diff --git a/lib/child_process.js b/lib/child_process.js
index 37937012424..67b9b5b9f5f 100644
--- a/lib/child_process.js
+++ b/lib/child_process.js
@@ -627,8 +627,8 @@ function ChildProcess() {
   this.exitCode = null;
   this.killed = false;
 
-  this._internal = new Process();
-  this._internal.onexit = function(exitCode, signalCode) {
+  this._handle = new Process();
+  this._handle.onexit = function(exitCode, signalCode) {
     //
     // follow 0.4.x behaviour:
     //
@@ -645,8 +645,8 @@ function ChildProcess() {
       self.stdin.destroy();
     }
 
-    self._internal.close();
-    self._internal = null;
+    self._handle.close();
+    self._handle = null;
 
     self.emit('exit', self.exitCode, self.signalCode);
 
@@ -681,7 +681,7 @@ ChildProcess.prototype.spawn = function(options) {
   setStreamOption('stdoutStream', 1, options);
   setStreamOption('stderrStream', 2, options);
 
-  var r = this._internal.spawn(options);
+  var r = this._handle.spawn(options);
 
   if (r) {
     if (options.stdinStream) {
@@ -696,12 +696,12 @@ ChildProcess.prototype.spawn = function(options) {
       options.stderrStream.close();
     }
 
-    this._internal.close();
-    this._internal = null;
+    this._handle.close();
+    this._handle = null;
     throw errnoException(errno, 'spawn');
   }
 
-  this.pid = this._internal.pid;
+  this.pid = this._handle.pid;
 
   if (options.stdinStream) {
     this.stdin = createSocket(options.stdinStream, false);
@@ -754,9 +754,9 @@ ChildProcess.prototype.kill = function(sig) {
     throw new Error('Unknown signal: ' + sig);
   }
 
-  if (this._internal) {
+  if (this._handle) {
     this.killed = true;
-    var r = this._internal.kill(signal);
+    var r = this._handle.kill(signal);
     if (r === -1) {
       this.emit('error', errnoException(errno, 'kill'));
       return;
diff --git a/test/simple/test-child-process-kill-throw.js b/test/simple/test-child-process-kill-throw.js
index 3f46799b02c..f85bf515497 100644
--- a/test/simple/test-child-process-kill-throw.js
+++ b/test/simple/test-child-process-kill-throw.js
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ if (process.argv[2] === 'child') {
 
   var error = {};
   child.on('exit', function() {
-    child._internal = {
+    child._handle = {
       kill: function() {
         global.errno = 42;
         return -1;