diff --git a/mlir/include/mlir/CAPI/IR.h b/mlir/include/mlir/CAPI/IR.h
index 8366b0bce6d7..7fd47504aa85 100644
--- a/mlir/include/mlir/CAPI/IR.h
+++ b/mlir/include/mlir/CAPI/IR.h
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ DEFINE_C_API_PTR_METHODS(MlirRegion, mlir::Region)
 DEFINE_C_API_PTR_METHODS(MlirSymbolTable, mlir::SymbolTable)
 
 DEFINE_C_API_METHODS(MlirAttribute, mlir::Attribute)
-DEFINE_C_API_METHODS(MlirIdentifier, mlir::Identifier)
+DEFINE_C_API_METHODS(MlirIdentifier, mlir::StringAttr)
 DEFINE_C_API_METHODS(MlirLocation, mlir::Location)
 DEFINE_C_API_METHODS(MlirModule, mlir::ModuleOp)
 DEFINE_C_API_METHODS(MlirType, mlir::Type)
diff --git a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/AttributeSupport.h b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/AttributeSupport.h
index 2964246ae2a5..dec3e69beeb4 100644
--- a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/AttributeSupport.h
+++ b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/AttributeSupport.h
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 
 #include "mlir/IR/MLIRContext.h"
 #include "mlir/IR/StorageUniquerSupport.h"
+#include "mlir/IR/Types.h"
 #include "llvm/ADT/PointerIntPair.h"
 #include "llvm/ADT/Twine.h"
 
@@ -118,7 +119,7 @@ class alignas(8) AttributeStorage : public StorageUniquer::BaseStorage {
 
 public:
   /// Get the type of this attribute.
-  Type getType() const;
+  Type getType() const { return type; }
 
   /// Return the abstract descriptor for this attribute.
   const AbstractAttribute &getAbstractAttribute() const {
@@ -131,24 +132,27 @@ protected:
   /// Note: All attributes require a valid type. If no type is provided here,
   ///       the type of the attribute will automatically default to NoneType
   ///       upon initialization in the uniquer.
-  AttributeStorage(Type type);
-  AttributeStorage();
+  AttributeStorage(Type type = nullptr) : type(type) {}
 
   /// Set the type of this attribute.
-  void setType(Type type);
+  void setType(Type newType) { type = newType; }
 
-  // Set the abstract attribute for this storage instance. This is used by the
-  // AttributeUniquer when initializing a newly constructed storage object.
-  void initialize(const AbstractAttribute &abstractAttr) {
+  /// Set the abstract attribute for this storage instance. This is used by the
+  /// AttributeUniquer when initializing a newly constructed storage object.
+  void initializeAbstractAttribute(const AbstractAttribute &abstractAttr) {
     abstractAttribute = &abstractAttr;
   }
 
+  /// Default initialization for attribute storage classes that require no
+  /// additional initialization.
+  void initialize(MLIRContext *context) {}
+
 private:
+  /// The type of the attribute value.
+  Type type;
+
   /// The abstract descriptor for this attribute.
   const AbstractAttribute *abstractAttribute;
-
-  /// The opaque type of the attribute value.
-  const void *type;
 };
 
 /// Default storage type for attributes that require no additional
@@ -188,6 +192,10 @@ public:
     return ctx->getAttributeUniquer().get<typename T::ImplType>(
         [ctx](AttributeStorage *storage) {
           initializeAttributeStorage(storage, ctx, T::getTypeID());
+
+          // Execute any additional attribute storage initialization with the
+          // context.
+          static_cast<typename T::ImplType *>(storage)->initialize(ctx);
         },
         T::getTypeID(), std::forward<Args>(args)...);
   }
diff --git a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/Attributes.h b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/Attributes.h
index 69e48d7a7256..74a4405abd59 100644
--- a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/Attributes.h
+++ b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/Attributes.h
@@ -13,7 +13,10 @@
 #include "llvm/Support/PointerLikeTypeTraits.h"
 
 namespace mlir {
-class Identifier;
+class StringAttr;
+
+// TODO: Remove this when all usages have been replaced with StringAttr.
+using Identifier = StringAttr;
 
 /// Attributes are known-constant values of operations.
 ///
@@ -61,7 +64,7 @@ public:
   TypeID getTypeID() { return impl->getAbstractAttribute().getTypeID(); }
 
   /// Return the type of this attribute.
-  Type getType() const;
+  Type getType() const { return impl->getType(); }
 
   /// Return the context this attribute belongs to.
   MLIRContext *getContext() const;
@@ -126,7 +129,7 @@ template <typename U> U Attribute::cast() const {
 }
 
 inline ::llvm::hash_code hash_value(Attribute arg) {
-  return ::llvm::hash_value(arg.impl);
+  return DenseMapInfo<const Attribute::ImplType *>::getHashValue(arg.impl);
 }
 
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
diff --git a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/BuiltinAttributes.h b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/BuiltinAttributes.h
index ba0fbe49239f..6dabb6f3bf06 100644
--- a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/BuiltinAttributes.h
+++ b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/BuiltinAttributes.h
@@ -885,7 +885,35 @@ auto SparseElementsAttr::value_begin() const -> iterator<T> {
       };
   return iterator<T>(llvm::seq<ptrdiff_t>(0, getNumElements()).begin(), mapFn);
 }
-} // end namespace mlir.
+
+//===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
+// StringAttr
+//===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
+
+/// Define comparisons for StringAttr against nullptr and itself to avoid the
+/// StringRef overloads from being chosen when not desirable.
+inline bool operator==(StringAttr lhs, std::nullptr_t) { return !lhs; }
+inline bool operator!=(StringAttr lhs, std::nullptr_t) {
+  return static_cast<bool>(lhs);
+}
+inline bool operator==(StringAttr lhs, StringAttr rhs) {
+  return (Attribute)lhs == (Attribute)rhs;
+}
+inline bool operator!=(StringAttr lhs, StringAttr rhs) { return !(lhs == rhs); }
+
+/// Allow direct comparison with StringRef.
+inline bool operator==(StringAttr lhs, StringRef rhs) {
+  return lhs.getValue() == rhs;
+}
+inline bool operator!=(StringAttr lhs, StringRef rhs) { return !(lhs == rhs); }
+inline bool operator==(StringRef lhs, StringAttr rhs) {
+  return rhs.getValue() == lhs;
+}
+inline bool operator!=(StringRef lhs, StringAttr rhs) { return !(lhs == rhs); }
+
+inline Type StringAttr::getType() const { return Attribute::getType(); }
+
+} // end namespace mlir
 
