diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index 621e53b..ed126ef 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -103,8 +103,13 @@
     }
 
     /// Returns an empty `TokenStream` containing no token trees.
+    pub fn new() -> TokenStream {
+        TokenStream::_new(imp::TokenStream::new())
+    }
+
+    #[deprecated(since = "0.4.4", note = "please use TokenStream::new")]
     pub fn empty() -> TokenStream {
-        TokenStream::_new(imp::TokenStream::empty())
+        TokenStream::new()
     }
 
     /// Checks if this `TokenStream` is empty.
diff --git a/src/stable.rs b/src/stable.rs
index 1e6ea16..a53506a 100644
--- a/src/stable.rs
+++ b/src/stable.rs
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@
 pub struct LexError;
 
 impl TokenStream {
-    pub fn empty() -> TokenStream {
+    pub fn new() -> TokenStream {
         TokenStream { inner: Vec::new() }
     }
 
diff --git a/src/unstable.rs b/src/unstable.rs
index 2ddc939..730c5e7 100644
--- a/src/unstable.rs
+++ b/src/unstable.rs
@@ -40,11 +40,11 @@
 }
 
 impl TokenStream {
-    pub fn empty() -> TokenStream {
+    pub fn new() -> TokenStream {
         if nightly_works() {
-            TokenStream::Nightly(proc_macro::TokenStream::empty())
+            TokenStream::Nightly(proc_macro::TokenStream::new())
         } else {
-            TokenStream::Stable(stable::TokenStream::empty())
+            TokenStream::Stable(stable::TokenStream::new())
         }
     }