diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 9699ab47..918ff200 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ API Changes:
 * Tidy up chunk decorator
 * Rename to buffer_cat_view
 * Consolidate parsers to parser.hpp
+* Rename to parser
 
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
diff --git a/doc/0_main.qbk b/doc/0_main.qbk
index f62407cb..d8b727c9 100644
--- a/doc/0_main.qbk
+++ b/doc/0_main.qbk
@@ -63,8 +63,8 @@
 [def __header__             [link beast.ref.http__header `header`]]
 [def __header_parser__      [link beast.ref.http__header_parser `header_parser`]]
 [def __message__            [link beast.ref.http__message `message`]]
-[def __message_parser__     [link beast.ref.http__message_parser `message_parser`]]
 [def __multi_buffer__       [link beast.ref.multi_buffer `multi_buffer`]]
+[def __parser__             [link beast.ref.http__parser `parser`]]
 [def __serializer__         [link beast.ref.http__serializer `serializer`]]
 
 Beast is a cross-platform, header-only C++11 library for low-level HTTP
diff --git a/doc/3_0_http.qbk b/doc/3_0_http.qbk
index 687476a1..cc42f23f 100644
--- a/doc/3_0_http.qbk
+++ b/doc/3_0_http.qbk
@@ -69,8 +69,8 @@ format using __Asio__. Specifically, the library provides:
 ][
     [Parsing]
     [
-        The __message_parser__ attempts to convert a series of
-        octet buffers into a __message__.
+        The __parser__ attempts to convert a series of octet
+        buffers into a __message__.
     ]
 ]
 ]
diff --git a/doc/3_5_parser_streams.qbk b/doc/3_5_parser_streams.qbk
index 9966de4a..6ffb74fd 100644
--- a/doc/3_5_parser_streams.qbk
+++ b/doc/3_5_parser_streams.qbk
@@ -26,15 +26,15 @@ defined types deriving from the basic parser are possible:
 [table Parser Implementations
 [[Name][Description]]
 [[
-    __message_parser__
+    __parser__
 ][
     ```
-    /// A parser for a message
+    /// An HTTP/1 parser for producing a message.
     template<
         bool isRequest,         // `true` to parse an HTTP request
         class Body,             // The Body type for the resulting message
         class Fields>           // The type of container representing the fields
-    class message_parser
+    class parser
         : public basic_parser<...>;
     ```
 ]]
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ defined types deriving from the basic parser are possible:
     __header_parser__
 ][
     ```
-    /// A parser for a header
+    /// An HTTP/1 parser for producing a header.
     template<
         bool isRequest,         // `true` to parse an HTTP request
         class Fields>           // The type of container representing the fields
@@ -50,6 +50,24 @@ defined types deriving from the basic parser are possible:
         : public basic_parser<...>;
     ```
 ]]
+[[
+    [link beast.ref.http__request_parser `request_parser`]
+][
+    ```
+    /// An HTTP/1 parser for producing a request message.
+    template<class Body, class Fields = fields>
+    using request_parser = parser<true, Body, Fields>;
+    ```
+]]
+[[
+    [link beast.ref.http__response_parser `response_parser`]
+][
+    ```
+    /// An HTTP/1 parser for producing a response message.
+    template<class Body, class Fields = fields>
+    using response_parser = parser<false, Body, Fields>;
+    ```
+]]
 ]
 
 [note
@@ -134,8 +152,8 @@ immediate informational response before sending the the message body, which
 presumably may be expensive to compute or large. This behavior is described in
 [@https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7231#section-5.1.1 rfc7231 section 5.1.1].
 Handling the Expect field can be implemented easily in a server by constructing
-a __message_parser__ to read the header first, then send an informational
-HTTP response, and finally read the body using the same parser instance. A
+a __parser__ to read the header first, then send an informational HTTP
+response, and finally read the body using the same parser instance. A
 synchronous version of this server action looks like this:
 ```
 /** Receive a request, handling Expect: 100-continue if present.
@@ -209,7 +227,7 @@ The example that follows implements a synchronous HTTP relay. It uses a
 fixed size buffer, to avoid reading in the entire body so that the upstream
 connection sees a header without unnecessary latency. This example brings
 together all of the concepts discussed so far, it uses both a __serializer__
-and a __message_parser__ to achieve its goal:
+and a __parser__ to achieve its goal:
 ```
 /** Relay an HTTP message.
 
@@ -265,7 +283,7 @@ relay(
     char buf[2048];
 
     // Create a parser with a buffer body to read from the input.
-    message_parser<isRequest, buffer_body, Fields> p;
+    parser<isRequest, buffer_body, Fields> p;
 
     // Create a serializer from the message contained in the parser.
     serializer<isRequest, buffer_body, Fields> sr{p.get()};
diff --git a/doc/3_7_parser_buffers.qbk b/doc/3_7_parser_buffers.qbk
index 7d733b18..9f65e3f4 100644
--- a/doc/3_7_parser_buffers.qbk
+++ b/doc/3_7_parser_buffers.qbk
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 
 [section:parser_buffers Buffer-Oriented Parsing]
 
-In extreme cases, users may wish to create an instance of __message_parser__,
+In extreme cases, users may wish to create an instance of __parser__,
 __header_parser__, or a user-defined type derived from __basic_parser__ and
 invoke its methods directly instead of using the provided stream algorithms.
 This could be useful for implementing algorithms on streams whose interface
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ parse_istream(
     error_code& ec)
 {
     // Create the message parser
-    message_parser<isRequest, Body, Fields> parser;
+    parser<isRequest, Body, Fields> parser;
 
     do
     {
diff --git a/doc/concept/BodyWriter.qbk b/doc/concept/BodyWriter.qbk
index 62b245f4..776bd2c7 100644
--- a/doc/concept/BodyWriter.qbk
+++ b/doc/concept/BodyWriter.qbk
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 
 A [*BodyWriter] provides an online algorithm to transfer a series of zero
 or more buffers containing parsed body octets into a message container. The
-__message_parser__ creates an instance of this type when needed, and calls into
+__parser__ creates an instance of this type when needed, and calls into
 it zero or more times to transfer buffers. The interface of [*BodyWriter]
 is intended to allow the conversion of buffers into these scenarios for
 representation:
diff --git a/doc/quickref.xml b/doc/quickref.xml
index 99285cb1..a0b9bd4d 100644
--- a/doc/quickref.xml
+++ b/doc/quickref.xml
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@
             <member><link linkend="beast.ref.http__header">header</link></member>
             <member><link linkend="beast.ref.http__header_parser">header_parser</link></member>
             <member><link linkend="beast.ref.http__message">message</link></member>
-            <member><link linkend="beast.ref.http__message_parser">message_parser</link></member>
+            <member><link linkend="beast.ref.http__parser">parser</link></member>
             <member><link linkend="beast.ref.http__no_chunk_decorator">no_chunk_decorator</link></member>
             <member><link linkend="beast.ref.http__request">request</link></member>
             <member><link linkend="beast.ref.http__request_parser">request_parser</link></member>
diff --git a/include/beast/http/impl/parser.ipp b/include/beast/http/impl/parser.ipp
index f00b6dbc..67dc4d92 100644
--- a/include/beast/http/impl/parser.ipp
+++ b/include/beast/http/impl/parser.ipp
@@ -22,8 +22,8 @@ header_parser(Arg0&& arg0, ArgN&&... argn)
 
 template<bool isRequest, class Body, class Fields>
 template<class Arg1, class... ArgN, class>
-message_parser<isRequest, Body, Fields>::
-message_parser(Arg1&& arg1, ArgN&&... argn)
+parser<isRequest, Body, Fields>::
+parser(Arg1&& arg1, ArgN&&... argn)
     : m_(std::forward<Arg1>(arg1),
         std::forward<ArgN>(argn)...)
 {
@@ -31,8 +31,8 @@ message_parser(Arg1&& arg1, ArgN&&... argn)
 
 template<bool isRequest, class Body, class Fields>
 template<class... Args>
-message_parser<isRequest, Body, Fields>::
-message_parser(header_parser<
+parser<isRequest, Body, Fields>::
+parser(header_parser<
     isRequest, Fields>&& parser, Args&&... args)
     : base_type(std::move(static_cast<basic_parser<
         isRequest, header_parser<isRequest, Fields>>&>(parser)))
diff --git a/include/beast/http/impl/read.ipp b/include/beast/http/impl/read.ipp
index 4dcb58d9..39c7c412 100644
--- a/include/beast/http/impl/read.ipp
+++ b/include/beast/http/impl/read.ipp
@@ -309,7 +309,7 @@ template<class Stream, class DynamicBuffer,
 class read_msg_op
 {
     using parser_type =
-        message_parser<isRequest, Body, Fields>;
+        parser<isRequest, Body, Fields>;
 
