diff --git a/Doc/library/collections.rst b/Doc/library/collections.rst
index a7d9ab6f610..ca8a096b52c 100644
--- a/Doc/library/collections.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/collections.rst
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 
 This module implements high-performance container datatypes.  Currently,
 there are two datatypes, :class:`deque` and :class:`defaultdict`, and
-one datatype factory function, :func:`NamedTuple`. Python already
+one datatype factory function, :func:`named_tuple`. Python already
 includes built-in containers, :class:`dict`, :class:`list`,
 :class:`set`, and :class:`tuple`. In addition, the optional :mod:`bsddb`
 module has a :meth:`bsddb.btopen` method that can be used to create in-memory
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ ordered dictionaries.
    Added :class:`defaultdict`.
 
 .. versionchanged:: 2.6
-   Added :class:`NamedTuple`.
+   Added :func:`named_tuple`.
 
 
 .. _deque-objects:
@@ -348,14 +348,14 @@ Setting the :attr:`default_factory` to :class:`set` makes the
 
 .. _named-tuple-factory:
 
-:func:`NamedTuple` Factory Function for Tuples with Named Fields
-----------------------------------------------------------------
+:func:`named_tuple` Factory Function for Tuples with Named Fields
+-----------------------------------------------------------------
 
 Named tuples assign meaning to each position in a tuple and allow for more readable,
 self-documenting code.  They can be used wherever regular tuples are used, and
 they add the ability to access fields by name instead of position index.
 
-.. function:: NamedTuple(typename, fieldnames, [verbose])
+.. function:: named_tuple(typename, fieldnames, [verbose])
 
    Returns a new tuple subclass named *typename*.  The new subclass is used to
    create tuple-like objects that have fields accessable by attribute lookup as
@@ -363,22 +363,22 @@ they add the ability to access fields by name instead of position index.
    helpful docstring (with typename and fieldnames) and a helpful :meth:`__repr__`
    method which lists the tuple contents in a ``name=value`` format.
 
-   The *fieldnames* are a single string with each fieldname separated by a space
-   and/or comma (for example "x y" or "x, y").  Alternately, the *fieldnames*
-   can be specified as list or tuple of strings.  Any valid Python identifier
-   may be used for a fieldname except for names starting and ending with double
-   underscores.
+   The *fieldnames* are a single string with each fieldname separated by whitespace
+   and/or commas (for example 'x y' or 'x, y').  Alternatively, the *fieldnames*
+   can be specified as a list of strings (such as ['x', 'y']).  Any valid
+   Python identifier may be used for a fieldname except for names starting and 
+   ending with double underscores.
 
    If *verbose* is true, will print the class definition.
 
-   *NamedTuple* instances do not have per-instance dictionaries, so they are
+   Named tuple instances do not have per-instance dictionaries, so they are
    lightweight and require no more memory than regular tuples.
 
    .. versionadded:: 2.6
 
 Example::
 
-   >>> Point = NamedTuple('Point', 'x y', verbose=True)
+   >>> Point = named_tuple('Point', 'x y', verbose=True)
    class Point(tuple):
            'Point(x, y)'
            __slots__ = ()
@@ -410,27 +410,35 @@ Example::
 Named tuples are especially useful for assigning field names to result tuples returned
 by the :mod:`csv` or :mod:`sqlite3` modules::
 
+   EmployeeRecord = named_tuple('EmployeeRecord', 'name, age, title, department, paygrade')
+
    from itertools import starmap
    import csv
-   EmployeeRecord = NamedTuple('EmployeeRecord', 'name age title department paygrade')
    for emp in starmap(EmployeeRecord, csv.reader(open("employees.csv", "rb"))):
        print emp.name, emp.title
 
-When casting a single record to a *NamedTuple*, use the star-operator [#]_ to unpack
+   import sqlite3
+   conn = sqlite3.connect('/companydata')
+   cursor = conn.cursor()
+   cursor.execute('SELECT name, age, title, department, paygrade FROM employees')
+   for emp in starmap(EmployeeRecord, cursor.fetchall()):
+       print emp.name, emp.title
+
+When casting a single record to a named tuple, use the star-operator [#]_ to unpack
 the values::
 
    >>> t = [11, 22]
    >>> Point(*t)               # the star-operator unpacks any iterable object
    Point(x=11, y=22)
 
-When casting a dictionary to a *NamedTuple*, use the double-star-operator::
+When casting a dictionary to a named tuple, use the double-star-operator::
 
    >>> d = {'x': 11, 'y': 22}
    >>> Point(**d)
    Point(x=11, y=22)
 
 In addition to the methods inherited from tuples, named tuples support
-additonal methods and a read-only attribute.
+two additonal methods and a read-only attribute.
 
 .. method:: somenamedtuple.__asdict__()
 
@@ -464,8 +472,8 @@ additonal methods and a read-only attribute.
       >>> p.__fields__                                  # view the field names
       ('x', 'y')
 
-      >>> Color = NamedTuple('Color', 'red green blue')
-      >>> Pixel = NamedTuple('Pixel', Point.__fields__ + Color.__fields__)
+      >>> Color = named_tuple('Color', 'red green blue')
+      >>> Pixel = named_tuple('Pixel', Point.__fields__ + Color.__fields__)
       >>> Pixel(11, 22, 128, 255, 0)
       Pixel(x=11, y=22, red=128, green=255, blue=0)'
 
diff --git a/Lib/collections.py b/Lib/collections.py
index 6a285539aa0..242de60564d 100644
--- a/Lib/collections.py
+++ b/Lib/collections.py
@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
-__all__ = ['deque', 'defaultdict', 'NamedTuple']
+__all__ = ['deque', 'defaultdict', 'named_tuple']
 
 from _collections import deque, defaultdict
 from operator import itemgetter as _itemgetter
 import sys as _sys
 
-def NamedTuple(typename, field_names, verbose=False):
+def named_tuple(typename, field_names, verbose=False):
     """Returns a new subclass of tuple with named fields.
 
