diff --git a/Lib/test/test_ucn.py b/Lib/test/test_ucn.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_ucn.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_ucn.py
@@ -98,13 +98,11 @@
 
     def test_bmp_characters(self):
         import unicodedata
-        count = 0
         for code in range(0x10000):
             char = chr(code)
             name = unicodedata.name(char, None)
             if name is not None:
                 self.assertEqual(unicodedata.lookup(name), char)
-                count += 1
 
     def test_misc_symbols(self):
         self.checkletter("PILCROW SIGN", "\u00b6")
@@ -112,6 +110,31 @@
         self.checkletter("HALFWIDTH KATAKANA SEMI-VOICED SOUND MARK", "\uFF9F")
         self.checkletter("FULLWIDTH LATIN SMALL LETTER A", "\uFF41")
 
+    def test_aliases(self):
+        import unicodedata
+        # check that the aliases defined in the NameAliases.txt file work.
+        # This should be updated when new aliases are added or the file
+        # should be downloaded and parsed instead
+        aliases = [
+            ('LATIN CAPITAL LETTER GHA', 0x01A2),
+            ('LATIN SMALL LETTER GHA', 0x01A3),
+            ('KANNADA LETTER LLLA', 0x0CDE),
+            ('LAO LETTER FO FON', 0x0E9D),
+            ('LAO LETTER FO FAY', 0x0E9F),
+            ('LAO LETTER RO', 0x0EA3),
+            ('LAO LETTER LO', 0x0EA5),
+            ('TIBETAN MARK BKA- SHOG GI MGO RGYAN', 0x0FD0),
+            ('YI SYLLABLE ITERATION MARK', 0xA015),
+            ('PRESENTATION FORM FOR VERTICAL RIGHT WHITE LENTICULAR BRACKET', 0xFE18),
+            ('BYZANTINE MUSICAL SYMBOL FTHORA SKLIRON CHROMA VASIS', 0x1D0C5)
+        ]
+        for alias, codepoint in aliases:
+            self.checkletter(alias, chr(codepoint))
+            name = unicodedata.name(chr(codepoint))
+            self.assertNotEqual(alias, name)
+            self.assertEqual(unicodedata.lookup(alias),
+                             unicodedata.lookup(name))
+
     def test_errors(self):
         import unicodedata
         self.assertRaises(TypeError, unicodedata.name)
diff --git a/Modules/unicodedata.c b/Modules/unicodedata.c
--- a/Modules/unicodedata.c
+++ b/Modules/unicodedata.c
@@ -1054,7 +1054,7 @@
 static int
 _getcode(PyObject* self, const char* name, int namelen, Py_UCS4* code)
 {
-    unsigned int h, v;
+    unsigned int h, v, k;
     unsigned int mask = code_size-1;
     unsigned int i, incr;
 
@@ -1100,6 +1100,17 @@
         return 1;
     }
 
+    // check for aliases defined in NameAliases.txt
+    for (k=0; k<aliases_count; k++) {
+        // name might not be nul-terminated, so it's necessary to check
+        // that the len of the two names is the same before comparing them
+        if ((name_aliases[k].namelen == namelen) &&
+            (strncmp(name, name_aliases[k].name, namelen) == 0)) {
+            *code = name_aliases[k].codepoint;
+            return 1;
+        }
+    }
+
     /* the following is the same as python's dictionary lookup, with
        only minor changes.  see the makeunicodedata script for more
        details */
diff --git a/Modules/unicodename_db.h b/Modules/unicodename_db.h
--- a/Modules/unicodename_db.h
+++ b/Modules/unicodename_db.h
@@ -18811,3 +18811,24 @@
 #define code_magic 47
 #define code_size 32768
 #define code_poly 32771
+
+typedef struct Alias {
+    char *name;
+    int namelen;
+    int codepoint;
+} alias;
+
+int aliases_count = 11;
+alias name_aliases[] = {
+    {"LATIN CAPITAL LETTER GHA", 24, 0x01A2},
+    {"LATIN SMALL LETTER GHA", 22, 0x01A3},
+    {"KANNADA LETTER LLLA", 19, 0x0CDE},
+    {"LAO LETTER FO FON", 17, 0x0E9D},
+    {"LAO LETTER FO FAY", 17, 0x0E9F},
+    {"LAO LETTER RO", 13, 0x0EA3},
+    {"LAO LETTER LO", 13, 0x0EA5},
+    {"TIBETAN MARK BKA- SHOG GI MGO RGYAN", 35, 0x0FD0},
+    {"YI SYLLABLE ITERATION MARK", 26, 0xA015},
+    {"PRESENTATION FORM FOR VERTICAL RIGHT WHITE LENTICULAR BRACKET", 61, 0xFE18},
+    {"BYZANTINE MUSICAL SYMBOL FTHORA SKLIRON CHROMA VASIS", 52, 0x1D0C5},
+};
diff --git a/Tools/unicode/makeunicodedata.py b/Tools/unicode/makeunicodedata.py
--- a/Tools/unicode/makeunicodedata.py
+++ b/Tools/unicode/makeunicodedata.py
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@
 DERIVED_CORE_PROPERTIES = "DerivedCoreProperties%s.txt"
 DERIVEDNORMALIZATION_PROPS = "DerivedNormalizationProps%s.txt"
 LINE_BREAK = "LineBreak%s.txt"
+NAME_ALIASES = "NameAliases%s.txt"
 
 old_versions = ["3.2.0"]
 
@@ -692,6 +693,21 @@
     print("/* name->code dictionary */", file=fp)
     codehash.dump(fp, trace)
 
+    print("""
+typedef struct Alias {
+    char *name;
+    int namelen;
+    int codepoint;
+} alias;
+""", file=fp)
+
+    print('int aliases_count = %d;' % len(unicode.aliases), file=fp)
+
+    print('alias name_aliases[] = {', file=fp)
+    for name, codepoint in unicode.aliases:
+        print('    {"%s", %d, 0x%04X},' % (name, len(name), codepoint), file=fp)
+    print('};', file=fp)
+
     fp.close()
 
 
@@ -855,6 +871,16 @@
         self.table = table
         self.chars = list(range(0x110000)) # unicode 3.2
 
+        self.aliases = []
+        with open_data(NAME_ALIASES, version) as file:
+            for s in file:
+                s = s.strip()
+                if not s or s.startswith('#'):
+                    continue
+                char, name = s.split(';')
+                char = int(char, 16)
+                self.aliases.append((name, char))
+
         self.exclusions = {}
         with open_data(COMPOSITION_EXCLUSIONS, version) as file:
             for s in file: