diff --git a/include/pybind11/numpy.h b/include/pybind11/numpy.h
index aacc993db..e14a58ed1 100644
--- a/include/pybind11/numpy.h
+++ b/include/pybind11/numpy.h
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ public:
 
     template <typename Type> array(size_t size, const Type *ptr) {
         API& api = lookup_api();
-        PyObject *descr = detail::npy_format_descriptor<Type>::descr().release().ptr();
+        PyObject *descr = detail::npy_format_descriptor<Type>::dtype().release().ptr();
         Py_intptr_t shape = (Py_intptr_t) size;
         object tmp = object(api.PyArray_NewFromDescr_(
             api.PyArray_Type_, descr, 1, &shape, nullptr, (void *) ptr, 0, nullptr), false);
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ public:
         if (ptr == nullptr)
             return nullptr;
         API &api = lookup_api();
-        PyObject *descr = detail::npy_format_descriptor<T>::descr().release().ptr();
+        PyObject *descr = detail::npy_format_descriptor<T>::dtype().release().ptr();
         PyObject *result = api.PyArray_FromAny_(ptr, descr, 0, 0, API::NPY_ENSURE_ARRAY_ | ExtraFlags, nullptr);
         if (!result)
             PyErr_Clear();
@@ -171,7 +171,7 @@ template <typename T> struct format_descriptor
 
 template <typename T>
 object dtype_of() {
-    return detail::npy_format_descriptor<T>::descr();
+    return detail::npy_format_descriptor<T>::dtype();
 }
 
 NAMESPACE_BEGIN(detail)
@@ -182,10 +182,11 @@ private:
         array::API::NPY_BYTE_, array::API::NPY_UBYTE_, array::API::NPY_SHORT_,    array::API::NPY_USHORT_,
         array::API::NPY_INT_,  array::API::NPY_UINT_,  array::API::NPY_LONGLONG_, array::API::NPY_ULONGLONG_ };
 public:
-    static int typenum() { return values[detail::log2(sizeof(T)) * 2 + (std::is_unsigned<T>::value ? 1 : 0)]; }
-    static object descr() {
-        if (auto ptr = array::lookup_api().PyArray_DescrFromType_(typenum())) return object(ptr, true);
-        else pybind11_fail("Unsupported buffer format!");
+    enum { value = values[detail::log2(sizeof(T)) * 2 + (std::is_unsigned<T>::value ? 1 : 0)] };
+    static object dtype() {
+        if (auto ptr = array::lookup_api().PyArray_DescrFromType_(value))
+            return object(ptr, true);
+        pybind11_fail("Unsupported buffer format!");
     }
     template <typename T2 = T, typename std::enable_if<std::is_signed<T2>::value, int>::type = 0>
     static PYBIND11_DESCR name() { return _("int") + _<sizeof(T)*8>(); }
@@ -196,10 +197,11 @@ template <typename T> constexpr const int npy_format_descriptor<
     T, typename std::enable_if<std::is_integral<T>::value>::type>::values[8];
 
 #define DECL_FMT(Type, NumPyName, Name) template<> struct npy_format_descriptor<Type> { \
-    static int typenum() { return array::API::NumPyName; } \
-    static object descr() {                                               \
-        if (auto ptr = array::lookup_api().PyArray_DescrFromType_(typenum())) return object(ptr, true); \
-        else pybind11_fail("Unsupported buffer format!"); \
+    enum { value = array::API::NumPyName }; \
+    static object dtype() { \
+        if (auto ptr = array::lookup_api().PyArray_DescrFromType_(value)) \
+            return object(ptr, true); \
+        pybind11_fail("Unsupported buffer format!"); \
     } \
     static PYBIND11_DESCR name() { return _(Name); } }
 DECL_FMT(float, NPY_FLOAT_, "float32");
@@ -225,10 +227,10 @@ template <typename T> struct npy_format_descriptor
 {
     static PYBIND11_DESCR name() { return _("user-defined"); }
 
-    static object descr() {
-        if (!descr_())
+    static object dtype() {
+        if (!dtype_())
             pybind11_fail("NumPy: unsupported buffer format!");
-        return object(descr_(), true);
+        return object(dtype_(), true);
     }
 
     static const char* format() {
@@ -249,11 +251,11 @@ template <typename T> struct npy_format_descriptor
         args["names"] = names;
         args["offsets"] = offsets;
         args["formats"] = formats;
-        if (!api.PyArray_DescrConverter_(args.release().ptr(), &descr_()) || !descr_())
+        if (!api.PyArray_DescrConverter_(args.release().ptr(), &dtype_()) || !dtype_())
             pybind11_fail("NumPy: failed to create structured dtype");
         auto np = module::import("numpy");
         auto empty = (object) np.attr("empty");
-        if (auto arr = (object) empty(int_(0), object(descr(), true)))
+        if (auto arr = (object) empty(int_(0), dtype()))
             if (auto view = PyMemoryView_FromObject(arr.ptr()))
                 if (auto info = PyMemoryView_GET_BUFFER(view)) {
                     std::strncpy(format_(), info->format, 4096);
@@ -263,14 +265,14 @@ template <typename T> struct npy_format_descriptor
     }
 
 private:
-    static inline PyObject*& descr_() { static PyObject *ptr = nullptr; return ptr; }
+    static inline PyObject*& dtype_() { static PyObject *ptr = nullptr; return ptr; }
     static inline char* format_() { static char s[4096]; return s; }
 };
 
 #define PB11_IMPL_FIELD_DESCRIPTOR(Type, Field) \
     ::pybind11::detail::field_descriptor { \
         #Field, offsetof(Type, Field), \
-        ::pybind11::detail::npy_format_descriptor<decltype(static_cast<Type*>(0)->Field)>::descr() \
+        ::pybind11::detail::npy_format_descriptor<decltype(static_cast<Type*>(0)->Field)>::dtype() \
     }
 
 // The main idea of this macro is borrowed from https://github.com/swansontec/map-macro