diff --git a/newlib/libc/locale/duplocale.c b/newlib/libc/locale/duplocale.c
index 06ebfcd6e..9f6156cb4 100644
--- a/newlib/libc/locale/duplocale.c
+++ b/newlib/libc/locale/duplocale.c
@@ -64,7 +64,8 @@ _duplocale_r (struct _reent *p, struct __locale_t *locobj)
 	   __loadlocale.  It knows what to do to replicate the category. */
 	tmp_locale.lc_cat[i].ptr = NULL;
 	tmp_locale.lc_cat[i].buf = NULL;
-	if (!__loadlocale (&tmp_locale, i, tmp_locale.categories[i]))
+	tmp_locale.categories[i][0] = '\0';	/* __loadlocale tests this! */
+	if (!__loadlocale (&tmp_locale, i, locobj->categories[i]))
 	  goto error;
       }
 #endif /* __HAVE_LOCALE_INFO__ */
diff --git a/newlib/libc/locale/locale.c b/newlib/libc/locale/locale.c
index 857282105..b5402372c 100644
--- a/newlib/libc/locale/locale.c
+++ b/newlib/libc/locale/locale.c
@@ -498,7 +498,11 @@ __loadlocale (struct __locale_t *loc, int category, const char *new_locale)
   mbtowc_p l_mbtowc;
   int cjknarrow = 0;
 
-  /* Avoid doing everything twice if nothing has changed. */
+  /* Avoid doing everything twice if nothing has changed.
+
+     duplocale relies on this test to go wrong so the locale is actually
+     duplicated when required.  Any change here has to be synced with a
+     matching change in duplocale. */
   if (!strcmp (new_locale, loc->categories[category]))
     return loc->categories[category];