diff --git a/src/gen-vowel-constraints.py b/src/gen-vowel-constraints.py
index 184ec29cf..42afd281e 100755
--- a/src/gen-vowel-constraints.py
+++ b/src/gen-vowel-constraints.py
@@ -220,7 +220,7 @@ for script, constraints in sorted (constraints.items (), key=lambda s_c: script_
 print ('    default:')
 print ('      break;')
 print ('  }')
-print ('  buffer->swap_buffers ();')
+print ('  buffer->sync ();')
 print ('}')
 
 print ()
diff --git a/src/hb-aat-layout-common.hh b/src/hb-aat-layout-common.hh
index 1dcbe9290..1db0f1df9 100644
--- a/src/hb-aat-layout-common.hh
+++ b/src/hb-aat-layout-common.hh
@@ -839,7 +839,7 @@ struct StateTableDriver
     }
 
     if (!c->in_place)
-      buffer->swap_buffers ();
+      buffer->sync ();
   }
 
   public:
diff --git a/src/hb-buffer.cc b/src/hb-buffer.cc
index f5c709043..c673077bd 100644
--- a/src/hb-buffer.cc
+++ b/src/hb-buffer.cc
@@ -135,14 +135,14 @@ hb_segment_properties_overlay (hb_segment_properties_t *p,
  * As an optimization, both info and out_info may point to the
  * same piece of memory, which is owned by info.  This remains the
  * case as long as out_len doesn't exceed i at any time.
- * In that case, swap_buffers() is mostly no-op and the glyph operations
+ * In that case, sync() is mostly no-op and the glyph operations
  * operate mostly in-place.
  *
  * As soon as out_info gets longer than info, out_info is moved over
  * to an alternate buffer (which we reuse the pos buffer for), and its
  * current contents (out_len entries) are copied to the new place.
  *
- * This should all remain transparent to the user.  swap_buffers() then
+ * This should all remain transparent to the user.  sync() then
  * switches info over to out_info and does housekeeping.
  */
 
@@ -386,7 +386,7 @@ hb_buffer_t::clear_positions ()
 }
 
 void
-hb_buffer_t::swap_buffers ()
+hb_buffer_t::sync ()
 {
   assert (have_output);
 
diff --git a/src/hb-buffer.hh b/src/hb-buffer.hh
index 7d3ef34a2..c8ee0d90f 100644
--- a/src/hb-buffer.hh
+++ b/src/hb-buffer.hh
@@ -271,7 +271,7 @@ struct hb_buffer_t
 
   HB_INTERNAL void guess_segment_properties ();
 
-  HB_INTERNAL void swap_buffers ();
+  HB_INTERNAL void sync ();
   HB_INTERNAL void clear_output ();
   HB_INTERNAL void clear_positions ();
 
diff --git a/src/hb-ot-layout.cc b/src/hb-ot-layout.cc
index 60733648c..ad4c68479 100644
--- a/src/hb-ot-layout.cc
+++ b/src/hb-ot-layout.cc
@@ -1890,7 +1890,7 @@ apply_string (OT::hb_ot_apply_context_t *c,
     apply_forward (c, accel);
 
     if (!Proxy::inplace)
-      buffer->swap_buffers ();
+      buffer->sync ();
   }
   else
   {
diff --git a/src/hb-ot-shape-complex-hangul.cc b/src/hb-ot-shape-complex-hangul.cc
index 0d84a76b8..fe5b01406 100644
--- a/src/hb-ot-shape-complex-hangul.cc
+++ b/src/hb-ot-shape-complex-hangul.cc
@@ -392,7 +392,7 @@ preprocess_text_hangul (const hb_ot_shape_plan_t *plan HB_UNUSED,
      */
     (void) buffer->next_glyph ();
   }
-  buffer->swap_buffers ();
+  buffer->sync ();
 }
 
 static void
diff --git a/src/hb-ot-shape-complex-syllabic.cc b/src/hb-ot-shape-complex-syllabic.cc
index 5a08f878d..76092c7f3 100644
--- a/src/hb-ot-shape-complex-syllabic.cc
+++ b/src/hb-ot-shape-complex-syllabic.cc
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ hb_syllabic_insert_dotted_circles (hb_font_t *font,
     else
       (void) buffer->next_glyph ();
   }
-  buffer->swap_buffers ();
+  buffer->sync ();
 }
 
 
diff --git a/src/hb-ot-shape-complex-thai.cc b/src/hb-ot-shape-complex-thai.cc
index 4c3068173..a1e27a83b 100644
--- a/src/hb-ot-shape-complex-thai.cc
+++ b/src/hb-ot-shape-complex-thai.cc
@@ -364,7 +364,7 @@ preprocess_text_thai (const hb_ot_shape_plan_t *plan,
 	buffer->merge_out_clusters (start - 1, end);
     }
   }
-  buffer->swap_buffers ();
+  buffer->sync ();
 
   /* If font has Thai GSUB, we are done. */
   if (plan->props.script == HB_SCRIPT_THAI && !plan->map.found_script[0])
diff --git a/src/hb-ot-shape-complex-vowel-constraints.cc b/src/hb-ot-shape-complex-vowel-constraints.cc
index 045731dfb..d2cca105a 100644
--- a/src/hb-ot-shape-complex-vowel-constraints.cc
+++ b/src/hb-ot-shape-complex-vowel-constraints.cc
@@ -435,7 +435,7 @@ _hb_preprocess_text_vowel_constraints (const hb_ot_shape_plan_t *plan HB_UNUSED,
     default:
       break;
   }
-  buffer->swap_buffers ();
+  buffer->sync ();
 }
 
 
diff --git a/src/hb-ot-shape-normalize.cc b/src/hb-ot-shape-normalize.cc
index f6a7a5fbd..aa5a8eeaa 100644
--- a/src/hb-ot-shape-normalize.cc
+++ b/src/hb-ot-shape-normalize.cc
@@ -375,7 +375,7 @@ _hb_ot_shape_normalize (const hb_ot_shape_plan_t *plan,
       decompose_multi_char_cluster (&c, end, always_short_circuit);
     }
     while (buffer->idx < count && buffer->successful);
-    buffer->swap_buffers ();
+    buffer->sync ();
   }
 
 
@@ -478,7 +478,7 @@ _hb_ot_shape_normalize (const hb_ot_shape_plan_t *plan,
       if (info_cc (buffer->prev()) == 0)
 	starter = buffer->out_len - 1;
     }
-    buffer->swap_buffers ();
+    buffer->sync ();
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/src/hb-ot-shape.cc b/src/hb-ot-shape.cc
index 11fcc11f9..fe6bbba80 100644
--- a/src/hb-ot-shape.cc
+++ b/src/hb-ot-shape.cc
@@ -566,7 +566,7 @@ hb_insert_dotted_circle (hb_buffer_t *buffer, hb_font_t *font)
   info.mask = buffer->cur().mask;
   (void) buffer->output_info (info);
 
-  buffer->swap_buffers ();
+  buffer->sync ();
 }
 
 static void