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
 // Attribute Utilities
@@ -893,12 +921,30 @@ auto SparseElementsAttr::value_begin() const -> iterator<T> {
 
 namespace llvm {
 
+template <>
+struct DenseMapInfo<mlir::StringAttr> : public DenseMapInfo<mlir::Attribute> {
+  static mlir::StringAttr getEmptyKey() {
+    const void *pointer = llvm::DenseMapInfo<const void *>::getEmptyKey();
+    return mlir::StringAttr::getFromOpaquePointer(pointer);
+  }
+  static mlir::StringAttr getTombstoneKey() {
+    const void *pointer = llvm::DenseMapInfo<const void *>::getTombstoneKey();
+    return mlir::StringAttr::getFromOpaquePointer(pointer);
+  }
+};
+template <>
+struct PointerLikeTypeTraits<mlir::StringAttr>
+    : public PointerLikeTypeTraits<mlir::Attribute> {
+  static inline mlir::StringAttr getFromVoidPointer(void *p) {
+    return mlir::StringAttr::getFromOpaquePointer(p);
+  }
+};
+
 template <>
 struct PointerLikeTypeTraits<mlir::SymbolRefAttr>
     : public PointerLikeTypeTraits<mlir::Attribute> {
   static inline mlir::SymbolRefAttr getFromVoidPointer(void *ptr) {
-    return PointerLikeTypeTraits<mlir::Attribute>::getFromVoidPointer(ptr)
-        .cast<mlir::SymbolRefAttr>();
+    return mlir::SymbolRefAttr::getFromOpaquePointer(ptr);
   }
 };
 
diff --git a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/BuiltinAttributes.td b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/BuiltinAttributes.td
index c6631cd79fe5..a0393df7aa89 100644
--- a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/BuiltinAttributes.td
+++ b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/BuiltinAttributes.td
@@ -915,6 +915,44 @@ def Builtin_StringAttr : Builtin_Attr<"String"> {
   let extraClassDeclaration = [{
     using ValueType = StringRef;
 
+    /// If the value of this string is prefixed with a dialect namespace,
+    /// returns the dialect corresponding to that namespace if it is loaded,
+    /// nullptr otherwise. For example, the string `llvm.fastmathflags` would
+    /// return the LLVM dialect, assuming it is loaded in the context.
+    Dialect *getReferencedDialect() const;
+
+    /// Enable conversion to StringRef.
+    operator StringRef() const { return getValue(); }
+
+    /// Returns the underlying string value
+    StringRef strref() const { return getValue(); }
+
+    /// Convert the underling value to an std::string.
+    std::string str() const { return getValue().str(); }
+
+    /// Return a pointer to the start of the string data.
+    const char *data() const { return getValue().data(); }
+
+    /// Return the number of bytes in this string.
+    size_t size() const { return getValue().size(); }
+
+    /// Iterate over the underlying string data.
+    StringRef::iterator begin() const { return getValue().begin(); }
+    StringRef::iterator end() const { return getValue().end(); }
+
+    /// Compare the underlying string value to the one in `rhs`.
+    int compare(StringAttr rhs) const {
+      if (*this == rhs)
+        return 0;
+      return getValue().compare(rhs.getValue());
+    }
+
+    /// FIXME: Defined as part of transition of Identifier->StringAttr. Prefer
+    /// using the other `get` methods instead.
+    static StringAttr get(const Twine &str, MLIRContext *context) {
+      return get(context, str);
+    }
+
   private:
     /// Return an empty StringAttr with NoneType type. This is a special variant
     /// of the `get` method that is used by the MLIRContext to cache the
@@ -923,6 +961,7 @@ def Builtin_StringAttr : Builtin_Attr<"String"> {
     friend MLIRContext;
   public:
   }];
+  let genStorageClass = 0;
   let skipDefaultBuilders = 1;
 }
 
diff --git a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/BuiltinTypes.h b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/BuiltinTypes.h
index f2f3ccf53762..0daabe25ea1c 100644
--- a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/BuiltinTypes.h
+++ b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/BuiltinTypes.h
@@ -20,11 +20,14 @@ namespace mlir {
 class AffineExpr;
 class AffineMap;
 class FloatType;
-class Identifier;
 class IndexType;
 class IntegerType;
+class StringAttr;
 class TypeRange;
 
+// TODO: Remove this when all usages have been replaced with StringAttr.
+using Identifier = StringAttr;
+
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
 // FloatType
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
diff --git a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/Diagnostics.h b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/Diagnostics.h
index 5f6d870fc805..e8af2fe782f3 100644
--- a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/Diagnostics.h
+++ b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/Diagnostics.h
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@ class SourceMgr;
 
 namespace mlir {
 class DiagnosticEngine;
-class Identifier;
 struct LogicalResult;
 class MLIRContext;
 class Operation;
@@ -196,6 +195,7 @@ public:
     arguments.push_back(DiagnosticArgument(std::forward<Arg>(val)));
     return *this;
   }
+  Diagnostic &operator<<(StringAttr val);
 
   /// Stream in a string literal.
   Diagnostic &operator<<(const char *val) {
@@ -208,9 +208,6 @@ public:
   Diagnostic &operator<<(const Twine &val);
   Diagnostic &operator<<(Twine &&val);
 
-  /// Stream in an Identifier.
-  Diagnostic &operator<<(Identifier val);
-
   /// Stream in an OperationName.
   Diagnostic &operator<<(OperationName val);
 
diff --git a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/FunctionSupport.h b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/FunctionSupport.h
index c7ee9429d583..51a3f9d582bf 100644
--- a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/FunctionSupport.h
+++ b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/FunctionSupport.h
@@ -612,7 +612,7 @@ LogicalResult FunctionLike<ConcreteType>::verifyTrait(Operation *op) {
         if (!attr.first.strref().contains('.'))
           return funcOp.emitOpError(
               "arguments may only have dialect attributes");
-        if (Dialect *dialect = attr.first.getDialect()) {
+        if (Dialect *dialect = attr.first.getReferencedDialect()) {
           if (failed(dialect->verifyRegionArgAttribute(op, /*regionIndex=*/0,
                                                        /*argIndex=*/i, attr)))
             return failure();
@@ -645,7 +645,7 @@ LogicalResult FunctionLike<ConcreteType>::verifyTrait(Operation *op) {
       for (auto attr : resultAttrs) {
         if (!attr.first.strref().contains('.'))
           return funcOp.emitOpError("results may only have dialect attributes");
-        if (Dialect *dialect = attr.first.getDialect()) {
+        if (Dialect *dialect = attr.first.getReferencedDialect()) {
           if (failed(dialect->verifyRegionResultAttribute(op, /*regionIndex=*/0,
                                                           /*resultIndex=*/i,
                                                           attr)))
diff --git a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/Identifier.h b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/Identifier.h
index 75208892b77f..f72e1a2e0671 100644
--- a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/Identifier.h
+++ b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/Identifier.h
@@ -9,151 +9,12 @@
 #ifndef MLIR_IR_IDENTIFIER_H
 #define MLIR_IR_IDENTIFIER_H
 