-    >>> Point = NamedTuple('Point', 'x y')
+    >>> Point = named_tuple('Point', 'x y')
     >>> Point.__doc__                   # docstring for the new class
     'Point(x, y)'
     >>> p = Point(11, y=22)             # instantiate with positional args or keywords
@@ -36,6 +36,10 @@ def NamedTuple(typename, field_names, verbose=False):
         raise ValueError('Type names and field names can only contain alphanumeric characters and underscores')
     if any(name.startswith('__') and name.endswith('__') for name in field_names):
         raise ValueError('Field names cannot start and end with double underscores')
+    if any(name[:1].isdigit() for name in field_names):
+        raise ValueError('Field names cannot start with a number')
+    if len(field_names) != len(set(field_names)):
+        raise ValueError('Encountered duplicate field name')
 
     # Create and fill-in the class template
     argtxt = repr(field_names).replace("'", "")[1:-1]   # tuple repr without parens or quotes
@@ -83,10 +87,10 @@ def NamedTuple(typename, field_names, verbose=False):
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     # verify that instances can be pickled
     from cPickle import loads, dumps
-    Point = NamedTuple('Point', 'x, y', True)
+    Point = named_tuple('Point', 'x, y', True)
     p = Point(x=10, y=20)
     assert p == loads(dumps(p))
 
     import doctest
-    TestResults = NamedTuple('TestResults', 'failed attempted')
+    TestResults = named_tuple('TestResults', 'failed attempted')
     print TestResults(*doctest.testmod())
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_collections.py b/Lib/test/test_collections.py
index c260bc78fff..1af20cadb94 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_collections.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_collections.py
@@ -1,23 +1,25 @@
 import unittest
 from test import test_support
-from collections import NamedTuple
+from collections import named_tuple
 
 class TestNamedTuple(unittest.TestCase):
 
     def test_factory(self):
-        Point = NamedTuple('Point', 'x y')
+        Point = named_tuple('Point', 'x y')
         self.assertEqual(Point.__name__, 'Point')
         self.assertEqual(Point.__doc__, 'Point(x, y)')
         self.assertEqual(Point.__slots__, ())
         self.assertEqual(Point.__module__, __name__)
         self.assertEqual(Point.__getitem__, tuple.__getitem__)
-        self.assertRaises(ValueError, NamedTuple, 'abc%', 'def ghi')
-        self.assertRaises(ValueError, NamedTuple, 'abc', 'def g%hi')
-        self.assertRaises(ValueError, NamedTuple, 'abc', '__def__ ghi')
-        NamedTuple('Point0', 'x1 y2')   # Verify that numbers are allowed in names
+        self.assertRaises(ValueError, named_tuple, 'abc%', 'def ghi')
+        self.assertRaises(ValueError, named_tuple, 'abc', 'def g%hi')
+        self.assertRaises(ValueError, named_tuple, 'abc', '__def__ ghi')
+        self.assertRaises(ValueError, named_tuple, 'abc', 'def def ghi')
+        self.assertRaises(ValueError, named_tuple, 'abc', '8def 9ghi')
+        named_tuple('Point0', 'x1 y2')   # Verify that numbers are allowed in names
 
     def test_instance(self):
-        Point = NamedTuple('Point', 'x y')
+        Point = named_tuple('Point', 'x y')
         p = Point(11, 22)
         self.assertEqual(p, Point(x=11, y=22))
         self.assertEqual(p, Point(11, y=22))
@@ -36,17 +38,17 @@ class TestNamedTuple(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(p.__asdict__(), dict(x=11, y=22))                  # test __dict__ method
 
         # verify that field string can have commas
-        Point = NamedTuple('Point', 'x, y')
+        Point = named_tuple('Point', 'x, y')
         p = Point(x=11, y=22)
         self.assertEqual(repr(p), 'Point(x=11, y=22)')
 
         # verify that fieldspec can be a non-string sequence
-        Point = NamedTuple('Point', ('x', 'y'))
+        Point = named_tuple('Point', ('x', 'y'))
         p = Point(x=11, y=22)
         self.assertEqual(repr(p), 'Point(x=11, y=22)')
 
     def test_tupleness(self):
-        Point = NamedTuple('Point', 'x y')
+        Point = named_tuple('Point', 'x y')
         p = Point(11, 22)
 
         self.assert_(isinstance(p, tuple))
@@ -66,9 +68,9 @@ class TestNamedTuple(unittest.TestCase):
 
 
     def test_odd_sizes(self):
-        Zero = NamedTuple('Zero', '')
+        Zero = named_tuple('Zero', '')
         self.assertEqual(Zero(), ())
-        Dot = NamedTuple('Dot', 'd')
+        Dot = named_tuple('Dot', 'd')
         self.assertEqual(Dot(1), (1,))
 
 def test_main(verbose=None):
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 2a1c5119e11..4492590bef6 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -544,7 +544,7 @@ Library
 
 - Added heapq.merge() for merging sorted input streams.
 
-- Added collections.NamedTuple() for assigning field names to tuples.
+- Added collections.named_tuple() for assigning field names to tuples.
 
 - Added itertools.izip_longest().