diff --git a/CHANGELOG.rst b/CHANGELOG.rst
index 448f7f0..6f02f95 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.rst
+++ b/CHANGELOG.rst
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
   :class:`~cryptography.hazmat.primitives.asymmetric.dsa.DSAPrivateKeyWithSerialization`,
   and
   :class:`~cryptography.hazmat.primitives.asymmetric.ec.EllipticCurvePrivateKeyWithSerialization`.
-* Add support for parsing X.509 CSRs (certificate signing requests) with
+* Add support for parsing X.509 certificate signing requests (CSRs) with
   :func:`~cryptography.x509.load_pem_x509_csr`.
 
 0.8.1 - 2015-03-20
diff --git a/docs/hazmat/backends/interfaces.rst b/docs/hazmat/backends/interfaces.rst
index 2b53dfd..15a8234 100644
--- a/docs/hazmat/backends/interfaces.rst
+++ b/docs/hazmat/backends/interfaces.rst
@@ -516,4 +516,5 @@
 
         :param bytes data: PEM formatted certificate request data.
 
-        :returns: An instance of :class:`~cryptography.x509.CSR`.
+        :returns: An instance of
+            :class:`~cryptography.x509.CertificateSigningRequest`.
diff --git a/docs/x509.rst b/docs/x509.rst
index 03301c2..fd1b423 100644
--- a/docs/x509.rst
+++ b/docs/x509.rst
@@ -77,14 +77,14 @@
     >>> cert.serial
     2
 
-Loading CSRs
-~~~~~~~~~~~~
+Loading Certificate Signing Requests
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
 .. function:: load_pem_x509_csr(data, backend)
 
     .. versionadded:: 0.9
 
-    Deserialize a certificate signing request from PEM encoded data. PEM
+    Deserialize a certificate signing request (CSR) from PEM encoded data. PEM
     requests are base64 decoded and have delimiters that look like
     ``-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----``. This is also known as PKCS#10
     format.
@@ -95,7 +95,8 @@
         :class:`~cryptography.hazmat.backends.interfaces.X509Backend`
         interface.
 
-    :returns: An instance of :class:`~cryptography.x509.CSR`.
+    :returns: An instance of
+        :class:`~cryptography.x509.CertificateSigningRequest`.
 
 .. testsetup::
 
@@ -125,8 +126,8 @@
     >>> from cryptography import x509
     >>> from cryptography.hazmat.backends import default_backend
     >>> from cryptography.hazmat.primitives import hashes
-    >>> request = x509.load_pem_x509_csr(pem_req_data, default_backend())
-    >>> isinstance(request.signature_hash_algorithm, hashes.SHA1)
+    >>> csr = x509.load_pem_x509_csr(pem_req_data, default_backend())
+    >>> isinstance(csr.signature_hash_algorithm, hashes.SHA1)
     True
 
 X.509 Certificate Object
@@ -266,7 +267,7 @@
 X.509 CSR (Certificate Signing Request) Object
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
-.. class:: CSR
+.. class:: CertificateSigningRequest
 
     .. versionadded:: 0.9
 
@@ -282,7 +283,7 @@
         .. doctest::
 
             >>> from cryptography.hazmat.primitives.asymmetric import rsa
-            >>> public_key = request.public_key()
+            >>> public_key = csr.public_key()
             >>> isinstance(public_key, rsa.RSAPublicKey)
             True
 
@@ -303,7 +304,7 @@
         .. doctest::
 
             >>> from cryptography.hazmat.primitives import hashes
-            >>> isinstance(request.signature_hash_algorithm, hashes.SHA1)
+            >>> isinstance(csr.signature_hash_algorithm, hashes.SHA1)
             True
 
 .. class:: Name
diff --git a/src/cryptography/hazmat/backends/openssl/backend.py b/src/cryptography/hazmat/backends/openssl/backend.py
index 48fdcb7..6cc3fd9 100644
--- a/src/cryptography/hazmat/backends/openssl/backend.py
+++ b/src/cryptography/hazmat/backends/openssl/backend.py
@@ -34,7 +34,9 @@
 from cryptography.hazmat.backends.openssl.rsa import (
     _RSAPrivateKey, _RSAPublicKey
 )
-from cryptography.hazmat.backends.openssl.x509 import _CSR, _Certificate
+from cryptography.hazmat.backends.openssl.x509 import (
+    _Certificate, _CertificateSigningRequest
+)
 from cryptography.hazmat.bindings.openssl.binding import Binding
 from cryptography.hazmat.primitives import hashes, serialization
 from cryptography.hazmat.primitives.asymmetric import dsa, ec, rsa
@@ -830,7 +832,7 @@
             raise ValueError("Unable to load request")
 
         x509_req = self._ffi.gc(x509_req, self._lib.X509_REQ_free)
-        return _CSR(self, x509_req)
+        return _CertificateSigningRequest(self, x509_req)
 
     def _load_key(self, openssl_read_func, convert_func, data, password):
         mem_bio = self._bytes_to_bio(data)
diff --git a/src/cryptography/hazmat/backends/openssl/x509.py b/src/cryptography/hazmat/backends/openssl/x509.py
index e936201..2b66c21 100644
--- a/src/cryptography/hazmat/backends/openssl/x509.py
+++ b/src/cryptography/hazmat/backends/openssl/x509.py
@@ -218,8 +218,8 @@
         return x509.BasicConstraints(ca, path_length)
 
 
-@utils.register_interface(x509.CSR)
-class _CSR(object):
+@utils.register_interface(x509.CertificateSigningRequest)
+class _CertificateSigningRequest(object):
     def __init__(self, backend, x509_req):
         self._backend = backend
         self._x509_req = x509_req
diff --git a/src/cryptography/x509.py b/src/cryptography/x509.py
index d58ca0b..25bbe9c 100644
--- a/src/cryptography/x509.py
+++ b/src/cryptography/x509.py
@@ -343,7 +343,7 @@
 
 
 @six.add_metaclass(abc.ABCMeta)
-class CSR(object):
+class CertificateSigningRequest(object):
     @abc.abstractmethod
     def public_key(self):
         """