-#include "mlir/Support/LLVM.h"
-#include "llvm/ADT/DenseMapInfo.h"
-#include "llvm/ADT/PointerUnion.h"
-#include "llvm/ADT/StringMapEntry.h"
-#include "llvm/ADT/Twine.h"
-#include "llvm/Support/PointerLikeTypeTraits.h"
+#include "mlir/IR/BuiltinAttributes.h"
 
 namespace mlir {
-class Dialect;
-class MLIRContext;
-
-/// This class represents a uniqued string owned by an MLIRContext.  Strings
-/// represented by this type cannot contain nul characters, and may not have a
-/// zero length.
-///
-/// This is a POD type with pointer size, so it should be passed around by
-/// value. The underlying data is owned by MLIRContext and is thus immortal for
-/// almost all clients.
-///
-/// An Identifier may be prefixed with a dialect namespace followed by a single
-/// dot `.`. This is particularly useful when used as a key in a NamedAttribute
-/// to differentiate a dependent attribute (specific to an operation) from a
-/// generic attribute defined by the dialect (in general applicable to multiple
-/// operations).
-class Identifier {
-  using EntryType =
-      llvm::StringMapEntry<PointerUnion<Dialect *, MLIRContext *>>;
-
-public:
-  /// Return an identifier for the specified string.
-  static Identifier get(const Twine &string, MLIRContext *context);
-
-  Identifier(const Identifier &) = default;
-  Identifier &operator=(const Identifier &other) = default;
-
-  /// Return a StringRef for the string.
-  StringRef strref() const { return entry->first(); }
-
-  /// Identifiers implicitly convert to StringRefs.
-  operator StringRef() const { return strref(); }
-
-  /// Return an std::string.
-  std::string str() const { return strref().str(); }
-
-  /// Return a null terminated C string.
-  const char *c_str() const { return entry->getKeyData(); }
-
-  /// Return a pointer to the start of the string data.
-  const char *data() const { return entry->getKeyData(); }
-
-  /// Return the number of bytes in this string.
-  unsigned size() const { return entry->getKeyLength(); }
-
-  /// Return the dialect loaded in the context for this identifier or nullptr if
-  /// this identifier isn't prefixed with a loaded dialect. For example the
-  /// `llvm.fastmathflags` identifier would return the LLVM dialect here,
-  /// assuming it is loaded in the context.
-  Dialect *getDialect();
-
-  /// Return the current MLIRContext associated with this identifier.
-  MLIRContext *getContext();
-
-  const char *begin() const { return data(); }
-  const char *end() const { return entry->getKeyData() + size(); }
-
-  bool operator==(Identifier other) const { return entry == other.entry; }
-  bool operator!=(Identifier rhs) const { return !(*this == rhs); }
-
-  void print(raw_ostream &os) const;
-  void dump() const;
-
-  const void *getAsOpaquePointer() const {
-    return static_cast<const void *>(entry);
-  }
-  static Identifier getFromOpaquePointer(const void *entry) {
-    return Identifier(static_cast<const EntryType *>(entry));
-  }
-
-  /// Compare the underlying StringRef.
-  int compare(Identifier rhs) const { return strref().compare(rhs.strref()); }
-
-private:
-  /// This contains the bytes of the string, which is guaranteed to be nul
-  /// terminated.
-  const EntryType *entry;
-  explicit Identifier(const EntryType *entry) : entry(entry) {}
-};
-
-inline raw_ostream &operator<<(raw_ostream &os, Identifier identifier) {
-  identifier.print(os);
-  return os;
-}
-
-// Identifier/Identifier equality comparisons are defined inline.
-inline bool operator==(Identifier lhs, StringRef rhs) {
-  return lhs.strref() == rhs;
-}
-inline bool operator!=(Identifier lhs, StringRef rhs) { return !(lhs == rhs); }
-
-inline bool operator==(StringRef lhs, Identifier rhs) {
-  return rhs.strref() == lhs;
-}
-inline bool operator!=(StringRef lhs, Identifier rhs) { return !(lhs == rhs); }
-
-// Make identifiers hashable.
-inline llvm::hash_code hash_value(Identifier arg) {
-  // Identifiers are uniqued, so we can just hash the pointer they contain.
-  return llvm::hash_value(arg.getAsOpaquePointer());
-}
+/// NOTICE: Identifier is deprecated and usages of it should be replaced with
+/// StringAttr.
+using Identifier = StringAttr;
 } // end namespace mlir
 
-namespace llvm {
-// Identifiers hash just like pointers, there is no need to hash the bytes.
-template <>
-struct DenseMapInfo<mlir::Identifier> {
-  static mlir::Identifier getEmptyKey() {
-    auto pointer = llvm::DenseMapInfo<const void *>::getEmptyKey();
-    return mlir::Identifier::getFromOpaquePointer(pointer);
-  }
-  static mlir::Identifier getTombstoneKey() {
-    auto pointer = llvm::DenseMapInfo<const void *>::getTombstoneKey();
-    return mlir::Identifier::getFromOpaquePointer(pointer);
-  }
-  static unsigned getHashValue(mlir::Identifier val) {
-    return mlir::hash_value(val);
-  }
-  static bool isEqual(mlir::Identifier lhs, mlir::Identifier rhs) {
-    return lhs == rhs;
-  }
-};
-
-/// The pointer inside of an identifier comes from a StringMap, so its alignment
-/// is always at least 4 and probably 8 (on 64-bit machines).  Allow LLVM to
-/// steal the low bits.
-template <>
-struct PointerLikeTypeTraits<mlir::Identifier> {
-public:
-  static inline void *getAsVoidPointer(mlir::Identifier i) {
-    return const_cast<void *>(i.getAsOpaquePointer());
-  }
-  static inline mlir::Identifier getFromVoidPointer(void *p) {
-    return mlir::Identifier::getFromOpaquePointer(p);
-  }
-  static constexpr int NumLowBitsAvailable = 2;
-};
-
-} // end namespace llvm
 #endif
diff --git a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/Location.h b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/Location.h
index b625a4f0ed0e..1077c9f49b89 100644
--- a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/Location.h
+++ b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/Location.h
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@
 
 namespace mlir {
 
-class Identifier;
 class Location;
 class WalkResult;
 
diff --git a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/OperationSupport.h b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/OperationSupport.h
index ca3a1a61f85f..887306fbc545 100644
--- a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/OperationSupport.h
+++ b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/OperationSupport.h
@@ -456,7 +456,7 @@ public:
   Dialect *getDialect() const {
     if (const auto *abstractOp = getAbstractOperation())
       return &abstractOp->dialect;
-    return representation.get<Identifier>().getDialect();
+    return representation.get<Identifier>().getReferencedDialect();
   }
 
   /// Return the operation name with dialect name stripped, if it has one.
diff --git a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/StorageUniquerSupport.h b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/StorageUniquerSupport.h
index 28b3326e9f75..8cd159e6f043 100644
--- a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/StorageUniquerSupport.h
+++ b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/StorageUniquerSupport.h
@@ -164,8 +164,7 @@ public:
 
   /// Get an instance of the concrete type from a void pointer.
   static ConcreteT getFromOpaquePointer(const void *ptr) {
-    return ptr ? BaseT::getFromOpaquePointer(ptr).template cast<ConcreteT>()
-               : nullptr;
+    return ConcreteT((const typename BaseT::ImplType *)ptr);
   }
 
 protected:
diff --git a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/SymbolTable.h b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/SymbolTable.h
index 3950fee156ab..15433cd0b69c 100644
--- a/mlir/include/mlir/IR/SymbolTable.h
+++ b/mlir/include/mlir/IR/SymbolTable.h
@@ -15,8 +15,6 @@
 #include "llvm/ADT/StringMap.h"
 
 namespace mlir {
-class Identifier;
-class Operation;
 
 /// This class allows for representing and managing the symbol table used by
 /// operations with the 'SymbolTable' trait. Inserting into and erasing from
diff --git a/mlir/include/mlir/Pass/PassManager.h b/mlir/include/mlir/Pass/PassManager.h
index 4ab63ae06ab8..9e68b9086368 100644
--- a/mlir/include/mlir/Pass/PassManager.h
+++ b/mlir/include/mlir/Pass/PassManager.h
@@ -27,12 +27,15 @@ class Any;
 
 namespace mlir {
 class AnalysisManager;
-class Identifier;
 class MLIRContext;
 class Operation;
 class Pass;
 class PassInstrumentation;
 class PassInstrumentor;
+class StringAttr;
+
+// TODO: Remove this when all usages have been replaced with StringAttr.
+using Identifier = StringAttr;
 
 namespace detail {
 struct OpPassManagerImpl;
diff --git a/mlir/include/mlir/Support/StorageUniquer.h b/mlir/include/mlir/Support/StorageUniquer.h
index 35ac619955b2..170c77d43a29 100644
--- a/mlir/include/mlir/Support/StorageUniquer.h
+++ b/mlir/include/mlir/Support/StorageUniquer.h
@@ -105,8 +105,13 @@ public:
     /// Copy the provided string into memory managed by our bump pointer
     /// allocator.
     StringRef copyInto(StringRef str) {
-      auto result = copyInto(ArrayRef<char>(str.data(), str.size()));
-      return StringRef(result.data(), str.size());
+      if (str.empty())
+        return StringRef();
+
+      char *result = allocator.Allocate<char>(str.size() + 1);
+      std::uninitialized_copy(str.begin(), str.end(), result);
+      result[str.size()] = 0;
+      return StringRef(result, str.size());
     }
 
     /// Allocate an instance of the provided type.
diff --git a/mlir/include/mlir/Target/LLVMIR/LLVMTranslationInterface.h b/mlir/include/mlir/Target/LLVMIR/LLVMTranslationInterface.h
index 0c563e6e7d39..beabfa41d326 100644
--- a/mlir/include/mlir/Target/LLVMIR/LLVMTranslationInterface.h
+++ b/mlir/include/mlir/Target/LLVMIR/LLVMTranslationInterface.h
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ public:
   amendOperation(Operation *op, NamedAttribute attribute,
                  LLVM::ModuleTranslation &moduleTranslation) const {
     if (const LLVMTranslationDialectInterface *iface =
-            getInterfaceFor(attribute.first.getDialect())) {
+            getInterfaceFor(attribute.first.getReferencedDialect())) {
       return iface->amendOperation(op, attribute, moduleTranslation);
     }
     return success();
diff --git a/mlir/lib/Bindings/Python/IRCore.cpp b/mlir/lib/Bindings/Python/IRCore.cpp
index cf59a67f9c8f..4c25fd4505b7 100644
--- a/mlir/lib/Bindings/Python/IRCore.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/Bindings/Python/IRCore.cpp
@@ -1845,7 +1845,8 @@ public:
         mlirOperationGetAttribute(operation->get(), index);
     return PyNamedAttribute(
         namedAttr.attribute,
-        std::string(mlirIdentifierStr(namedAttr.name).data));
+        std::string(mlirIdentifierStr(namedAttr.name).data,
+                    mlirIdentifierStr(namedAttr.name).length));
   }
 
   void dunderSetItem(const std::string &name, PyAttribute attr) {
@@ -2601,7 +2602,8 @@ void mlir::python::populateIRCore(py::module &m) {
              PyPrintAccumulator printAccum;
              printAccum.parts.append("NamedAttribute(");
              printAccum.parts.append(
-                 mlirIdentifierStr(self.namedAttr.name).data);
+                 py::str(mlirIdentifierStr(self.namedAttr.name).data,
+                         mlirIdentifierStr(self.namedAttr.name).length));
              printAccum.parts.append("=");
              mlirAttributePrint(self.namedAttr.attribute,
                                 printAccum.getCallback(),
diff --git a/mlir/lib/CAPI/IR/BuiltinAttributes.cpp b/mlir/lib/CAPI/IR/BuiltinAttributes.cpp
index 8d6c4ccf6a8b..7ce4283600c8 100644
--- a/mlir/lib/CAPI/IR/BuiltinAttributes.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/CAPI/IR/BuiltinAttributes.cpp
@@ -186,11 +186,11 @@ bool mlirAttributeIsAString(MlirAttribute attr) {
 }
 
 MlirAttribute mlirStringAttrGet(MlirContext ctx, MlirStringRef str) {
-  return wrap(StringAttr::get(unwrap(ctx), unwrap(str)));
+  return wrap((Attribute)StringAttr::get(unwrap(ctx), unwrap(str)));
 }
 
 MlirAttribute mlirStringAttrTypedGet(MlirType type, MlirStringRef str) {
-  return wrap(StringAttr::get(unwrap(str), unwrap(type)));
+  return wrap((Attribute)StringAttr::get(unwrap(str), unwrap(type)));
 }
 
 MlirStringRef mlirStringAttrGetValue(MlirAttribute attr) {
diff --git a/mlir/lib/CAPI/IR/IR.cpp b/mlir/lib/CAPI/IR/IR.cpp
index 8bed10a9d9d5..7bbbc4a1d24a 100644
--- a/mlir/lib/CAPI/IR/IR.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/CAPI/IR/IR.cpp
@@ -805,7 +805,7 @@ MlirOperation mlirSymbolTableLookup(MlirSymbolTable symbolTable,
 
 MlirAttribute mlirSymbolTableInsert(MlirSymbolTable symbolTable,
                                     MlirOperation operation) {
-  return wrap(unwrap(symbolTable)->insert(unwrap(operation)));
+  return wrap((Attribute)unwrap(symbolTable)->insert(unwrap(operation)));
 }
 
 void mlirSymbolTableErase(MlirSymbolTable symbolTable,
diff --git a/mlir/lib/Dialect/DLTI/DLTI.cpp b/mlir/lib/Dialect/DLTI/DLTI.cpp
index 87fbe2585a6c..243e7865be1a 100644
--- a/mlir/lib/Dialect/DLTI/DLTI.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/Dialect/DLTI/DLTI.cpp
@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ DataLayoutSpecAttr::verify(function_ref<InFlightDiagnostic()> emitError,
     } else {
       auto id = entry.getKey().get<Identifier>();
       if (!ids.insert(id).second)
-        return emitError() << "repeated layout entry key: " << id;
+        return emitError() << "repeated layout entry key: " << id.getValue();
     }
   }
   return success();
@@ -221,7 +221,7 @@ combineOneSpec(DataLayoutSpecInterface spec,
 
   for (const auto &kvp : newEntriesForID) {
     Identifier id = kvp.second.getKey().get<Identifier>();
-    Dialect *dialect = id.getDialect();
+    Dialect *dialect = id.getReferencedDialect();
     if (!entriesForID.count(id)) {
       entriesForID[id] = kvp.second;
       continue;
@@ -377,6 +377,6 @@ LogicalResult DLTIDialect::verifyOperationAttribute(Operation *op,
     return success();
   }
 
