diff --git a/awesome.c b/awesome.c
index 2561d2f65..dd47a6fdb 100644
--- a/awesome.c
+++ b/awesome.c
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ scan(void)
 
         /* Get the tree of the children windows of the current root window */
         if(!(wins = xcb_query_tree_children(tree_r)))
-            eprint("E: cannot get tree children");
+            fatal("E: cannot get tree children");
         tree_c_len = xcb_query_tree_children_length(tree_r);
         attr_wins = p_new(xcb_get_window_attributes_cookie_t, tree_c_len);
 
@@ -207,7 +207,7 @@ xerrorstart(void * data __attribute__ ((unused)),
             xcb_connection_t * c  __attribute__ ((unused)),
             xcb_generic_error_t * error __attribute__ ((unused)))
 {
-    eprint("another window manager is already running");
+    fatal("another window manager is already running");
 }
 
 /** Function to exit on some signals.
@@ -338,7 +338,7 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
             if(a_strlen(optarg))
                 confpath = a_strdup(optarg);
             else
-                eprint("-c option requires a file name");
+                fatal("-c option requires a file name");
             break;
         }
 
@@ -361,7 +361,7 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
     /* X stuff */
     globalconf.connection = xcb_connect(NULL, &globalconf.default_screen);
     if(xcb_connection_has_error(globalconf.connection))
-        eprint("cannot open display");
+        fatal("cannot open display");
 
     /* Get the file descriptor corresponding to the X connection */
     xfd = xcb_get_file_descriptor(globalconf.connection);
@@ -440,7 +440,7 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
         warn("failed to load/parse configuration file %s", confpath);
         warn("falling back to: %s", default_confpath);
         if(!luaA_parserc(default_confpath))
-            eprint("failed to load any configuration file");
+            fatal("failed to load any configuration file");
     }
 
     /* do this only for real screen */
diff --git a/common/util.c b/common/util.c
index 2ac1e3f93..7ff26631a 100644
--- a/common/util.c
+++ b/common/util.c
@@ -28,10 +28,10 @@
 
 #include "util.h"
 
-/** Print error and exit with EXIT_FAILURE code
+/** Print error and exit with EXIT_FAILURE code.
  */
 void
-_eprint(int line, const char *fct, const char *fmt, ...)
+_fatal(int line, const char *fct, const char *fmt, ...)
 {
     va_list ap;
 
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ _eprint(int line, const char *fct, const char *fmt, ...)
     exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
 }
 
-/** Print error message on stderr
+/** Print error message on stderr.
  */
 void
 _warn(int line, const char *fct, const char *fmt, ...)
diff --git a/common/util.h b/common/util.h
index aa0f88ceb..321772642 100644
--- a/common/util.h
+++ b/common/util.h
@@ -285,10 +285,10 @@ a_strtobool(const char *s)
     return false;
 }
 
-#define eprint(string, ...) _eprint(__LINE__, \
-                                    __FUNCTION__, \
-                                    string, ## __VA_ARGS__)
-void _eprint(int, const char *, const char *, ...)
+#define fatal(string, ...) _fatal(__LINE__, \
+                                  __FUNCTION__, \
+                                  string, ## __VA_ARGS__)
+void _fatal(int, const char *, const char *, ...)
     __attribute__ ((noreturn)) __attribute__ ((format(printf, 3, 4)));
 
 #define warn(string, ...) _warn(__LINE__, \
diff --git a/common/xutil.h b/common/xutil.h
index d91be82d2..3dca3bf2c 100644
--- a/common/xutil.h
+++ b/common/xutil.h
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ static inline xcb_screen_t *
 xutil_screen_get(xcb_connection_t *c, int screen)
 {
     if(xcb_connection_has_error(c))
-        eprint("X connection invalid");
+        fatal("X connection invalid");
 
     return xcb_aux_get_screen(c, screen);
 }