diff --git a/spring-context/src/main/java/org/springframework/context/aot/ApplicationContextAotGenerator.java b/spring-context/src/main/java/org/springframework/context/aot/ApplicationContextAotGenerator.java
index c958d1bc53..1ea201fe16 100644
--- a/spring-context/src/main/java/org/springframework/context/aot/ApplicationContextAotGenerator.java
+++ b/spring-context/src/main/java/org/springframework/context/aot/ApplicationContextAotGenerator.java
@@ -36,14 +36,15 @@ import org.springframework.javapoet.ClassName;
 public class ApplicationContextAotGenerator {
 
 	/**
-	 * Refresh the specified {@link GenericApplicationContext} and generate the
-	 * necessary code to restore the state of its {@link BeanFactory}, using the
-	 * specified {@link GenerationContext}.
-	 * @param applicationContext the application context to handle
+	 * Process the specified {@link GenericApplicationContext} instance
+	 * ahead-of-time using the specified {@link GenerationContext}.
+	 * <p>Return the {@link ClassName} of the {@link ApplicationContextInitializer}
+	 * to use to restore an optimized state of the application context.
+	 * @param applicationContext the non-refreshed application context to handle
 	 * @param generationContext the generation context to use
 	 * @return the class name of the {@link ApplicationContextInitializer} entry point
 	 */
-	public ClassName generateApplicationContext(GenericApplicationContext applicationContext,
+	public ClassName processAheadOfTime(GenericApplicationContext applicationContext,
 			GenerationContext generationContext) {
 		applicationContext.refreshForAotProcessing();
 		DefaultListableBeanFactory beanFactory = applicationContext.getDefaultListableBeanFactory();
diff --git a/spring-context/src/test/java/org/springframework/context/aot/ApplicationContextAotGeneratorTests.java b/spring-context/src/test/java/org/springframework/context/aot/ApplicationContextAotGeneratorTests.java
index c0ad60c927..0d78e6d4c0 100644
--- a/spring-context/src/test/java/org/springframework/context/aot/ApplicationContextAotGeneratorTests.java
+++ b/spring-context/src/test/java/org/springframework/context/aot/ApplicationContextAotGeneratorTests.java
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ class ApplicationContextAotGeneratorTests {
 			BiConsumer<ApplicationContextInitializer<GenericApplicationContext>, Compiled> result) {
 		ApplicationContextAotGenerator generator = new ApplicationContextAotGenerator();
 		TestGenerationContext generationContext = new TestGenerationContext();
-		generator.generateApplicationContext(applicationContext, generationContext);
+		generator.processAheadOfTime(applicationContext, generationContext);
 		generationContext.writeGeneratedContent();
 		TestCompiler.forSystem().withFiles(generationContext.getGeneratedFiles()).compile(compiled ->
 				result.accept(compiled.getInstance(ApplicationContextInitializer.class), compiled));
diff --git a/spring-context/src/test/java/org/springframework/context/aot/RuntimeHintsBeanFactoryInitializationAotProcessorTests.java b/spring-context/src/test/java/org/springframework/context/aot/RuntimeHintsBeanFactoryInitializationAotProcessorTests.java
index 16dd7185fb..7836ee6b13 100644
--- a/spring-context/src/test/java/org/springframework/context/aot/RuntimeHintsBeanFactoryInitializationAotProcessorTests.java
+++ b/spring-context/src/test/java/org/springframework/context/aot/RuntimeHintsBeanFactoryInitializationAotProcessorTests.java
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ class RuntimeHintsBeanFactoryInitializationAotProcessorTests {
 	void shouldProcessRegistrarOnConfiguration() {
 		GenericApplicationContext applicationContext = createApplicationContext(
 				ConfigurationWithHints.class);
-		this.generator.generateApplicationContext(applicationContext,
+		this.generator.processAheadOfTime(applicationContext,
 				this.generationContext);
 		assertThatSampleRegistrarContributed();
 	}
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ class RuntimeHintsBeanFactoryInitializationAotProcessorTests {
 	void shouldProcessRegistrarOnBeanMethod() {
 		GenericApplicationContext applicationContext = createApplicationContext(
 				ConfigurationWithBeanDeclaringHints.class);
-		this.generator.generateApplicationContext(applicationContext,
+		this.generator.processAheadOfTime(applicationContext,
 				this.generationContext);
 		assertThatSampleRegistrarContributed();
 	}
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ class RuntimeHintsBeanFactoryInitializationAotProcessorTests {
 		GenericApplicationContext applicationContext = createApplicationContext();
 		applicationContext.setClassLoader(
 				new TestSpringFactoriesClassLoader("test-runtime-hints-aot.factories"));
-		this.generator.generateApplicationContext(applicationContext,
+		this.generator.processAheadOfTime(applicationContext,
 				this.generationContext);
 		assertThatSampleRegistrarContributed();
 	}
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ class RuntimeHintsBeanFactoryInitializationAotProcessorTests {
 		applicationContext.setClassLoader(
 				new TestSpringFactoriesClassLoader("test-duplicated-runtime-hints-aot.factories"));
 		IncrementalRuntimeHintsRegistrar.counter.set(0);
-		this.generator.generateApplicationContext(applicationContext,
+		this.generator.processAheadOfTime(applicationContext,
 				this.generationContext);
 		RuntimeHints runtimeHints = this.generationContext.getRuntimeHints();
 		assertThat(runtimeHints.resources().resourceBundles().map(ResourceBundleHint::getBaseName))
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ class RuntimeHintsBeanFactoryInitializationAotProcessorTests {
 	void shouldRejectRuntimeHintsRegistrarWithoutDefaultConstructor() {
 		GenericApplicationContext applicationContext = createApplicationContext(
 				ConfigurationWithIllegalRegistrar.class);
-		assertThatThrownBy(() -> this.generator.generateApplicationContext(
+		assertThatThrownBy(() -> this.generator.processAheadOfTime(
 				applicationContext, this.generationContext))
 				.isInstanceOf(BeanInstantiationException.class);
 	}
diff --git a/spring-context/src/test/java/org/springframework/context/generator/ApplicationContextAotGeneratorRuntimeHintsTests.java b/spring-context/src/test/java/org/springframework/context/generator/ApplicationContextAotGeneratorRuntimeHintsTests.java
index e448914bfa..c9056d0e92 100644
--- a/spring-context/src/test/java/org/springframework/context/generator/ApplicationContextAotGeneratorRuntimeHintsTests.java
+++ b/spring-context/src/test/java/org/springframework/context/generator/ApplicationContextAotGeneratorRuntimeHintsTests.java
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ class ApplicationContextAotGeneratorRuntimeHintsTests {
 	private void compile(GenericApplicationContext applicationContext, BiConsumer<RuntimeHints, RuntimeHintsInvocations> initializationResult) {
 		ApplicationContextAotGenerator generator = new ApplicationContextAotGenerator();
 		TestGenerationContext generationContext = new TestGenerationContext();
-		generator.generateApplicationContext(applicationContext, generationContext);
+		generator.processAheadOfTime(applicationContext, generationContext);
 		generationContext.writeGeneratedContent();
 		TestCompiler.forSystem().withFiles(generationContext.getGeneratedFiles()).compile(compiled -> {
 			ApplicationContextInitializer instance = compiled.getInstance(ApplicationContextInitializer.class);