diff --git a/src/main/java/lua/Lua.java b/src/main/java/lua/Lua.java
index 4098c3d0..19490457 100644
--- a/src/main/java/lua/Lua.java
+++ b/src/main/java/lua/Lua.java
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
 package lua;
+
+import lua.value.Type;
+
 /**
  * Constants for lua limits and opcodes
  * 
@@ -367,5 +370,16 @@ public class Lua {
 	public static final int LUA_TUSERDATA		= 7;
 	public static final int LUA_TTHREAD			= 8;
 
+	public static final String[] TYPE_NAMES = {
+		"nil", 
+		"boolean",
+		"lightuserdata",
+		"number",
+		"string",
+		"table",
+		"function",
+		"userdata",
+		"thread",
+	};
 
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/lua/value/LString.java b/src/main/java/lua/value/LString.java
index 3ed22452..c9030100 100644
--- a/src/main/java/lua/value/LString.java
+++ b/src/main/java/lua/value/LString.java
@@ -32,6 +32,15 @@ public class LString extends LValue {
 	
 	private static LTable s_stringMT;
 	
+	public static final LString[] LTYPENAMES;
+	
+	static {
+		int n = Lua.TYPE_NAMES.length;
+		LTYPENAMES = new LString[n];
+		for ( int i=0; i<n; i++ )
+			LTYPENAMES[i] = new LString(Lua.TYPE_NAMES[i]);
+	}
+	
 	/**
 	 * Construct a Lua string from the given Java string. Characters are encoded
 	 * using UTF-8.
diff --git a/src/main/java/lua/value/LValue.java b/src/main/java/lua/value/LValue.java
index 39ff9d8d..f294fd45 100644
--- a/src/main/java/lua/value/LValue.java
+++ b/src/main/java/lua/value/LValue.java
@@ -179,9 +179,10 @@ public class LValue {
 	/** Valid for all types: return the int value identifying the type of this value */
 	public abstract int luaGetType();
 
+	
 	/** Valid for all types: return the type of this value as an LString */
 	public LString luaGetTypeName() {
-		return Type.VALUES[luaGetType()].toLString();
+		return LString.LTYPENAMES[luaGetType()];
 	}
 
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/lua/value/Type.java b/src/main/java/lua/value/Type.java
index 11aefdf7..a6185520 100644
--- a/src/main/java/lua/value/Type.java
+++ b/src/main/java/lua/value/Type.java
@@ -64,7 +64,8 @@ public class Type implements Serializable, Comparable {
     
     public static Type valueOf(String strValue) {
         Type[] values = Type.VALUES;
-        for (Type value : values) {
+        for ( int i=0; i<values.length; i++ ) {
+        	Type value = values[i];
             if (value.toString().equals(strValue)) {
                 return value;
             }