retain_total + drop_total
             retain_pct = retain_total * 100 / max(original_total, 1)
             logger.info(
-                "min_count=%d leaves %i word corpus (%i%% of original %i, drops %i)",
-                min_count, retain_total, retain_pct, original_total, drop_total
+                "effective_min_count=%d leaves %i word corpus (%i%% of original %i, drops %i)",
+                self.effective_min_count, retain_total, retain_pct, original_total, drop_total
             )
         else:
             logger.info("Updating model with new vocabulary")
             new_total = pre_exist_total = 0
             new_words = pre_exist_words = []
             for word, v in iteritems(self.raw_vocab):
-                if keep_vocab_item(word, v, min_count, trim_rule=trim_rule):
+                if keep_vocab_item(word, v, self.effective_min_count, trim_rule=trim_rule):
                     if word in wv.vocab:
                         pre_exist_words.append(word)
                         pre_exist_total += v
diff --git a/gensim/test/test_data/word2vec_3.3 b/gensim/test/test_data/word2vec_3.3
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..17f869bc4a
Binary files /dev/null and b/gensim/test/test_data/word2vec_3.3 differ
diff --git a/gensim/test/test_word2vec.py b/gensim/test/test_word2vec.py
index d1ec2703e9..9641a332a1 100644
--- a/gensim/test/test_word2vec.py
+++ b/gensim/test/test_word2vec.py
@@ -145,6 +145,27 @@ def testTotalWordCount(self):
         total_words = model.vocabulary.scan_vocab(sentences)[0]
         self.assertEqual(total_words, 29)
 
+    def testMaxFinalVocab(self):
+        # Test for less restricting effect of max_final_vocab
+        # max_final_vocab is specified but has no effect
+        model = word2vec.Word2Vec(size=10, max_final_vocab=4, min_count=4, sample=0)
+        model.vocabulary.scan_vocab(sentences)
+        reported_values = model.vocabulary.prepare_vocab(wv=model.wv, hs=0, negative=0)
+        self.assertEqual(reported_values['drop_unique'], 11)
+        self.assertEqual(reported_values['retain_total'], 4)
+        self.assertEqual(reported_values['num_retained_words'], 1)
+        self.assertEqual(model.vocabulary.effective_min_count, 4)
+
+        # Test for more restricting effect of max_final_vocab
+        # results in setting a min_count more restricting than specified min_count
+        model = word2vec.Word2Vec(size=10, max_final_vocab=4, min_count=2, sample=0)
+        model.vocabulary.scan_vocab(sentences)
+        reported_values = model.vocabulary.prepare_vocab(wv=model.wv, hs=0, negative=0)
+        self.assertEqual(reported_values['drop_unique'], 8)
+        self.assertEqual(reported_values['retain_total'], 13)
+        self.assertEqual(reported_values['num_retained_words'], 4)
+        self.assertEqual(model.vocabulary.effective_min_count, 3)
+
     def testOnlineLearning(self):
         """Test that the algorithm is able to add new words to the
         vocabulary and to a trained model when using a sorted vocabulary"""
@@ -753,6 +774,12 @@ def testLoadOldModel(self):
         self.assertTrue(model.trainables.vectors_lockf.shape == (12,))
         self.assertTrue(model.vocabulary.cum_table.shape == (12,))
 
+        # test for max_final_vocab for model saved in 3.3
+        model_file = 'word2vec_3.3'
+        model = word2vec.Word2Vec.load(datapath(model_file))
+        self.assertEqual(model.max_final_vocab, None)
+        self.assertEqual(model.vocabulary.max_final_vocab, None)
+
     @log_capture()
     def testBuildVocabWarning(self, l):
         """Test if warning is raised on non-ideal input to a word2vec model"""