diff --git a/src/locale/newlocale.c b/src/locale/newlocale.c
index 8fb006a7..68574605 100644
--- a/src/locale/newlocale.c
+++ b/src/locale/newlocale.c
@@ -9,37 +9,28 @@ int __loc_is_allocated(locale_t loc)
 
 locale_t __newlocale(int mask, const char *name, locale_t loc)
 {
-	int i, j;
 	struct __locale_struct tmp;
-	const struct __locale_map *lm;
+
+	for (int i=0; i<LC_ALL; i++) {
+		tmp.cat[i] = (!(mask & (1<<i)) && loc) ? loc->cat[i] :
+			__get_locale(i, (mask & (1<<i)) ? name : "");
+		if (tmp.cat[i] == LOC_MAP_FAILED)
+			return 0;
+	}
 
 	/* For locales with allocated storage, modify in-place. */
 	if (__loc_is_allocated(loc)) {
-		for (i=0; i<LC_ALL; i++)
-			if (mask & (1<<i))
-				loc->cat[i] = __get_locale(i, name);
+		*loc = tmp;
 		return loc;
 	}
 
-	/* Otherwise, build a temporary locale object, which will only
-	 * be instantiated in allocated storage if it does not match
-	 * one of the built-in static locales. This makes the common
-	 * usage case for newlocale, getting a C locale with predictable
-	 * behavior, very fast, and more importantly, fail-safe. */
-	for (j=i=0; i<LC_ALL; i++) {
-		if (loc && !(mask & (1<<i)))
-			lm = loc->cat[i];
-		else
-			lm = __get_locale(i, mask & (1<<i) ? name : "");
-		if (lm) j++;
-		tmp.cat[i] = lm;
-	}
-
-	if (!j)
-		return C_LOCALE;
-	if (j==1 && tmp.cat[LC_CTYPE]==&__c_dot_utf8)
-		return UTF8_LOCALE;
+	/* Otherwise, first see if we can use one of the builtin locales.
+	 * This makes the common usage case for newlocale, getting a C locale
+	 * with predictable behavior, very fast, and more importantly, fail-safe. */
+	if (!memcmp(&tmp, C_LOCALE, sizeof tmp)) return C_LOCALE;
+	if (!memcmp(&tmp, UTF8_LOCALE, sizeof tmp)) return UTF8_LOCALE;
 
+	/* If no builtin locale matched, attempt to allocate and copy. */
 	if ((loc = malloc(sizeof *loc))) *loc = tmp;
 
 	return loc;