diff --git a/pdal/Stage.hpp b/pdal/Stage.hpp
index 64f24178b4..3b3ca1ce7c 100644
--- a/pdal/Stage.hpp
+++ b/pdal/Stage.hpp
@@ -138,12 +138,13 @@ class PDAL_DLL Stage
     { return false; }
 
     /**
-      Determine if a pipeline with this stage as a sink is streamable.
+      Return a pointer to a pipeline's first non-streamable stage,
+      if one exists.
 
-      \return Nullptr if the stage is streamable, a pointer to this stage
+      \return  nullptr if the stage is streamable, a pointer to this stage
         otherwise.
     */
-    virtual const Stage *checkStreamable() const
+    virtual const Stage *findNonstreamable() const
     { return this; }
 
     /**
diff --git a/pdal/Streamable.cpp b/pdal/Streamable.cpp
index 749d47696f..bbf4c6cbf6 100644
--- a/pdal/Streamable.cpp
+++ b/pdal/Streamable.cpp
@@ -53,13 +53,13 @@ bool Streamable::pipelineStreamable() const
 }
 
 
-const Stage *Streamable::checkStreamable() const
+const Stage *Streamable::findNonstreamable() const
 {
     const Stage *nonstreamable;
 
     for (const Stage *s : m_inputs)
     {
-        nonstreamable = s->checkStreamable();
+        nonstreamable = s->findNonstreamable();
         if (nonstreamable)
             return nonstreamable;
     }
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ void Streamable::execute(StreamPointTable& table)
         }
     };
 
-    const Stage *nonstreaming = checkStreamable();
+    const Stage *nonstreaming = findNonstreamable();
     if (nonstreaming)
         nonstreaming->throwError("Attempting to use stream mode with a "
             "stage that doesn't support streaming.");
diff --git a/pdal/Streamable.hpp b/pdal/Streamable.hpp
index f8d378acdf..e2daea4d5e 100644
--- a/pdal/Streamable.hpp
+++ b/pdal/Streamable.hpp
@@ -109,12 +109,12 @@ class PDAL_DLL Streamable : public virtual Stage
     {}
 
     /**
-      Determine if a pipeline is streamable.
+      Find the first nonstreamable stage in a pipeline.
 
-      \return  NULL if the pipeline is streamable, otherwise returns
-        a pointer to a stage that's not streamable.
+      \return  NULL if the pipeline is streamable, otherwise return
+        a pointer to the first found stage that's not streamable.
     */
-    const Stage *checkStreamable() const;
+    const Stage *findNonstreamable() const;
 };
 
 } // namespace pdal