diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/DocumentMapper.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/DocumentMapper.java
index 19ec4579ff8..5f690cf9929 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/DocumentMapper.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/DocumentMapper.java
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ public interface DocumentMapper {
     /**
      * Attributes of this type mappings.
      */
-    ImmutableMap<String, Object> attributes();
+    ImmutableMap<String, Object> meta();
 
     /**
      * Generates the source of the mapper based on the current mappings.
diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/xcontent/XContentDocumentMapper.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/xcontent/XContentDocumentMapper.java
index 7edf95ec8b6..c386f6561fe 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/xcontent/XContentDocumentMapper.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/xcontent/XContentDocumentMapper.java
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ public class XContentDocumentMapper implements DocumentMapper, ToXContent {
 
         private final RootObjectMapper rootObjectMapper;
 
-        private ImmutableMap<String, Object> attributes = ImmutableMap.of();
+        private ImmutableMap<String, Object> meta = ImmutableMap.of();
 
         private XContentMapper.BuilderContext builderContext = new XContentMapper.BuilderContext(new ContentPath(1));
 
@@ -79,8 +79,8 @@ public class XContentDocumentMapper implements DocumentMapper, ToXContent {
             this.rootObjectMapper = builder.build(builderContext);
         }
 
-        public Builder attributes(ImmutableMap<String, Object> attributes) {
-            this.attributes = attributes;
+        public Builder meta(ImmutableMap<String, Object> meta) {
+            this.meta = meta;
             return this;
         }
 
@@ -149,7 +149,7 @@ public class XContentDocumentMapper implements DocumentMapper, ToXContent {
 
         public XContentDocumentMapper build(XContentDocumentMapperParser docMapperParser) {
             Preconditions.checkNotNull(rootObjectMapper, "Mapper builder must have the root object mapper set");
-            return new XContentDocumentMapper(index, docMapperParser, rootObjectMapper, attributes, uidFieldMapper, idFieldMapper, typeFieldMapper, indexFieldMapper,
+            return new XContentDocumentMapper(index, docMapperParser, rootObjectMapper, meta, uidFieldMapper, idFieldMapper, typeFieldMapper, indexFieldMapper,
                     sourceFieldMapper, routingFieldMapper, allFieldMapper, analyzerMapper, indexAnalyzer, searchAnalyzer, boostFieldMapper);
         }
     }
@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@ public class XContentDocumentMapper implements DocumentMapper, ToXContent {
 
     private final XContentDocumentMapperParser docMapperParser;
 
-    private volatile ImmutableMap<String, Object> attributes;
+    private volatile ImmutableMap<String, Object> meta;
 
     private volatile CompressedString mappingSource;
 
@@ -205,7 +205,7 @@ public class XContentDocumentMapper implements DocumentMapper, ToXContent {
 
     public XContentDocumentMapper(String index, XContentDocumentMapperParser docMapperParser,
                                   RootObjectMapper rootObjectMapper,
-                                  ImmutableMap<String, Object> attributes,
+                                  ImmutableMap<String, Object> meta,
                                   UidFieldMapper uidFieldMapper,
                                   IdFieldMapper idFieldMapper,
                                   TypeFieldMapper typeFieldMapper,
@@ -219,7 +219,7 @@ public class XContentDocumentMapper implements DocumentMapper, ToXContent {
         this.index = index;
         this.type = rootObjectMapper.name();
         this.docMapperParser = docMapperParser;
-        this.attributes = attributes;
+        this.meta = meta;
         this.rootObjectMapper = rootObjectMapper;
         this.uidFieldMapper = uidFieldMapper;
         this.idFieldMapper = idFieldMapper;
@@ -272,8 +272,8 @@ public class XContentDocumentMapper implements DocumentMapper, ToXContent {
         return this.type;
     }
 
-    @Override public ImmutableMap<String, Object> attributes() {
-        return this.attributes;
+    @Override public ImmutableMap<String, Object> meta() {
+        return this.meta;
     }
 