     using message_type =
         message<isRequest, Body, Fields>;
@@ -739,7 +739,7 @@ read(
         "Body requirements not met");
     static_assert(is_body_writer<Body>::value,
         "BodyWriter requirements not met");
-    message_parser<isRequest, Body, Fields> p;
+    parser<isRequest, Body, Fields> p;
     p.eager(true);
     read(stream, buffer, p.base(), ec);
     if(ec)
diff --git a/include/beast/http/parser.hpp b/include/beast/http/parser.hpp
index 31aab2b5..aacc3b07 100644
--- a/include/beast/http/parser.hpp
+++ b/include/beast/http/parser.hpp
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 namespace beast {
 namespace http {
 
-/** A parser for producing HTTP/1 headers.
+/** An HTTP/1 parser for producing a header.
 
     This class uses the basic HTTP/1 wire format parser to convert
     a series of octets into a @ref header.
@@ -199,7 +199,7 @@ private:
     }
 };
 
-/** A parser for producing HTTP/1 messages.
+/** An HTTP/1 parser for producing a message.
 
     This class uses the basic HTTP/1 wire format parser to convert
     a series of octets into a @ref message.
@@ -214,9 +214,9 @@ private:
     @note A new instance of the parser is required for each message.
 */
 template<bool isRequest, class Body, class Fields = fields>
-class message_parser
+class parser
     : public basic_parser<isRequest,
-        message_parser<isRequest, Body, Fields>>
+        parser<isRequest, Body, Fields>>
 {
     static_assert(is_body<Body>::value,
         "Body requirements not met");
@@ -225,7 +225,7 @@ class message_parser
         "BodyWriter requirements not met");
 
     using base_type = basic_parser<isRequest,
-        message_parser<isRequest, Body, Fields>>;
+        parser<isRequest, Body, Fields>>;
 
     using writer_type = typename Body::writer;
 
@@ -237,20 +237,20 @@ public:
     using value_type = message<isRequest, Body, Fields>;
 
     /// Constructor (default)
-    message_parser() = default;
+    parser() = default;
 
     /// Copy constructor (disallowed)
-    message_parser(message_parser const&) = delete;
+    parser(parser const&) = delete;
 
     /// Copy assignment (disallowed)
-    message_parser& operator=(message_parser const&) = delete;
+    parser& operator=(parser const&) = delete;
 
     /** Move constructor.
 
         After the move, the only valid operation
         on the moved-from object is destruction.
     */
-    message_parser(message_parser&& other);
+    parser(parser&& other);
 
     /** Constructor
 
@@ -259,7 +259,7 @@ public:
 
         @note This function participates in overload
         resolution only if the first argument is not a
-        @ref http::header_parser or @ref message_parser.
+        @ref http::header_parser or @ref parser.
     */
 #if BEAST_DOXYGEN
     template<class... Args>
@@ -272,10 +272,10 @@ public:
                 std::decay<Arg1>::type,
                     header_parser<isRequest, Fields>>::value &&
             ! std::is_same<typename
-                std::decay<Arg1>::type, message_parser>::value
+                std::decay<Arg1>::type, parser>::value
                     >::type>
     explicit
-    message_parser(Arg1&& arg1, ArgN&&... argn);
+    parser(Arg1&& arg1, ArgN&&... argn);
 #endif
 
     /** Construct a message parser from a @ref header_parser.
@@ -285,7 +285,7 @@ public:
     */
     template<class... Args>
     explicit
-    message_parser(header_parser<
+    parser(header_parser<
         isRequest, Fields>&& parser, Args&&... args);
 
     /** Returns the parsed message.
@@ -330,7 +330,7 @@ public:
 
 private:
     friend class basic_parser<
-        isRequest, message_parser>;
+        isRequest, parser>;
 
     void
     on_request(
@@ -398,13 +398,13 @@ private:
     }
 };
 