-  return op->emitError() << "attribute '" << attr.first
+  return op->emitError() << "attribute '" << attr.first.getValue()
                          << "' not supported by dialect";
 }
diff --git a/mlir/lib/Dialect/Linalg/IR/LinalgOps.cpp b/mlir/lib/Dialect/Linalg/IR/LinalgOps.cpp
index d747a2364411..d0db26a1bb3b 100644
--- a/mlir/lib/Dialect/Linalg/IR/LinalgOps.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/Dialect/Linalg/IR/LinalgOps.cpp
@@ -753,7 +753,7 @@ struct DeduplicateGenericOpInputs : public OpRewritePattern<GenericOp> {
     // Copy over unknown attributes. They might be load bearing for some flow.
     ArrayRef<StringRef> odsAttrs = genericOp.getAttributeNames();
     for (NamedAttribute kv : genericOp->getAttrs()) {
-      if (!llvm::is_contained(odsAttrs, kv.first.c_str())) {
+      if (!llvm::is_contained(odsAttrs, kv.first.getValue())) {
         newOp->setAttr(kv.first, kv.second);
       }
     }
diff --git a/mlir/lib/IR/AsmPrinter.cpp b/mlir/lib/IR/AsmPrinter.cpp
index 15625255f337..0dd935557d12 100644
--- a/mlir/lib/IR/AsmPrinter.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/IR/AsmPrinter.cpp
@@ -46,10 +46,6 @@
 using namespace mlir;
 using namespace mlir::detail;
 
-void Identifier::print(raw_ostream &os) const { os << str(); }
-
-void Identifier::dump() const { print(llvm::errs()); }
-
 void OperationName::print(raw_ostream &os) const { os << getStringRef(); }
 
 void OperationName::dump() const { print(llvm::errs()); }
@@ -1339,7 +1335,7 @@ void AsmPrinter::Impl::printLocationInternal(LocationAttr loc, bool pretty) {
       })
       .Case<FileLineColLoc>([&](FileLineColLoc loc) {
         if (pretty) {
-          os << loc.getFilename();
+          os << loc.getFilename().getValue();
         } else {
           os << "\"";
           printEscapedString(loc.getFilename(), os);
@@ -1693,7 +1689,7 @@ void AsmPrinter::Impl::printAttribute(Attribute attr,
     if (printerFlags.shouldElideElementsAttr(opaqueAttr)) {
       printElidedElementsAttr(os);
     } else {
-      os << "opaque<\"" << opaqueAttr.getDialect() << "\", \"0x"
+      os << "opaque<" << opaqueAttr.getDialect() << ", \"0x"
          << llvm::toHex(opaqueAttr.getValue()) << "\">";
     }
 
diff --git a/mlir/lib/IR/AttributeDetail.h b/mlir/lib/IR/AttributeDetail.h
index f62d886cacb6..03373ae70abe 100644
--- a/mlir/lib/IR/AttributeDetail.h
+++ b/mlir/lib/IR/AttributeDetail.h
@@ -319,6 +319,41 @@ struct DenseStringElementsAttrStorage : public DenseElementsAttributeStorage {
   ArrayRef<StringRef> data;
 };
 
+//===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
+// StringAttr
+//===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
+
+struct StringAttrStorage : public AttributeStorage {
+  StringAttrStorage(StringRef value, Type type)
+      : AttributeStorage(type), value(value), referencedDialect(nullptr) {}
+
+  /// The hash key is a tuple of the parameter types.
+  using KeyTy = std::pair<StringRef, Type>;
+  bool operator==(const KeyTy &key) const {
+    return value == key.first && getType() == key.second;
+  }
+  static ::llvm::hash_code hashKey(const KeyTy &key) {
+    return DenseMapInfo<KeyTy>::getHashValue(key);
+  }
+
+  /// Define a construction method for creating a new instance of this
+  /// storage.
+  static StringAttrStorage *construct(AttributeStorageAllocator &allocator,
+                                      const KeyTy &key) {
+    return new (allocator.allocate<StringAttrStorage>())
+        StringAttrStorage(allocator.copyInto(key.first), key.second);
+  }
+
+  /// Initialize the storage given an MLIRContext.
+  void initialize(MLIRContext *context);
+
+  /// The raw string value.
+  StringRef value;
+  /// If the string value contains a dialect namespace prefix (e.g.
+  /// dialect.blah), this is the dialect referenced.
+  Dialect *referencedDialect;
+};
+
 } // namespace detail
 } // namespace mlir
 
diff --git a/mlir/lib/IR/Attributes.cpp b/mlir/lib/IR/Attributes.cpp
index 4cc501d5819a..dc6149fc262f 100644
--- a/mlir/lib/IR/Attributes.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/IR/Attributes.cpp
@@ -12,28 +12,10 @@
 using namespace mlir;
 using namespace mlir::detail;
 
-//===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
-// AttributeStorage
-//===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
-
-AttributeStorage::AttributeStorage(Type type)
-    : type(type.getAsOpaquePointer()) {}
-AttributeStorage::AttributeStorage() : type(nullptr) {}
-
-Type AttributeStorage::getType() const {
-  return Type::getFromOpaquePointer(type);
-}
-void AttributeStorage::setType(Type newType) {
-  type = newType.getAsOpaquePointer();
-}
-
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
 // Attribute
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
 
-/// Return the type of this attribute.
-Type Attribute::getType() const { return impl->getType(); }
-
 /// Return the context this attribute belongs to.
 MLIRContext *Attribute::getContext() const { return getDialect().getContext(); }
 
@@ -42,13 +24,8 @@ MLIRContext *Attribute::getContext() const { return getDialect().getContext(); }
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
 
 bool mlir::operator<(const NamedAttribute &lhs, const NamedAttribute &rhs) {
-  return strcmp(lhs.first.data(), rhs.first.data()) < 0;
+  return lhs.first.compare(rhs.first) < 0;
 }
 bool mlir::operator<(const NamedAttribute &lhs, StringRef rhs) {
-  // This is correct even when attr.first.data()[name.size()] is not a zero
-  // string terminator, because we only care about a less than comparison.
-  // This can't use memcmp, because it doesn't guarantee that it will stop
-  // reading both buffers if one is shorter than the other, even if there is
-  // a difference.
-  return strncmp(lhs.first.data(), rhs.data(), rhs.size()) < 0;
+  return lhs.first.getValue().compare(rhs) < 0;
 }
diff --git a/mlir/lib/IR/BuiltinAttributes.cpp b/mlir/lib/IR/BuiltinAttributes.cpp
index 38c843026898..b99e988eb227 100644
--- a/mlir/lib/IR/BuiltinAttributes.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/IR/BuiltinAttributes.cpp
@@ -264,6 +264,12 @@ StringAttr StringAttr::get(const Twine &twine, Type type) {
   return Base::get(type.getContext(), twine.toStringRef(tempStr), type);
 }
 
+StringRef StringAttr::getValue() const { return getImpl()->value; }
+
+Dialect *StringAttr::getReferencedDialect() const {
+  return getImpl()->referencedDialect;
+}
+
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
 // FloatAttr
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
@@ -1250,7 +1256,7 @@ bool DenseIntElementsAttr::classof(Attribute attr) {
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
 
 bool OpaqueElementsAttr::decode(ElementsAttr &result) {
-  Dialect *dialect = getDialect().getDialect();
+  Dialect *dialect = getContext()->getLoadedDialect(getDialect());
   if (!dialect)
     return true;
   auto *interface =
diff --git a/mlir/lib/IR/BuiltinDialect.cpp b/mlir/lib/IR/BuiltinDialect.cpp
index 20514957b5fa..a007a487d8af 100644
--- a/mlir/lib/IR/BuiltinDialect.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/IR/BuiltinDialect.cpp
@@ -253,7 +253,7 @@ static LogicalResult verify(ModuleOp op) {
             attr.first.strref()))
       return op.emitOpError() << "can only contain attributes with "
                                  "dialect-prefixed names, found: '"
-                              << attr.first << "'";
+                              << attr.first.getValue() << "'";
   }
 
   // Check that there is at most one data layout spec attribute.
@@ -266,7 +266,8 @@ static LogicalResult verify(ModuleOp op) {
             op.emitOpError() << "expects at most one data layout attribute";
         diag.attachNote() << "'" << layoutSpecAttrName
                           << "' is a data layout attribute";
-        diag.attachNote() << "'" << na.first << "' is a data layout attribute";
+        diag.attachNote() << "'" << na.first.getValue()
+                          << "' is a data layout attribute";
       }
       layoutSpecAttrName = na.first.strref();
       layoutSpec = spec;
diff --git a/mlir/lib/IR/Diagnostics.cpp b/mlir/lib/IR/Diagnostics.cpp
index 31391b2b9405..8400870b9135 100644
--- a/mlir/lib/IR/Diagnostics.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/IR/Diagnostics.cpp
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@
 
 #include "mlir/IR/Diagnostics.h"
 #include "mlir/IR/Attributes.h"
-#include "mlir/IR/Identifier.h"
 #include "mlir/IR/Location.h"
 #include "mlir/IR/MLIRContext.h"
 #include "mlir/IR/Operation.h"
@@ -109,11 +108,8 @@ Diagnostic &Diagnostic::operator<<(Twine &&val) {
   return *this;
 }
 
-/// Stream in an Identifier.
-Diagnostic &Diagnostic::operator<<(Identifier val) {
-  // An identifier is stored in the context, so we don't need to worry about the
-  // lifetime of its data.
-  arguments.push_back(DiagnosticArgument(val.strref()));
+Diagnostic &Diagnostic::operator<<(StringAttr val) {
+  arguments.push_back(DiagnosticArgument(val));
   return *this;
 }
 
@@ -469,7 +465,7 @@ void SourceMgrDiagnosticHandler::emitDiagnostic(Location loc, Twine message,
   // the constructor of SMDiagnostic that takes a location.
   std::string locStr;
   llvm::raw_string_ostream locOS(locStr);
-  locOS << fileLoc->getFilename() << ":" << fileLoc->getLine() << ":"
+  locOS << fileLoc->getFilename().getValue() << ":" << fileLoc->getLine() << ":"
         << fileLoc->getColumn();
   llvm::SMDiagnostic diag(locOS.str(), getDiagKind(kind), message.str());
   diag.print(nullptr, os);
diff --git a/mlir/lib/IR/MLIRContext.cpp b/mlir/lib/IR/MLIRContext.cpp
index 065568379a06..aa907ea75fc3 100644
--- a/mlir/lib/IR/MLIRContext.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/IR/MLIRContext.cpp
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@
 #include "mlir/IR/BuiltinDialect.h"
 #include "mlir/IR/Diagnostics.h"
 #include "mlir/IR/Dialect.h"
-#include "mlir/IR/Identifier.h"
 #include "mlir/IR/IntegerSet.h"
 #include "mlir/IR/Location.h"
 #include "mlir/IR/OpImplementation.h"
@@ -33,6 +32,7 @@
 #include "llvm/Support/Allocator.h"
 #include "llvm/Support/CommandLine.h"
 #include "llvm/Support/Debug.h"
+#include "llvm/Support/Mutex.h"
 #include "llvm/Support/RWMutex.h"
 #include "llvm/Support/ThreadPool.h"
 #include "llvm/Support/raw_ostream.h"
@@ -227,14 +227,6 @@ public:
   /// An action manager for use within the context.
   DebugActionManager debugActionManager;
 
-  //===--------------------------------------------------------------------===//
-  // Identifier uniquing
-  //===--------------------------------------------------------------------===//
-
-  // Identifier allocator and mutex for thread safety.
-  llvm::BumpPtrAllocator identifierAllocator;
-  llvm::sys::SmartRWMutex<true> identifierMutex;
-
   //===--------------------------------------------------------------------===//
   // Diagnostics
   //===--------------------------------------------------------------------===//
@@ -289,12 +281,6 @@ public:
   /// operations.
   llvm::StringMap<AbstractOperation> registeredOperations;
 
-  /// Identifiers are uniqued by string value and use the internal string set
-  /// for storage.
-  llvm::StringMap<PointerUnion<Dialect *, MLIRContext *>,
-                  llvm::BumpPtrAllocator &>
-      identifiers;
-
   /// An allocator used for AbstractAttribute and AbstractType objects.
   llvm::BumpPtrAllocator abstractDialectSymbolAllocator;
 
@@ -349,10 +335,15 @@ public:
   DictionaryAttr emptyDictionaryAttr;
   StringAttr emptyStringAttr;
 
+  /// Map of string attributes that may reference a dialect, that are awaiting
+  /// that dialect to be loaded.
+  llvm::sys::SmartMutex<true> dialectRefStrAttrMutex;
+  DenseMap<StringRef, SmallVector<StringAttrStorage *>>
+      dialectReferencingStrAttrs;
+
 public:
   MLIRContextImpl(bool threadingIsEnabled)
-      : threadingIsEnabled(threadingIsEnabled),
-        identifiers(identifierAllocator) {
+      : threadingIsEnabled(threadingIsEnabled) {
     if (threadingIsEnabled) {
       ownedThreadPool = std::make_unique<llvm::ThreadPool>();
       threadPool = ownedThreadPool.get();
@@ -541,12 +532,12 @@ MLIRContext::getOrLoadDialect(StringRef dialectNamespace, TypeID dialectID,
     // Refresh all the identifiers dialect field, this catches cases where a
     // dialect may be loaded after identifier prefixed with this dialect name
     // were already created.
-    llvm::SmallString<32> dialectPrefix(dialectNamespace);
-    dialectPrefix.push_back('.');
-    for (auto &identifierEntry : impl.identifiers)
-      if (identifierEntry.second.is<MLIRContext *>() &&
-          identifierEntry.first().startswith(dialectPrefix))
-        identifierEntry.second = dialect.get();
+    auto stringAttrsIt = impl.dialectReferencingStrAttrs.find(dialectNamespace);
+    if (stringAttrsIt != impl.dialectReferencingStrAttrs.end()) {
+      for (StringAttrStorage *storage : stringAttrsIt->second)
+        storage->referencedDialect = dialect.get();
+      impl.dialectReferencingStrAttrs.erase(stringAttrsIt);
+    }
 
     // Actually register the interfaces with delayed registration.
     impl.dialectsRegistry.registerDelayedInterfaces(dialect.get());
@@ -784,7 +775,8 @@ void AbstractOperation::insert(
   MutableArrayRef<Identifier> cachedAttrNames;
   if (!attrNames.empty()) {
     cachedAttrNames = MutableArrayRef<Identifier>(
-        impl.identifierAllocator.Allocate<Identifier>(attrNames.size()),
+        impl.abstractDialectSymbolAllocator.Allocate<Identifier>(
+            attrNames.size()),
         attrNames.size());
     for (unsigned i : llvm::seq<unsigned>(0, attrNames.size()))
       new (&cachedAttrNames[i]) Identifier(Identifier::get(attrNames[i], ctx));
@@ -840,63 +832,6 @@ AbstractType *AbstractType::lookupMutable(TypeID typeID, MLIRContext *context) {
   return it->second;
 }
 
-//===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
-// Identifier uniquing
-//===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
-
-/// Return an identifier for the specified string.
-Identifier Identifier::get(const Twine &string, MLIRContext *context) {
-  SmallString<32> tempStr;
-  StringRef str = string.toStringRef(tempStr);
-
-  // Check invariants after seeing if we already have something in the
-  // identifier table - if we already had it in the table, then it already
-  // passed invariant checks.
-  assert(!str.empty() && "Cannot create an empty identifier");
-  assert(!str.contains('\0') &&
-         "Cannot create an identifier with a nul character");
-
-  auto getDialectOrContext = [&]() {
-    PointerUnion<Dialect *, MLIRContext *> dialectOrContext = context;
-    auto dialectNamePair = str.split('.');
-    if (!dialectNamePair.first.empty())
-      if (Dialect *dialect = context->getLoadedDialect(dialectNamePair.first))
-        dialectOrContext = dialect;
-    return dialectOrContext;
-  };
-
-  auto &impl = context->getImpl();
-  if (!context->isMultithreadingEnabled()) {
-    auto insertedIt = impl.identifiers.insert({str, nullptr});
-    if (insertedIt.second)
-      insertedIt.first->second = getDialectOrContext();
-    return Identifier(&*insertedIt.first);
-  }
-
-  // Check for an existing identifier in read-only mode.
-  {
-    llvm::sys::SmartScopedReader<true> contextLock(impl.identifierMutex);
-    auto it = impl.identifiers.find(str);
-    if (it != impl.identifiers.end())
-      return Identifier(&*it);
-  }
-
-  // Acquire a writer-lock so that we can safely create the new instance.
-  llvm::sys::SmartScopedWriter<true> contextLock(impl.identifierMutex);
-  auto it = impl.identifiers.insert({str, getDialectOrContext()}).first;
-  return Identifier(&*it);
-}
-
-Dialect *Identifier::getDialect() {
-  return entry->second.dyn_cast<Dialect *>();
-}
-
-MLIRContext *Identifier::getContext() {
-  if (Dialect *dialect = getDialect())
-    return dialect->getContext();
-  return entry->second.get<MLIRContext *>();
-}
-
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
 // Type uniquing
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
@@ -995,7 +930,7 @@ StorageUniquer &MLIRContext::getAttributeUniquer() {
 void AttributeUniquer::initializeAttributeStorage(AttributeStorage *storage,
                                                   MLIRContext *ctx,
                                                   TypeID attrID) {
-  storage->initialize(AbstractAttribute::lookup(attrID, ctx));
+  storage->initializeAbstractAttribute(AbstractAttribute::lookup(attrID, ctx));
 
   // If the attribute did not provide a type, then default to NoneType.
   if (!storage->getType())
@@ -1019,6 +954,24 @@ DictionaryAttr DictionaryAttr::getEmpty(MLIRContext *context) {
   return context->getImpl().emptyDictionaryAttr;
 }
 
+void StringAttrStorage::initialize(MLIRContext *context) {
+  // Check for a dialect namespace prefix, if there isn't one we don't need to
+  // do any additional initialization.
+  auto dialectNamePair = value.split('.');
+  if (dialectNamePair.first.empty() || dialectNamePair.second.empty())
+    return;
+
+  // If one exists, we check to see if this dialect is loaded. If it is, we set
+  // the dialect now, if it isn't we record this storage for initialization
+  // later if the dialect ever gets loaded.
+  if ((referencedDialect = context->getLoadedDialect(dialectNamePair.first)))
+    return;
+
+  MLIRContextImpl &impl = context->getImpl();
+  llvm::sys::SmartScopedLock<true> lock(impl.dialectRefStrAttrMutex);
+  impl.dialectReferencingStrAttrs[dialectNamePair.first].push_back(this);
+}
+
 /// Return an empty string.
 StringAttr StringAttr::get(MLIRContext *context) {
   return context->getImpl().emptyStringAttr;
diff --git a/mlir/lib/IR/OperationSupport.cpp b/mlir/lib/IR/OperationSupport.cpp
index 4c9bc848ce47..c78fc52c9d24 100644
--- a/mlir/lib/IR/OperationSupport.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/IR/OperationSupport.cpp
@@ -73,10 +73,10 @@ void NamedAttrList::assign(const_iterator in_start, const_iterator in_end) {
 
 void NamedAttrList::push_back(NamedAttribute newAttribute) {
   assert(newAttribute.second && "unexpected null attribute");
-  if (isSorted())
-    dictionarySorted.setInt(
-        attrs.empty() ||
-        strcmp(attrs.back().first.data(), newAttribute.first.data()) < 0);
+  if (isSorted()) {
+    dictionarySorted.setInt(attrs.empty() ||
+                            attrs.back().first.compare(newAttribute.first) < 0);
+  }
   dictionarySorted.setPointer(nullptr);
   attrs.push_back(newAttribute);
 }
diff --git a/mlir/lib/IR/Verifier.cpp b/mlir/lib/IR/Verifier.cpp
index 0b381d638bfd..90acbecb626d 100644
--- a/mlir/lib/IR/Verifier.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/IR/Verifier.cpp
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ LogicalResult OperationVerifier::verifyOperation(
   /// Verify that all of the attributes are okay.
   for (auto attr : op.getAttrs()) {
     // Check for any optional dialect specific attributes.
-    if (auto *dialect = attr.first.getDialect())
+    if (auto *dialect = attr.first.getReferencedDialect())
       if (failed(dialect->verifyOperationAttribute(&op, attr)))
         return failure();
   }
diff --git a/mlir/lib/Interfaces/DataLayoutInterfaces.cpp b/mlir/lib/Interfaces/DataLayoutInterfaces.cpp
index 5d238a5bd326..5223c31cd75c 100644
--- a/mlir/lib/Interfaces/DataLayoutInterfaces.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/Interfaces/DataLayoutInterfaces.cpp
@@ -431,7 +431,7 @@ LogicalResult mlir::detail::verifyDataLayoutSpec(DataLayoutSpecInterface spec,
 
   for (const auto &kvp : ids) {
     Identifier identifier = kvp.second.getKey().get<Identifier>();
-    Dialect *dialect = identifier.getDialect();
+    Dialect *dialect = identifier.getReferencedDialect();
 
     // Ignore attributes that belong to an unknown dialect, the dialect may
     // actually implement the relevant interface but we don't know about that.
diff --git a/mlir/lib/Parser/AttributeParser.cpp b/mlir/lib/Parser/AttributeParser.cpp
index 7150bfc6a682..11b9f03b10d3 100644
--- a/mlir/lib/Parser/AttributeParser.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/Parser/AttributeParser.cpp
@@ -273,7 +273,7 @@ ParseResult Parser::parseAttributeDict(NamedAttrList &attributes) {
       return emitError("expected attribute name");
     if (!seenKeys.insert(*nameId).second)
       return emitError("duplicate key '")
-             << *nameId << "' in dictionary attribute";
+             << nameId->getValue() << "' in dictionary attribute";
     consumeToken();
 
     // Lazy load a dialect in the context if there is a possible namespace.
diff --git a/mlir/lib/Parser/Parser.cpp b/mlir/lib/Parser/Parser.cpp
index 4d3f3b051a40..d69f16f84004 100644
--- a/mlir/lib/Parser/Parser.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/Parser/Parser.cpp
@@ -1127,7 +1127,7 @@ public:
     Optional<NamedAttribute> duplicate = opState.attributes.findDuplicate();
     if (duplicate)
       return emitError(getNameLoc(), "attribute '")
-             << duplicate->first
+             << duplicate->first.getValue()
              << "' occurs more than once in the attribute list";
     return success();
   }
diff --git a/mlir/lib/Target/Cpp/TranslateToCpp.cpp b/mlir/lib/Target/Cpp/TranslateToCpp.cpp
index 038ad85335cd..abddb790fbc9 100644
--- a/mlir/lib/Target/Cpp/TranslateToCpp.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/Target/Cpp/TranslateToCpp.cpp
@@ -822,7 +822,7 @@ CppEmitter::emitOperandsAndAttributes(Operation &op,
   auto emitNamedAttribute = [&](NamedAttribute attr) -> LogicalResult {
     if (llvm::is_contained(exclude, attr.first.strref()))
       return success();
-    os << "/* " << attr.first << " */";
+    os << "/* " << attr.first.getValue() << " */";
     if (failed(emitAttribute(op.getLoc(), attr.second)))
       return failure();
     return success();
diff --git a/mlir/lib/Transforms/ViewOpGraph.cpp b/mlir/lib/Transforms/ViewOpGraph.cpp
index 641df2859fb1..11a276470368 100644
--- a/mlir/lib/Transforms/ViewOpGraph.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/Transforms/ViewOpGraph.cpp
@@ -221,7 +221,7 @@ private:
       if (printAttrs) {
         os << "\n";
         for (const NamedAttribute &attr : op->getAttrs()) {
-          os << '\n' << attr.first << ": ";
+          os << '\n' << attr.first.getValue() << ": ";
           emitMlirAttr(os, attr.second);
         }
       }
diff --git a/mlir/test/lib/Dialect/Linalg/TestLinalgTransforms.cpp b/mlir/test/lib/Dialect/Linalg/TestLinalgTransforms.cpp
index 117e2e515beb..c3415c6e2a5d 100644
--- a/mlir/test/lib/Dialect/Linalg/TestLinalgTransforms.cpp
+++ b/mlir/test/lib/Dialect/Linalg/TestLinalgTransforms.cpp
@@ -494,7 +494,7 @@ static void fillTileAndDistributePatterns(MLIRContext *context,
         LinalgTilingOptions()
             .setTileSizes({8, 8, 4})
             .setLoopType(LinalgTilingLoopType::Loops)
-            .setDistributionOptions(cyclicNprocsEqNiters),
+          .setDistributionOptions(cyclicNprocsEqNiters),
         LinalgTransformationFilter(
             Identifier::get("tensors_distribute1", context),
             Identifier::get("tensors_after_distribute1", context)));
@@ -508,8 +508,7 @@ applyMatmulToVectorPatterns(FuncOp funcOp,
   MLIRContext *ctx = funcOp.getContext();
   SmallVector<RewritePatternSet, 4> stage1Patterns;
   if (testMatmulToVectorPatterns1dTiling) {
-    fillL1TilingAndMatmulToVectorPatterns(funcOp, Identifier::get("START", ctx),
-                                          stage1Patterns);
+    fillL1TilingAndMatmulToVectorPatterns(funcOp, "START", stage1Patterns);
   } else if (testMatmulToVectorPatterns2dTiling) {
     stage1Patterns.emplace_back(
         ctx, std::make_unique<LinalgTilingPattern<MatmulOp>>(
@@ -519,8 +518,7 @@ applyMatmulToVectorPatterns(FuncOp funcOp,
                      .setInterchange({1, 2, 0}),
                  LinalgTransformationFilter(Identifier::get("START", ctx),
                                             Identifier::get("L2", ctx))));
-    fillL1TilingAndMatmulToVectorPatterns(funcOp, Identifier::get("L2", ctx),
-                                          stage1Patterns);
+    fillL1TilingAndMatmulToVectorPatterns(funcOp, "L2", stage1Patterns);
   }
   {
     // Canonicalization patterns
diff --git a/mlir/test/lib/Dialect/Test/TestPatterns.cpp b/mlir/test/lib/Dialect/Test/TestPatterns.cpp
index 4df5730b282f..d2b049bfb14c 100644
--- a/mlir/test/lib/Dialect/Test/TestPatterns.cpp
+++ b/mlir/test/lib/Dialect/Test/TestPatterns.cpp
@@ -243,7 +243,7 @@ void TestDerivedAttributeDriver::runOnFunction() {
     if (!dAttr)
       return;
     for (auto d : dAttr)
-      dOp.emitRemark() << d.first << " = " << d.second;
+      dOp.emitRemark() << d.first.getValue() << " = " << d.second;
   });
 }
 
diff --git a/mlir/test/lib/IR/TestPrintNesting.cpp b/mlir/test/lib/IR/TestPrintNesting.cpp
index b85e0b788a08..f48a9181f1af 100644
--- a/mlir/test/lib/IR/TestPrintNesting.cpp
+++ b/mlir/test/lib/IR/TestPrintNesting.cpp
@@ -37,8 +37,8 @@ struct TestPrintNestingPass
     if (!op->getAttrs().empty()) {
       printIndent() << op->getAttrs().size() << " attributes:\n";
       for (NamedAttribute attr : op->getAttrs())
-        printIndent() << " - '" << attr.first << "' : '" << attr.second
-                      << "'\n";
+        printIndent() << " - '" << attr.first.getValue() << "' : '"
+                      << attr.second << "'\n";
     }
 
     // Recurse into each of the regions attached to the operation.