diff --git a/include/common/buf.h b/include/common/buf.h
index df009edb..bcbc8301 100644
--- a/include/common/buf.h
+++ b/include/common/buf.h
@@ -13,9 +13,9 @@ struct buf {
 	 * Pointer to underlying string buffer. If alloc != 0, then
 	 * this was allocated via malloc().
 	 */
-	char *buf;
+	char *data;
 	/**
-	 * Allocated length of buf. If zero, buf was not allocated
+	 * Allocated length of buf. If zero, data was not allocated
 	 * (either NULL or literal empty string).
 	 */
 	int alloc;
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ struct buf {
 };
 
 /** Value used to initialize a struct buf to an empty string */
-#define BUF_INIT ((struct buf){.buf = ""})
+#define BUF_INIT ((struct buf){.data = ""})
 
 /**
  * buf_expand_tilde - expand ~ in buffer
diff --git a/src/action.c b/src/action.c
index 2ba1c531..7cc4bc56 100644
--- a/src/action.c
+++ b/src/action.c
@@ -709,7 +709,7 @@ actions_run(struct view *activator, struct server *server,
 				struct buf cmd = BUF_INIT;
 				buf_add(&cmd, action_get_str(action, "command", NULL));
 				buf_expand_tilde(&cmd);
-				spawn_async_no_shell(cmd.buf);
+				spawn_async_no_shell(cmd.data);
 				buf_reset(&cmd);
 			}
 			break;
diff --git a/src/button/button-xbm.c b/src/button/button-xbm.c
index 0133a052..94ad238a 100644
--- a/src/button/button-xbm.c
+++ b/src/button/button-xbm.c
@@ -290,7 +290,7 @@ button_xbm_load(const char *button_name, struct lab_data_buffer **buffer,
 	button_filename(button_name, filename, sizeof(filename));
 	struct buf token_buf = grab_file(filename);
 	if (token_buf.len) {
-		struct token *tokens = tokenize_xbm(token_buf.buf);
+		struct token *tokens = tokenize_xbm(token_buf.data);
 		pixmap = parse_xbm_tokens(tokens);
 		if (tokens) {
 			free(tokens);
diff --git a/src/common/buf.c b/src/common/buf.c
index 78d48d15..ecdddc6e 100644
--- a/src/common/buf.c
+++ b/src/common/buf.c
@@ -13,10 +13,10 @@ buf_expand_tilde(struct buf *s)
 {
 	struct buf new = BUF_INIT;
 	for (int i = 0 ; i < s->len ; i++) {
-		if (s->buf[i] == '~') {
+		if (s->data[i] == '~') {
 			buf_add(&new, getenv("HOME"));
 		} else {
-			buf_add_char(&new, s->buf[i]);
+			buf_add_char(&new, s->data[i]);
 		}
 	}
 	buf_move(s, &new);
@@ -47,23 +47,23 @@ buf_expand_shell_variables(struct buf *s)
 	struct buf environment_variable = BUF_INIT;
 
 	for (int i = 0 ; i < s->len ; i++) {
-		if (s->buf[i] == '$' && isvalid(s->buf[i+1])) {
+		if (s->data[i] == '$' && isvalid(s->data[i+1])) {
 			/* expand environment variable */
 			buf_clear(&environment_variable);
-			buf_add(&environment_variable, s->buf + i + 1);
-			char *p = environment_variable.buf;
+			buf_add(&environment_variable, s->data + i + 1);
+			char *p = environment_variable.data;
 			while (isvalid(*p)) {
 				++p;
 			}
 			*p = '\0';
-			i += strlen(environment_variable.buf);
-			strip_curly_braces(environment_variable.buf);
-			p = getenv(environment_variable.buf);
+			i += strlen(environment_variable.data);
+			strip_curly_braces(environment_variable.data);
+			p = getenv(environment_variable.data);
 			if (p) {
 				buf_add(&new, p);
 			}
 		} else {
-			buf_add_char(&new, s->buf[i]);
+			buf_add_char(&new, s->data[i]);
 		}
 	}
 	buf_reset(&environment_variable);
@@ -85,12 +85,12 @@ buf_expand(struct buf *s, int new_alloc)
 	new_alloc = MAX(new_alloc, 256);
 	new_alloc = MAX(new_alloc, s->alloc * 3 / 2);
 	if (s->alloc) {
-		assert(s->buf);
-		s->buf = xrealloc(s->buf, new_alloc);
+		assert(s->data);
+		s->data = xrealloc(s->data, new_alloc);
 	} else {
 		assert(!s->len);
-		s->buf = xmalloc(new_alloc);
-		s->buf[0] = '\0';
+		s->data = xmalloc(new_alloc);
+		s->data[0] = '\0';
 	}
 	s->alloc = new_alloc;
 }
@@ -103,26 +103,26 @@ buf_add(struct buf *s, const char *data)
 	}
 	int len = strlen(data);
 	buf_expand(s, s->len + len + 1);
-	memcpy(s->buf + s->len, data, len);
+	memcpy(s->data + s->len, data, len);
 	s->len += len;
-	s->buf[s->len] = 0;
+	s->data[s->len] = 0;
 }
 