-/// A parser for producing HTTP/1 messages
+/// An HTTP/1 parser for producing a request message.
 template<class Body, class Fields = fields>
-using request_parser = message_parser<true, Body, Fields>;
+using request_parser = parser<true, Body, Fields>;
 
-/// A parser for producing HTTP/1 messages
+/// An HTTP/1 parser for producing a response message.
 template<class Body, class Fields = fields>
-using response_parser = message_parser<false, Body, Fields>;
+using response_parser = parser<false, Body, Fields>;
 
 } // http
 } // beast
diff --git a/test/http/design.cpp b/test/http/design.cpp
index f82bf526..24bdb4f9 100644
--- a/test/http/design.cpp
+++ b/test/http/design.cpp
@@ -407,7 +407,7 @@ public:
         char buf[2048];
 
         // Create a parser with a buffer body to read from the input.
-        message_parser<isRequest, buffer_body, Fields> p;
+        parser<isRequest, buffer_body, Fields> p;
 
         // Create a serializer from the message contained in the parser.
         serializer<isRequest, buffer_body, Fields> sr{p.get()};
@@ -534,7 +534,7 @@ public:
         error_code& ec)
     {
         // Create the message parser
-        message_parser<isRequest, Body, Fields> parser;
+        parser<isRequest, Body, Fields> parser;
 
         do
         {
@@ -641,7 +641,7 @@ public:
             read_some(p.server, buffer, parser);
         buffer.consume(bytes_used);
 
-        message_parser<true, string_body, fields> parser2(
+        request_parser<string_body> parser2(
             std::move(parser));
 
         while(! parser2.is_done())
diff --git a/test/http/dynamic_body.cpp b/test/http/dynamic_body.cpp
index 7818e327..37e3fb5d 100644
--- a/test/http/dynamic_body.cpp
+++ b/test/http/dynamic_body.cpp
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ public:
             "\r\n"
             "xyz";
         test::string_istream ss(ios_, s);
-        message_parser<false, dynamic_body, fields> p;
+        response_parser<dynamic_body> p;
         multi_buffer b;
         read(ss, b, p);
         auto const& m = p.get();
diff --git a/test/http/parser.cpp b/test/http/parser.cpp
index aa9d7ca1..6bbfe384 100644
--- a/test/http/parser.cpp
+++ b/test/http/parser.cpp
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ class parser_test
 public:
     template<bool isRequest>
     using parser_type =
-        message_parser<isRequest, string_body, fields>;
+        parser<isRequest, string_body, fields>;
 
     static
     boost::asio::const_buffers_1
@@ -319,7 +319,7 @@ public:
         // skip body
         {
             error_code ec;
-            message_parser<false, string_body, fields> p;
+            response_parser<string_body> p;
             p.skip(true);
             p.put(buf(
                 "HTTP/1.1 200 OK\r\n"
@@ -353,8 +353,7 @@ public:
         BEAST_EXPECTS(! ec, ec.message());
         BEAST_EXPECT(p0.is_header_done());
         BEAST_EXPECT(! p0.is_done());
-        message_parser<true,
-            string_body, fields> p1{std::move(p0)};
+        request_parser<string_body> p1{std::move(p0)};
         read(ss, b, p1, ec);
         BEAST_EXPECTS(! ec, ec.message());
         BEAST_EXPECT(p1.get().body == "*****");
diff --git a/test/http/read.cpp b/test/http/read.cpp
index 7428b4d1..2cd82a75 100644
--- a/test/http/read.cpp
+++ b/test/http/read.cpp
@@ -299,7 +299,7 @@ public:
         {
             multi_buffer b;
             test::string_istream ss(ios_, "");
-            message_parser<true, dynamic_body, fields> p;
+            request_parser<dynamic_body> p;
             error_code ec;
             read(ss, b, p, ec);
             BEAST_EXPECT(ec == http::error::end_of_stream);
@@ -307,7 +307,7 @@ public:
         {
             multi_buffer b;
             test::string_istream ss(ios_, "");
-            message_parser<true, dynamic_body, fields> p;
+            request_parser<dynamic_body> p;
             error_code ec;
             async_read(ss, b, p, do_yield[ec]);
             BEAST_EXPECT(ec == http::error::end_of_stream);