diff --git a/include/pybind11/cast.h b/include/pybind11/cast.h
index 61ac1502e..ad7367218 100644
--- a/include/pybind11/cast.h
+++ b/include/pybind11/cast.h
@@ -467,6 +467,9 @@ protected:
     holder_type holder;
 };
 
+template <typename T> struct handle_type_name { static PYBIND11_DESCR name() { return _<T>(); } };
+template <> struct handle_type_name<bytes> { static PYBIND11_DESCR name() { return _(PYBIND11_BYTES_NAME); } };
+
 template <typename type>
 struct type_caster<type, typename std::enable_if<std::is_base_of<handle, type>::value>::type> {
 public:
@@ -477,10 +480,9 @@ public:
     bool load(PyObject *src, bool /* convert */) { value = type(src, true); return value.check(); }
 
     static PyObject *cast(const handle &src, return_value_policy /* policy */, PyObject * /* parent */) {
-        src.inc_ref();
-        return (PyObject *) src.ptr();
+        src.inc_ref(); return (PyObject *) src.ptr();
     }
-    PYBIND11_TYPE_CASTER(type, _<type>());
+    PYBIND11_TYPE_CASTER(type, handle_type_name<type>::name());
 };
 
 NAMESPACE_END(detail)
diff --git a/include/pybind11/common.h b/include/pybind11/common.h
index 43b365778..c6e62910e 100644
--- a/include/pybind11/common.h
+++ b/include/pybind11/common.h
@@ -94,6 +94,7 @@
 #define PYBIND11_LONG_CHECK(o) PyLong_Check(o)
 #define PYBIND11_LONG_AS_LONGLONG(o) PyLong_AsLongLong(o)
 #define PYBIND11_LONG_AS_UNSIGNED_LONGLONG(o) PyLong_AsUnsignedLongLong(o)
+#define PYBIND11_BYTES_NAME "bytes"
 #define PYBIND11_STRING_NAME "str"
 #define PYBIND11_SLICE_OBJECT PyObject
 #else
@@ -105,6 +106,7 @@
 #define PYBIND11_LONG_CHECK(o) (PyInt_Check(o) || PyLong_Check(o))
 #define PYBIND11_LONG_AS_LONGLONG(o) (PyInt_Check(o) ? (long long) PyLong_AsLong(o) : PyLong_AsLongLong(o))
 #define PYBIND11_LONG_AS_UNSIGNED_LONGLONG(o) (PyInt_Check(o) ? (unsigned long long) PyLong_AsUnsignedLong(o) : PyLong_AsUnsignedLongLong(o))
+#define PYBIND11_BYTES_NAME "str"
 #define PYBIND11_STRING_NAME "unicode"
 #define PYBIND11_SLICE_OBJECT PySliceObject
 #endif
diff --git a/include/pybind11/numpy.h b/include/pybind11/numpy.h
index 094f31759..4b105323a 100644
--- a/include/pybind11/numpy.h
+++ b/include/pybind11/numpy.h
@@ -150,6 +150,10 @@ DECL_FMT(std::complex<double>, NPY_CDOUBLE);
 
 NAMESPACE_BEGIN(detail)
 
+template <typename T> struct handle_type_name<array_t<T>> {
+    static PYBIND11_DESCR name() { return _("array[") + type_caster<T>::name() + _("]"); }
+};
+
 template <typename Func, typename Return, typename... Args>
 struct vectorize_helper {
     typename std::remove_reference<Func>::type f;