diff --git a/src/preserves/preserves_schema_nim.nim b/src/preserves/preserves_schema_nim.nim
index b683c14..3adfd17 100644
--- a/src/preserves/preserves_schema_nim.nim
+++ b/src/preserves/preserves_schema_nim.nim
@@ -101,6 +101,11 @@ proc ident(np: NamedSimplePattern; fallback: string): PNode =
 proc isEmbedded(ts: TypeSpec): bool =
   embedded in ts.attrs
 
+func isAtomic(r: Ref): bool =
+  case r.name.string
+  of "bool",  "float", "double", "int", "string", "bytes", "symbol": true
+  else: false
+
 proc addAttrs(x: var TypeSpec; y: TypeSpec) =
   x.attrs = x.attrs + y.attrs
 
@@ -111,7 +116,10 @@ proc dotExtend(result: var PNode; label: string) =
 
 proc ident(`ref`: Ref): PNode =
   for m in `ref`.module: dotExtend(result, string m)
-  dotExtend(result, `ref`.name.string.capitalizeAscii)
+  if `ref`.isAtomic:
+    dotExtend(result, `ref`.name.string)
+  else:
+    dotExtend(result, `ref`.name.string.capitalizeAscii)
 
 proc deref(loc: Location; r: Ref): (Location, Definition) =
   result[0] = loc
@@ -174,6 +182,7 @@ proc attrs(loc: Location; sp: SimplePattern; seen: RefSet): Attributes =
     attrs(loc, sp.dictof.key, seen) + attrs(loc, sp.dictof.value, seen)
   of SimplepatternKind.Ref:
     if sp.ref in seen: {recursive}
+    elif sp.ref.isAtomic: {}
     else:
       var
         (loc, def) = deref(loc, sp.ref)
@@ -245,7 +254,7 @@ proc isLiteral(loc: Location; pat: Pattern): bool {.gcsafe.}
 proc isLiteral(loc: Location; sp: SimplePattern): bool =
   case sp.orKind
   of SimplepatternKind.Ref:
-    if sp.ref.module.len == 0:
+    if sp.ref.module.len == 0 and not sp.ref.isAtomic:
       var (loc, def) = deref(loc, sp.ref)
       result = isLiteral(loc, def)
   of SimplepatternKind.lit: