diff --git a/src/components/layout/css/matching.rs b/src/components/layout/css/matching.rs
index afce7c237f0a..13f613a87ba7 100644
--- a/src/components/layout/css/matching.rs
+++ b/src/components/layout/css/matching.rs
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ use util::{LayoutDataAccess, LayoutDataWrapper};
 use wrapper::{LayoutElement, LayoutNode, PostorderNodeMutTraversal, ThreadSafeLayoutNode};
 
 use gfx::font_context::FontContext;
+use servo_util::atom::Atom;
 use servo_util::cache::{Cache, LRUCache, SimpleHashCache};
 use servo_util::namespace::Null;
 use servo_util::smallvec::{SmallVec, SmallVec16};
@@ -162,10 +163,7 @@ pub struct StyleSharingCandidateCache {
 pub struct StyleSharingCandidate {
     pub style: Arc<ComputedValues>,
     pub parent_style: Arc<ComputedValues>,
-
-    // TODO(pcwalton): Intern.
-    pub local_name: DOMString,
-
+    pub local_name: Atom,
     pub class: Option<DOMString>,
 }
 
@@ -224,14 +222,14 @@ impl StyleSharingCandidate {
         Some(StyleSharingCandidate {
             style: style.take_unwrap(),
             parent_style: parent_style.take_unwrap(),
-            local_name: element.get_local_name().to_str(),
+            local_name: element.get_local_name().clone(),
             class: element.get_attr(&Null, "class")
                           .map(|string| string.to_str()),
         })
     }
 
     fn can_share_style_with(&self, element: &LayoutElement) -> bool {
-        if element.get_local_name() != self.local_name.as_slice() {
+        if *element.get_local_name() != self.local_name {
             return false
         }
         match (&self.class, element.get_attr(&Null, "class")) {
diff --git a/src/components/layout/wrapper.rs b/src/components/layout/wrapper.rs
index 4fd202c9b1fa..adf0151749c0 100644
--- a/src/components/layout/wrapper.rs
+++ b/src/components/layout/wrapper.rs
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ use script::dom::node::{DocumentNodeTypeId, ElementNodeTypeId, Node, NodeTypeId}
 use script::dom::node::{LayoutNodeHelpers, RawLayoutNodeHelpers, TextNodeTypeId};
 use script::dom::text::Text;
 use servo_msg::constellation_msg::{PipelineId, SubpageId};
+use servo_util::atom::Atom;
 use servo_util::namespace::Namespace;
 use servo_util::namespace;
 use servo_util::str::is_whitespace;
@@ -359,8 +360,8 @@ impl<'le> LayoutElement<'le> {
 
 impl<'le> TElement for LayoutElement<'le> {
     #[inline]
-    fn get_local_name<'a>(&'a self) -> &'a str {
-        self.element.local_name.as_slice()
+    fn get_local_name<'a>(&'a self) -> &'a Atom {
+        &self.element.local_name
     }
 
     #[inline]
diff --git a/src/components/script/dom/element.rs b/src/components/script/dom/element.rs
index 8f1c918e256c..db0f527580b5 100644
--- a/src/components/script/dom/element.rs
+++ b/src/components/script/dom/element.rs
@@ -201,7 +201,7 @@ impl LayoutElementHelpers for JS<Element> {
 
 pub trait ElementHelpers {
     fn html_element_in_html_document(&self) -> bool;
-    fn get_local_name<'a>(&'a self) -> &'a str;
+    fn get_local_name<'a>(&'a self) -> &'a Atom;
     fn get_namespace<'a>(&'a self) -> &'a Namespace;
 }
 
@@ -212,8 +212,8 @@ impl<'a> ElementHelpers for JSRef<'a, Element> {
         is_html && node.owner_doc().root().is_html_document
     }
 
-    fn get_local_name<'a>(&'a self) -> &'a str {
-        self.deref().local_name.as_slice()
+    fn get_local_name<'a>(&'a self) -> &'a Atom {
+        &self.deref().local_name
     }
 
     fn get_namespace<'a>(&'a self) -> &'a Namespace {
@@ -912,7 +912,7 @@ impl<'a> style::TElement for JSRef<'a, Element> {
             _ => None,
          }
     }
-    fn get_local_name<'a>(&'a self) -> &'a str {
+    fn get_local_name<'a>(&'a self) -> &'a Atom {
         (self as &ElementHelpers).get_local_name()
     }
     fn get_namespace<'a>(&'a self) -> &'a Namespace {
diff --git a/src/components/style/node.rs b/src/components/style/node.rs
index d53bffe66c6d..5d00d34c746d 100644
--- a/src/components/style/node.rs
+++ b/src/components/style/node.rs
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 //! style.
 
 use selectors::AttrSelector;
+use servo_util::atom::Atom;
 use servo_util::namespace::Namespace;
 
 
@@ -22,7 +23,7 @@ pub trait TNode<E:TElement> : Clone {
 pub trait TElement {
     fn get_attr(&self, namespace: &Namespace, attr: &str) -> Option<&'static str>;
     fn get_link(&self) -> Option<&'static str>;
-    fn get_local_name<'a>(&'a self) -> &'a str;
+    fn get_local_name<'a>(&'a self) -> &'a Atom;
     fn get_namespace<'a>(&'a self) -> &'a Namespace;
     fn get_hover_state(&self) -> bool;
 }
diff --git a/src/components/style/selector_matching.rs b/src/components/style/selector_matching.rs
index 6e1af004a029..eeff8b3c60eb 100644
--- a/src/components/style/selector_matching.rs
+++ b/src/components/style/selector_matching.rs
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ impl SelectorMap {
         // TODO(pradeep): Case-sensitivity depends on the document type.
         SelectorMap::get_matching_rules_from_hash_ignoring_case(node,
                                                                 &self.element_hash,
-                                                                element.get_local_name(),
+                                                                element.get_local_name().as_slice(),
                                                                 matching_rules_list,
                                                                 shareable);
 
@@ -678,7 +678,7 @@ fn matches_simple_selector<E:TElement,
         // TODO: intern element names
         LocalNameSelector(ref name) => {
             let element = element.as_element();
-            element.get_local_name().eq_ignore_ascii_case(name.as_slice())
+            element.get_local_name().as_slice().eq_ignore_ascii_case(name.as_slice())
         }
 
         NamespaceSelector(ref namespace) => {