     @Override public CompressedString mappingSource() {
@@ -448,7 +448,7 @@ public class XContentDocumentMapper implements DocumentMapper, ToXContent {
         rootObjectMapper.merge(xContentMergeWith.rootObjectMapper, mergeContext);
         if (!mergeFlags.simulate()) {
             // let the merge with attributes to override the attributes
-            attributes = mergeWith.attributes();
+            meta = mergeWith.meta();
             // update the source of the merged one
             refreshSource();
         }
@@ -488,8 +488,8 @@ public class XContentDocumentMapper implements DocumentMapper, ToXContent {
                     }
                 }
 
-                if (attributes != null && !attributes.isEmpty()) {
-                    builder.field("_attributes", attributes());
+                if (meta != null && !meta.isEmpty()) {
+                    builder.field("_meta", meta());
                 }
             }
             // no need to pass here id and boost, since they are added to the root object mapper
diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/xcontent/XContentDocumentMapperParser.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/xcontent/XContentDocumentMapperParser.java
index ad2df02b788..a80f96ac11b 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/xcontent/XContentDocumentMapperParser.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/xcontent/XContentDocumentMapperParser.java
@@ -172,10 +172,10 @@ public class XContentDocumentMapperParser extends AbstractIndexComponent impleme
         }
 
         ImmutableMap<String, Object> attributes = ImmutableMap.of();
-        if (mapping.containsKey("_attributes")) {
-            attributes = ImmutableMap.copyOf((Map<String, Object>) mapping.get("_attributes"));
+        if (mapping.containsKey("_meta")) {
+            attributes = ImmutableMap.copyOf((Map<String, Object>) mapping.get("_meta"));
         }
-        docBuilder.attributes(attributes);
+        docBuilder.meta(attributes);
 
         XContentDocumentMapper documentMapper = docBuilder.build(this);
         // update the source with the generated one
diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/xcontent/simple/SimpleMapperTests.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/xcontent/simple/SimpleMapperTests.java
index 5a9f15fe6c5..6350c8b8f3f 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/xcontent/simple/SimpleMapperTests.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/xcontent/simple/SimpleMapperTests.java
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ public class SimpleMapperTests {
         String mapping = copyToStringFromClasspath("/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/xcontent/simple/test-mapping.json");
         XContentDocumentMapper docMapper = MapperTests.newParser().parse(mapping);
 
-        assertThat((String) docMapper.attributes().get("param1"), equalTo("value1"));
+        assertThat((String) docMapper.meta().get("param1"), equalTo("value1"));
 
         byte[] json = copyToBytesFromClasspath("/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/xcontent/simple/test1.json");
         Document doc = docMapper.parse(json).doc();
@@ -108,10 +108,10 @@ public class SimpleMapperTests {
         String mapping = copyToStringFromClasspath("/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/xcontent/simple/test-mapping.json");
         XContentDocumentMapper docMapper = MapperTests.newParser().parse(mapping);
 
-        assertThat((String) docMapper.attributes().get("param1"), equalTo("value1"));
+        assertThat((String) docMapper.meta().get("param1"), equalTo("value1"));
 
         String builtMapping = docMapper.mappingSource().string();
         XContentDocumentMapper builtDocMapper = MapperTests.newParser().parse(builtMapping);
-        assertThat((String) builtDocMapper.attributes().get("param1"), equalTo("value1"));
+        assertThat((String) builtDocMapper.meta().get("param1"), equalTo("value1"));
     }
 }
diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/xcontent/simple/test-mapping.json b/modules/elasticsearch/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/xcontent/simple/test-mapping.json
index 82d263e8d45..f7f6811ac60 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/xcontent/simple/test-mapping.json
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/xcontent/simple/test-mapping.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
     person : {
-        "_attributes" : {
+        "_meta" : {
             "param1" : "value1"
         },
         date_formats : ["yyyy-MM-dd", "dd-MM-yyyy"],