diff --git a/intern/cycles/blender/blender_mesh.cpp b/intern/cycles/blender/blender_mesh.cpp
index 6e99b380c29..0dc0b91be79 100644
--- a/intern/cycles/blender/blender_mesh.cpp
+++ b/intern/cycles/blender/blender_mesh.cpp
@@ -110,11 +110,11 @@ static void create_mesh(Scene *scene, Mesh *mesh, BL::Mesh b_mesh, const vector<
 		BL::Mesh::vertex_colors_iterator l;
 
 		for(b_mesh.vertex_colors.begin(l); l != b_mesh.vertex_colors.end(); ++l) {
-			if(!mesh_need_attribute(scene, mesh, ustring(l->name())))
+			if(!mesh_need_attribute(scene, mesh, ustring(l->name().c_str())))
 				continue;
 
 			Attribute *attr = mesh->attributes.add(
-				ustring(l->name()), TypeDesc::TypeColor, Attribute::CORNER);
+				ustring(l->name().c_str()), TypeDesc::TypeColor, Attribute::CORNER);
 
 			BL::MeshColorLayer::data_iterator c;
 			float3 *fdata = attr->data_float3();
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ static void create_mesh(Scene *scene, Mesh *mesh, BL::Mesh b_mesh, const vector<
 
 		for(b_mesh.uv_textures.begin(l); l != b_mesh.uv_textures.end(); ++l) {
 			Attribute::Standard std = (l->active_render())? Attribute::STD_UV: Attribute::STD_NONE;
-			ustring name = ustring(l->name());
+			ustring name = ustring(l->name().c_str());
 
 			if(!(mesh_need_attribute(scene, mesh, name) || mesh_need_attribute(scene, mesh, std)))
 				continue;
diff --git a/intern/cycles/blender/blender_object.cpp b/intern/cycles/blender/blender_object.cpp
index a4944a378e0..de41484975d 100644
--- a/intern/cycles/blender/blender_object.cpp
+++ b/intern/cycles/blender/blender_object.cpp
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@ void BlenderSync::sync_object(BL::Object b_parent, int b_index, BL::Object b_ob,
 
 	/* object sync */
 	if(object_map.sync(&object, b_ob, b_parent, key)) {
-		object->name = b_ob.name();
+		object->name = b_ob.name().c_str();
 		object->tfm = tfm;
 		
 		object->visibility = object_ray_visibility(b_ob) & visibility;
diff --git a/intern/cycles/blender/blender_shader.cpp b/intern/cycles/blender/blender_shader.cpp
index 0c962e3c5f0..c7eda0a0160 100644
--- a/intern/cycles/blender/blender_shader.cpp
+++ b/intern/cycles/blender/blender_shader.cpp
@@ -568,7 +568,7 @@ void BlenderSync::sync_materials()
 		if(shader_map.sync(&shader, *b_mat)) {
 			ShaderGraph *graph = new ShaderGraph();
 
-			shader->name = b_mat->name();
+			shader->name = b_mat->name().c_str();
 
 			/* create nodes */
 			if(b_mat->use_nodes() && b_mat->node_tree()) {
@@ -660,7 +660,7 @@ void BlenderSync::sync_lamps()
 
 			/* create nodes */
 			if(b_lamp->use_nodes() && b_lamp->node_tree()) {
-				shader->name = b_lamp->name();
+				shader->name = b_lamp->name().c_str();
 
 				PtrSockMap sock_to_node;
 				BL::ShaderNodeTree b_ntree(b_lamp->node_tree());
diff --git a/intern/cycles/bvh/bvh_build.cpp b/intern/cycles/bvh/bvh_build.cpp
index d3e84e11d53..67cff3f5873 100644
--- a/intern/cycles/bvh/bvh_build.cpp
+++ b/intern/cycles/bvh/bvh_build.cpp
@@ -270,7 +270,8 @@ BVHNode* BVHBuild::create_leaf_node(const NodeSpec& spec)
 	/* while there may be multiple triangles in a leaf, for object primitives
 	 * we want them to be the only one, so we  */
 	int ob_num = spec.num - num;
-	BVHNode *oleaf = create_object_leaf_nodes(&references.back() - (ob_num - 1), ob_num);
+	const Reference *ref = (ob_num)? &references.back() - (ob_num - 1): NULL;
+	BVHNode *oleaf = create_object_leaf_nodes(ref, ob_num);
 	for(int i = 0; i < ob_num; i++)
 		references.pop_back();