diff --git a/branch_test.go b/branch_test.go
index 7db509b..ee65b07 100644
--- a/branch_test.go
+++ b/branch_test.go
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ func TestBranchIterator(t *testing.T) {
 	checkFatal(t, err)
 
 	list := make([]string, 0)
-	for ref := range ReferenceNameIteratorChannel(i) {
+	for ref := range NameIteratorChannel(i) {
 		list = append(list, ref)
 	}
 
diff --git a/reference.go b/reference.go
index 7d28115..493663a 100644
--- a/reference.go
+++ b/reference.go
@@ -185,12 +185,16 @@ func (v *Reference) Free() {
 	C.git_reference_free(v.ptr)
 }
 
-type ReferenceIterator interface {
-	Next() (*Reference, error)
+type NameIterator interface {
 	NextName() (string, error)
 	Free()
 }
 
+type ReferenceIterator interface {
+	NameIterator
+	Next() (*Reference, error)
+}
+
 type gitReferenceIterator struct {
 	ptr *C.git_reference_iterator
 }
@@ -255,7 +259,7 @@ func (v *gitReferenceIterator) NextName() (string, error) {
 // Create a channel from the iterator. You can use range on the
 // returned channel to iterate over all the references names. The channel
 // will be closed in case any error is found.
-func ReferenceNameIteratorChannel(v ReferenceIterator) <-chan string {
+func NameIteratorChannel(v NameIterator) <-chan string {
 	ch := make(chan string)
 	go func() {
 		defer close(ch)
diff --git a/reference_test.go b/reference_test.go
index 331bc74..b4ff588 100644
--- a/reference_test.go
+++ b/reference_test.go
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ func TestReferenceIterator(t *testing.T) {
 	// test the channel iteration
 	list = []string{}
 	iter, err = repo.NewReferenceIterator()
-	for name := range ReferenceNameIteratorChannel(iter) {
+	for name := range NameIteratorChannel(iter) {
 		list = append(list, name)
 	}
 
@@ -152,7 +152,7 @@ func TestReferenceIterator(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 
 	list = []string{}
-	for name := range ReferenceNameIteratorChannel(iter) {
+	for name := range NameIteratorChannel(iter) {
 		list = append(list, name)
 	}