diff --git a/Include/namespaceobject.h b/Include/namespaceobject.h
--- a/Include/namespaceobject.h
+++ b/Include/namespaceobject.h
@@ -7,9 +7,9 @@
 extern "C" {
 #endif
 
-PyAPI_DATA(PyTypeObject) _PyNamespace_Type;
+PyTypeObject _PyNamespace_Type;
 
-PyAPI_FUNC(PyObject *) _PyNamespace_New(PyObject *kwds);
+PyAPI_FUNC(PyObject *) PyNamespace_New(PyObject *kwds);
 
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 }
diff --git a/Objects/namespaceobject.c b/Objects/namespaceobject.c
--- a/Objects/namespaceobject.c
+++ b/Objects/namespaceobject.c
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@
 
 
 PyObject *
-_PyNamespace_New(PyObject *kwds)
+PyNamespace_New(PyObject *kwds)
 {
     PyObject *ns = namespace_new(&_PyNamespace_Type, NULL, NULL);
     if (ns == NULL)
diff --git a/Python/sysmodule.c b/Python/sysmodule.c
--- a/Python/sysmodule.c
+++ b/Python/sysmodule.c
@@ -1509,7 +1509,7 @@
 
     /* dict ready */
 
-    ns = _PyNamespace_New(impl_info);
+    ns = PyNamespace_New(impl_info);
     Py_DECREF(impl_info);
     return ns;