 void
 buf_add_char(struct buf *s, char ch)
 {
 	buf_expand(s, s->len + 1);
-	s->buf[s->len++] = ch;
-	s->buf[s->len] = '\0';
+	s->data[s->len++] = ch;
+	s->data[s->len] = '\0';
 }
 
 void
 buf_clear(struct buf *s)
 {
 	if (s->alloc) {
-		assert(s->buf);
+		assert(s->data);
 		s->len = 0;
-		s->buf[0] = '\0';
+		s->data[0] = '\0';
 	} else {
 		*s = BUF_INIT;
 	}
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ void
 buf_reset(struct buf *s)
 {
 	if (s->alloc) {
-		free(s->buf);
+		free(s->data);
 	}
 	*s = BUF_INIT;
 }
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@ void
 buf_move(struct buf *dst, struct buf *src)
 {
 	if (dst->alloc) {
-		free(dst->buf);
+		free(dst->data);
 	}
 	*dst = *src;
 	*src = BUF_INIT;
diff --git a/src/common/dir.c b/src/common/dir.c
index 4f173e94..201c9b03 100644
--- a/src/common/dir.c
+++ b/src/common/dir.c
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ find_dir(struct ctx *ctx)
 		 * .default_prefix in the same way.
 		 */
 		gchar * *prefixes;
-		prefixes = g_strsplit(prefix.buf, ":", -1);
+		prefixes = g_strsplit(prefix.data, ":", -1);
 		for (gchar * *p = prefixes; *p; p++) {
 			ctx->build_path_fn(ctx, *p, d.path);
 			if (debug) {
diff --git a/src/config/rcxml.c b/src/config/rcxml.c
index ded8b646..1b14c0a2 100644
--- a/src/config/rcxml.c
+++ b/src/config/rcxml.c
@@ -1107,7 +1107,7 @@ xml_tree_walk(xmlNode *node)
 void
 rcxml_parse_xml(struct buf *b)
 {
-	xmlDoc *d = xmlParseMemory(b->buf, b->len);
+	xmlDoc *d = xmlParseMemory(b->data, b->len);
 	if (!d) {
 		wlr_log(WLR_ERROR, "error parsing config file");
 		return;
diff --git a/src/config/session.c b/src/config/session.c
index 2bf4693b..db589434 100644
--- a/src/config/session.c
+++ b/src/config/session.c
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ process_line(char *line)
 	buf_add(&value, string_strip(++p));
 	buf_expand_shell_variables(&value);
 	buf_expand_tilde(&value);
-	setenv(key, value.buf, 1);
+	setenv(key, value.data, 1);
 	buf_reset(&value);
 }
 
diff --git a/src/menu/menu.c b/src/menu/menu.c
index 7130b213..84b86793 100644
--- a/src/menu/menu.c
+++ b/src/menu/menu.c
@@ -617,7 +617,7 @@ xml_tree_walk(xmlNode *node, struct server *server)
 static bool
 parse_buf(struct server *server, struct buf *buf)
 {
-	xmlDoc *d = xmlParseMemory(buf->buf, buf->len);
+	xmlDoc *d = xmlParseMemory(buf->data, buf->len);
 	if (!d) {
 		wlr_log(WLR_ERROR, "xmlParseMemory()");
 		return false;
@@ -1195,7 +1195,7 @@ handle_pipemenu_readable(int fd, uint32_t mask, void *_ctx)
 	}
 
 	/* Guard against badly formed data such as binary input */
-	if (!starts_with_less_than(ctx->buf.buf)) {
+	if (!starts_with_less_than(ctx->buf.data)) {
 		wlr_log(WLR_ERROR, "expect xml data to start with '<'; abort pipemenu");
 		goto clean_up;
 	}
diff --git a/src/osd.c b/src/osd.c
index 4bd57a6d..9555d913 100644
--- a/src/osd.c
+++ b/src/osd.c
@@ -296,7 +296,7 @@ render_osd(struct server *server, cairo_t *cairo, int w, int h,
 				* theme->osd_window_switcher_item_padding_x)
 				* field->width / 100.0;
 			pango_layout_set_width(layout, field_width * PANGO_SCALE);
-			pango_layout_set_text(layout, buf.buf, -1);
+			pango_layout_set_text(layout, buf.data, -1);
 			pango_cairo_show_layout(cairo, layout);
 			x += field_width + theme->osd_window_switcher_item_padding_x;
 		}
diff --git a/src/osd_field.c b/src/osd_field.c
index 7728297d..b97418b2 100644
--- a/src/osd_field.c
+++ b/src/osd_field.c
@@ -237,7 +237,7 @@ field_set_custom(struct buf *buf, struct view *view, const char *format)
 			fmt[fmt_position++] = 's';
 			fmt[fmt_position++] = '\0';
 			snprintf(converted_field, sizeof(converted_field),
-				fmt, field_result.buf);
+				fmt, field_result.data);
 
 			/* And finally write it to the output buffer */
 			buf_add(buf, converted_field);