diff --git a/src/indexer.cc b/src/indexer.cc
index 2c4099b1..7e793ea1 100644
--- a/src/indexer.cc
+++ b/src/indexer.cc
@@ -1003,10 +1003,10 @@ void indexDeclaration(CXClientData client_data, const CXIdxDeclInfo* decl) {
     db->language = "c";
     break;
   case CXLanguage_CPlusPlus:
-    db->language = "c++";
+    db->language = "cpp";
     break;
   case CXLanguage_ObjC:
-    db->language = "objc";
+    db->language = "objectivec";
     break;
   case CXLanguage_Invalid:
     db->language = "invalid";
diff --git a/src/indexer.h b/src/indexer.h
index efd2c987..c28d09fb 100644
--- a/src/indexer.h
+++ b/src/indexer.h
@@ -473,7 +473,8 @@ struct IndexFile {
   std::string path;
   std::vector<std::string> args;
   int64_t last_modification_time = 0;
-  // "c++", "c", "obj-c", "invalid" or "unknown"
+  // markdown compatible language identifier.
+  // "cpp", "c", "objectivec", or invalid"
   std::string language;
 
   // The path to the translation unit cc file which caused the creation of this