diff --git a/confluent_kafka/kafkatest/verifiable_consumer.py b/confluent_kafka/kafkatest/verifiable_consumer.py
index 3e01367db..c97432678 100755
--- a/confluent_kafka/kafkatest/verifiable_consumer.py
+++ b/confluent_kafka/kafkatest/verifiable_consumer.py
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ def on_commit (self, err, partitions):
         self.send(d)
 
 
-    def do_commit (self, immediate=False, async=None):
+    def do_commit (self, immediate=False, asynchronous=None):
         """ Commit every 1000 messages or whenever there is a consume timeout
             or immediate. """
         if (self.use_auto_commit or
@@ -145,17 +145,17 @@ def do_commit (self, immediate=False, async=None):
         if self.consumed_msgs_at_last_commit < self.consumed_msgs:
             self.send_records_consumed(immediate=True)
 
-        if async is None:
+        if asynchronous is None:
             async_mode = self.use_async_commit
         else:
-            async_mode = async
+            async_mode = asynchronous
 
         self.dbg('Committing %d messages (Async=%s)' %
                  (self.consumed_msgs - self.consumed_msgs_at_last_commit,
                   async_mode))
 
         try:
-            self.consumer.commit(async=async_mode)
+            self.consumer.commit(asynchronous=async_mode)
         except KafkaException as e:
             if e.args[0].code() == KafkaError._WAIT_COORD:
                 self.dbg('Ignoring commit failure, still waiting for coordinator')
@@ -279,7 +279,7 @@ def to_dict (self):
     vc.dbg('Closing consumer')
     vc.send_records_consumed(immediate=True)
     if not vc.use_auto_commit:
-        vc.do_commit(immediate=True, async=False)
+        vc.do_commit(immediate=True, asynchronous=False)
 
     vc.consumer.close()
 
diff --git a/confluent_kafka/src/Consumer.c b/confluent_kafka/src/Consumer.c
index 80e136a9e..ed1a7f010 100644
--- a/confluent_kafka/src/Consumer.c
+++ b/confluent_kafka/src/Consumer.c
@@ -219,8 +219,8 @@ static PyObject *Consumer_commit (Consumer *self, PyObject *args,
 	rd_kafka_resp_err_t err;
 	PyObject *msg = NULL, *offsets = NULL, *async_o = NULL;
 	rd_kafka_topic_partition_list_t *c_offsets;
-	int async = 1;
-	static char *kws[] = { "message", "offsets", "async",NULL };
+	int asynchronous = 1;
+	static char *kws[] = { "message", "offsets", "asynchronous",NULL };
 
 	if (!PyArg_ParseTupleAndKeywords(args, kwargs, "|OOO", kws,
 					 &msg, &offsets, &async_o))
@@ -233,7 +233,7 @@ static PyObject *Consumer_commit (Consumer *self, PyObject *args,
 	}
 
 	if (async_o)
-		async = PyObject_IsTrue(async_o);
+		asynchronous = PyObject_IsTrue(async_o);
 
 
 	if (offsets) {
@@ -259,11 +259,11 @@ static PyObject *Consumer_commit (Consumer *self, PyObject *args,
 
 	} else {
 		c_offsets = NULL;
-		err = rd_kafka_commit(self->rk, NULL, async);
+		err = rd_kafka_commit(self->rk, NULL, asynchronous);
 	}
 
-			
-	err = rd_kafka_commit(self->rk, c_offsets, async);
+
+	err = rd_kafka_commit(self->rk, c_offsets, asynchronous);
 
 	if (c_offsets)
 		rd_kafka_topic_partition_list_destroy(c_offsets);
@@ -455,7 +455,7 @@ static PyMethodDef Consumer_methods[] = {
 	  "\n"
 	},
 	{ "commit", (PyCFunction)Consumer_commit, METH_VARARGS|METH_KEYWORDS,
-	  ".. py:function:: commit([message=None], [offsets=None], [async=True])\n"
+	  ".. py:function:: commit([message=None], [offsets=None], [asynchronous=True])\n"
 	  "\n"
 	  "  Commit a message or a list of offsets.\n"
 	  "\n"
@@ -464,11 +464,11 @@ static PyMethodDef Consumer_methods[] = {
 	  "\n"
 	  "  :param confluent_kafka.Message message: Commit message's offset+1.\n"
 	  "  :param list(TopicPartition) offsets: List of topic+partitions+offsets to commit.\n"
-	  "  :param bool async: Asynchronous commit, return immediately.\n"
+	  "  :param bool asynchronous: Asynchronous commit, return immediately.\n"
 	  "  :rtype: None\n"
 	  "  :raises: KafkaException\n"
 	  "\n"
-	},	  
+	},
 	{ "committed", (PyCFunction)Consumer_committed,
 	  METH_VARARGS|METH_KEYWORDS,
 	  ".. py:function:: committed(partitions, [timeout=None])\n"
@@ -717,5 +717,3 @@ static PyObject *Consumer_new (PyTypeObject *type, PyObject *args,
 
 	return (PyObject *)self;
 }
-
-
diff --git a/examples/integration_test.py b/examples/integration_test.py
index f2c5d43bf..8e0bc0d0e 100755
--- a/examples/integration_test.py
+++ b/examples/integration_test.py
@@ -244,9 +244,9 @@ def verify_consumer():
 
         if (msg.offset() % 5) == 0:
             # Async commit
-            c.commit(msg, async=True)
+            c.commit(msg, asynchronous=True)
         elif (msg.offset() % 4) == 0:
-            c.commit(msg, async=False)
+            c.commit(msg, asynchronous=False)
 
         msgcnt += 1
         if msgcnt >= max_msgcnt:
diff --git a/tests/test_Consumer.py b/tests/test_Consumer.py
index 8d538123e..3306f36a6 100644
--- a/tests/test_Consumer.py
+++ b/tests/test_Consumer.py
@@ -41,10 +41,10 @@ def dummy_assign_revoke (consumer, partitions):
 
     kc.unassign()
 
-    kc.commit(async=True)
+    kc.commit(asynchronous=True)
 
     try:
-        kc.commit(async=False)
+        kc.commit(asynchronous=False)
     except KafkaException as e:
         assert e.args[0].code() in (KafkaError._TIMED_OUT, KafkaError._NO_OFFSET)