diff --git a/modules/@angular/compiler/src/html_tags.ts b/modules/@angular/compiler/src/html_tags.ts
index f91647636a..7f89db4035 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/compiler/src/html_tags.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/compiler/src/html_tags.ts
@@ -408,10 +408,10 @@ export function getHtmlTagDefinition(tagName: string): HtmlTagDefinition {
   return isPresent(result) ? result : DEFAULT_TAG_DEFINITION;
 }
 
-var NS_PREFIX_RE = /^@([^:]+):(.+)/g;
+var NS_PREFIX_RE = /^:([^:]+):(.+)/g;
 
 export function splitNsName(elementName: string): string[] {
-  if (elementName[0] != '@') {
+  if (elementName[0] != ':') {
     return [null, elementName];
   }
   let match = RegExpWrapper.firstMatch(NS_PREFIX_RE, elementName);
@@ -423,5 +423,5 @@ export function getNsPrefix(elementName: string): string {
 }
 
 export function mergeNsAndName(prefix: string, localName: string): string {
-  return isPresent(prefix) ? `@${prefix}:${localName}` : localName;
+  return isPresent(prefix) ? `:${prefix}:${localName}` : localName;
 }
diff --git a/modules/@angular/compiler/test/html_parser_spec.ts b/modules/@angular/compiler/test/html_parser_spec.ts
index dbeb8c6c1b..2466b65520 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/compiler/test/html_parser_spec.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/compiler/test/html_parser_spec.ts
@@ -154,17 +154,17 @@ export function main() {
 
         it('should support explicit mamespace', () => {
           expect(humanizeDom(parser.parse('<myns:div></myns:div>', 'TestComp')))
-              .toEqual([[HtmlElementAst, '@myns:div', 0]]);
+              .toEqual([[HtmlElementAst, ':myns:div', 0]]);
         });
 
         it('should support implicit mamespace', () => {
           expect(humanizeDom(parser.parse('<svg></svg>', 'TestComp')))
-              .toEqual([[HtmlElementAst, '@svg:svg', 0]]);
+              .toEqual([[HtmlElementAst, ':svg:svg', 0]]);
         });
 
         it('should propagate the namespace', () => {
           expect(humanizeDom(parser.parse('<myns:div><p></p></myns:div>', 'TestComp')))
-              .toEqual([[HtmlElementAst, '@myns:div', 0], [HtmlElementAst, '@myns:p', 1]]);
+              .toEqual([[HtmlElementAst, ':myns:div', 0], [HtmlElementAst, ':myns:p', 1]]);
         });
 
         it('should match closing tags case sensitive', () => {
@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@ export function main() {
 
         it('should support self closing foreign elements', () => {
           expect(humanizeDom(parser.parse('<math />', 'TestComp')))
-              .toEqual([[HtmlElementAst, '@math:math', 0]]);
+              .toEqual([[HtmlElementAst, ':math:math', 0]]);
         });
 
         it('should ignore LF immediately after textarea, pre and listing', () => {
@@ -221,7 +221,7 @@ export function main() {
 
         it('should parse attributes on svg elements case sensitive', () => {
           expect(humanizeDom(parser.parse('<svg viewBox="0"></svg>', 'TestComp')))
-              .toEqual([[HtmlElementAst, '@svg:svg', 0], [HtmlAttrAst, 'viewBox', '0']]);
+              .toEqual([[HtmlElementAst, ':svg:svg', 0], [HtmlAttrAst, 'viewBox', '0']]);
         });
 
         it('should parse attributes on template elements', () => {
@@ -231,7 +231,7 @@ export function main() {
 
         it('should support namespace', () => {
           expect(humanizeDom(parser.parse('<svg:use xlink:href="Port" />', 'TestComp')))
-              .toEqual([[HtmlElementAst, '@svg:use', 0], [HtmlAttrAst, '@xlink:href', 'Port']]);
+              .toEqual([[HtmlElementAst, ':svg:use', 0], [HtmlAttrAst, ':xlink:href', 'Port']]);
         });
       });
 
diff --git a/modules/@angular/compiler/test/template_parser_spec.ts b/modules/@angular/compiler/test/template_parser_spec.ts
index 9daab63f28..b0d5144b61 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/compiler/test/template_parser_spec.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/compiler/test/template_parser_spec.ts
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@ export function main() {
         var parsed = parse('<svg><ng-content></ng-content></svg>', []);
         expect(humanizeTplAst(parsed))
             .toEqual([
-              [ElementAst, '@svg:svg'],
+              [ElementAst, ':svg:svg'],
               [NgContentAst],
             ]);
       });
@@ -854,7 +854,7 @@ There is no directive with "exportAs" set to "dirA" ("<div [ERROR ->]#a="dirA"><
            () => {
              expect(humanizeTplAst(parse('<svg><template></template></svg>', [])))
                  .toEqual([
-                   [ElementAst, '@svg:svg'],
+                   [ElementAst, ':svg:svg'],
                    [EmbeddedTemplateAst],
                  ]);
            });
@@ -1423,11 +1423,11 @@ Property binding a not used by any directive on an embedded template ("[ERROR ->
         expect(humanizeTplAstSourceSpans(
                    parse('<svg><circle /><use xlink:href="Port" /></svg>', [tagSel, attrSel])))
             .toEqual([
-              [ElementAst, '@svg:svg', '<svg>'],
-              [ElementAst, '@svg:circle', '<circle />'],
+              [ElementAst, ':svg:svg', '<svg>'],
+              [ElementAst, ':svg:circle', '<circle />'],
               [DirectiveAst, tagSel, '<circle />'],
-              [ElementAst, '@svg:use', '<use xlink:href="Port" />'],
-              [AttrAst, '@xlink:href', 'Port', 'xlink:href="Port"'],
+              [ElementAst, ':svg:use', '<use xlink:href="Port" />'],
+              [AttrAst, ':xlink:href', 'Port', 'xlink:href="Port"'],
               [DirectiveAst, attrSel, '<use xlink:href="Port" />'],
             ]);
       });
diff --git a/modules/@angular/platform-browser/src/dom/dom_renderer.ts b/modules/@angular/platform-browser/src/dom/dom_renderer.ts
index 2d06236765..840fa6de7a 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/platform-browser/src/dom/dom_renderer.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/platform-browser/src/dom/dom_renderer.ts
@@ -328,10 +328,10 @@ function _flattenStyles(compId: string, styles: Array<any | any[]>, target: stri
   return target;
 }
 
-var NS_PREFIX_RE = /^@([^:]+):(.+)/g;
+var NS_PREFIX_RE = /^:([^:]+):(.+)/g;
 
 function splitNamespace(name: string): string[] {
-  if (name[0] != '@') {
+  if (name[0] != ':') {
     return [null, name];
   }
   let match = RegExpWrapper.firstMatch(NS_PREFIX_RE, name);