diff --git a/src/core.js b/src/core.js
index 4949d6bf..4091111a 100644
--- a/src/core.js
+++ b/src/core.js
@@ -273,9 +273,9 @@ jQuery.extend = jQuery.fn.extend = function() {
 				}
 
 				// Recurse if we're merging object literal values
-				if ( deep && copy && jQuery.isObjectLiteral(copy) ) {
+				if ( deep && copy && jQuery.isPlainObject(copy) ) {
 					// Don't extend not object literals
-					var clone = src && jQuery.isObjectLiteral(src) ? src : {};
+					var clone = src && jQuery.isPlainObject(src) ? src : {};
 
 					// Never move original objects, clone them
 					target[ name ] = jQuery.extend( deep, clone, copy );
@@ -314,7 +314,7 @@ jQuery.extend({
 		return toString.call(obj) === "[object Array]";
 	},
 
-	isObjectLiteral: function( obj ) {
+	isPlainObject: function( obj ) {
 		if ( toString.call(obj) !== "[object Object]" || typeof obj.nodeType === "number" ) {
 			return false;
 		}
diff --git a/test/unit/core.js b/test/unit/core.js
index f5f38532..df610eb2 100644
--- a/test/unit/core.js
+++ b/test/unit/core.js
@@ -200,41 +200,41 @@ test("trim", function() {
   equals( jQuery.trim("  " + nbsp + "hello  " + nbsp + " "), "hello", " " );
 });
 
-test("isObjectLiteral", function() {
+test("isPlainObject", function() {
 	expect(7);
 
 	stop();
 
 	// The use case that we want to match
-	ok(jQuery.isObjectLiteral({}), "{}");
+	ok(jQuery.isPlainObject({}), "{}");
  
 	// Instantiated objects shouldn't be matched
-	ok(!jQuery.isObjectLiteral(new Date), "new Date");
+	ok(!jQuery.isPlainObject(new Date), "new Date");
  
 	var fn = function(){};
  
 	// Functions shouldn't be matched
-	ok(!jQuery.isObjectLiteral(fn), "fn");
+	ok(!jQuery.isPlainObject(fn), "fn");
  
 	// Again, instantiated objects shouldn't be matched
-	ok(!jQuery.isObjectLiteral(new fn), "new fn (no methods)");
+	ok(!jQuery.isPlainObject(new fn), "new fn (no methods)");
  
 	// Makes the function a little more realistic
 	// (and harder to detect, incidentally)
 	fn.prototype = {someMethod: function(){}};
  
 	// Again, instantiated objects shouldn't be matched
-	ok(!jQuery.isObjectLiteral(new fn), "new fn");
+	ok(!jQuery.isPlainObject(new fn), "new fn");
 
 	// DOM Element
-	ok(!jQuery.isObjectLiteral(document.createElement("div")), "DOM Element");
+	ok(!jQuery.isPlainObject(document.createElement("div")), "DOM Element");
  
 	var iframe = document.createElement("iframe");
 	document.body.appendChild(iframe);
 
 	window.iframeDone = function(otherObject){
 		// Objects from other windows should be matched
-		ok(jQuery.isObjectLiteral(new otherObject), "new otherObject");
+		ok(jQuery.isPlainObject(new otherObject), "new otherObject");
 		document.body.removeChild( iframe );
 		start();
 	};