diff --git a/src/backend/utils/mb/Makefile b/src/backend/utils/mb/Makefile
index cd4a016449e..b19a125fa2f 100644
--- a/src/backend/utils/mb/Makefile
+++ b/src/backend/utils/mb/Makefile
@@ -14,10 +14,8 @@ include $(top_builddir)/src/Makefile.global
 
 OBJS = \
 	conv.o \
-	encnames.o \
 	mbutils.o \
 	stringinfo_mb.o \
-	wchar.o \
 	wstrcmp.o \
 	wstrncmp.o
 
diff --git a/src/backend/utils/mb/README b/src/backend/utils/mb/README
index 7495ca5db23..ef366268913 100644
--- a/src/backend/utils/mb/README
+++ b/src/backend/utils/mb/README
@@ -3,12 +3,8 @@ src/backend/utils/mb/README
 Encodings
 =========
 
-encnames.c:	public functions for both the backend and the frontend.
 conv.c:		static functions and a public table for code conversion
-wchar.c:	mostly static functions and a public table for mb string and
-		multibyte conversion
 mbutils.c:	public functions for the backend only.
-		requires conv.c and wchar.c
 stringinfo_mb.c: public backend-only multibyte-aware stringinfo functions
 wstrcmp.c:	strcmp for mb
 wstrncmp.c:	strncmp for mb
@@ -16,6 +12,12 @@ win866.c:	a tool to generate KOI8 <--> CP866 conversion table
 iso.c:		a tool to generate KOI8 <--> ISO8859-5 conversion table
 win1251.c:	a tool to generate KOI8 <--> CP1251 conversion table
 
+See also in src/common/:
+
+encnames.c:	public functions for encoding names
+wchar.c:	mostly static functions and a public table for mb string and
+		multibyte conversion
+
 Introduction
 ------------
 	http://www.cprogramming.com/tutorial/unicode.html
diff --git a/src/bin/initdb/.gitignore b/src/bin/initdb/.gitignore
index 71a899ffb8a..b3167c46e20 100644
--- a/src/bin/initdb/.gitignore
+++ b/src/bin/initdb/.gitignore
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-/encnames.c
 /localtime.c
 
 /initdb
diff --git a/src/bin/initdb/Makefile b/src/bin/initdb/Makefile
index f587a8675db..7e237547808 100644
--- a/src/bin/initdb/Makefile
+++ b/src/bin/initdb/Makefile
@@ -18,7 +18,12 @@ include $(top_builddir)/src/Makefile.global
 
 override CPPFLAGS := -DFRONTEND -I$(libpq_srcdir) -I$(top_srcdir)/src/timezone $(CPPFLAGS)
 
-# note: we need libpq only because fe_utils does
+# Note: it's important that we link to encnames.o from libpgcommon, not
+# from libpq, else we have risks of version skew if we run with a libpq
+# shared library from a different PG version.  The libpq_pgport macro
+# should ensure that that happens.
+#
+# We need libpq only because fe_utils does.
 LDFLAGS_INTERNAL += -L$(top_builddir)/src/fe_utils -lpgfeutils $(libpq_pgport)
 
 # use system timezone data?
@@ -28,7 +33,6 @@ endif
 
 OBJS = \
 	$(WIN32RES) \
-	encnames.o \
 	findtimezone.o \
 	initdb.o \
 	localtime.o
@@ -38,15 +42,7 @@ all: initdb
 initdb: $(OBJS) | submake-libpq submake-libpgport submake-libpgfeutils
 	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(OBJS) $(LDFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS_EX) $(LIBS) -o $@$(X)
 
-# We used to pull in all of libpq to get encnames.c, but that
-# exposes us to risks of version skew if we link to a shared library.
-# Do it the hard way, instead, so that we're statically linked.
-
-encnames.c: % : $(top_srcdir)/src/backend/utils/mb/%
-	rm -f $@ && $(LN_S) $< .
-
-# Likewise, pull in localtime.c from src/timezones
-
+# We must pull in localtime.c from src/timezones
 localtime.c: % : $(top_srcdir)/src/timezone/%
 	rm -f $@ && $(LN_S) $< .
 
@@ -60,7 +56,7 @@ uninstall:
 	rm -f '$(DESTDIR)$(bindir)/initdb$(X)'
 
 clean distclean maintainer-clean:
-	rm -f initdb$(X) $(OBJS) encnames.c localtime.c
+	rm -f initdb$(X) $(OBJS) localtime.c
 	rm -rf tmp_check
 
 # ensure that changes in datadir propagate into object file
diff --git a/src/common/Makefile b/src/common/Makefile
index ffb0f6edffa..5b44340afdd 100644
--- a/src/common/Makefile
+++ b/src/common/Makefile
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ OBJS_COMMON = \
 	config_info.o \
 	controldata_utils.o \
 	d2s.o \
+	encnames.o \
 	exec.o \
 	f2s.o \
 	file_perm.o \
@@ -70,7 +71,8 @@ OBJS_COMMON = \
 	stringinfo.o \
 	unicode_norm.o \
 	username.o \
-	wait_error.o
+	wait_error.o \
+	wchar.o
 
 ifeq ($(with_openssl),yes)
 OBJS_COMMON += sha2_openssl.o
diff --git a/src/backend/utils/mb/encnames.c b/src/common/encnames.c
similarity index 100%
rename from src/backend/utils/mb/encnames.c
rename to src/common/encnames.c
diff --git a/src/common/saslprep.c b/src/common/saslprep.c
index 2a2449e97b4..7739b81807e 100644
--- a/src/common/saslprep.c
+++ b/src/common/saslprep.c
@@ -27,12 +27,6 @@
 
 #include "common/saslprep.h"
 #include "common/unicode_norm.h"
-
-/*
- * Note: The functions in this file depend on functions from
- * src/backend/utils/mb/wchar.c, so in order to use this in frontend
- * code, you will need to link that in, too.
- */
 #include "mb/pg_wchar.h"
 
 /*
diff --git a/src/backend/utils/mb/wchar.c b/src/common/wchar.c
similarity index 100%
rename from src/backend/utils/mb/wchar.c
rename to src/common/wchar.c
diff --git a/src/include/mb/pg_wchar.h b/src/include/mb/pg_wchar.h
index 7fb5fa41117..026f64f90be 100644
--- a/src/include/mb/pg_wchar.h
+++ b/src/include/mb/pg_wchar.h
@@ -222,8 +222,8 @@ typedef unsigned int pg_wchar;
  * PostgreSQL encoding identifiers
  *
  * WARNING: the order of this enum must be same as order of entries
- *			in the pg_enc2name_tbl[] array (in mb/encnames.c), and
- *			in the pg_wchar_table[] array (in mb/wchar.c)!
+ *			in the pg_enc2name_tbl[] array (in src/common/encnames.c), and
+ *			in the pg_wchar_table[] array (in src/common/wchar.c)!
  *
  *			If you add some encoding don't forget to check
  *			PG_ENCODING_BE_LAST macro.
diff --git a/src/interfaces/libpq/.gitignore b/src/interfaces/libpq/.gitignore
index 7b438f37650..a4afe7c1c68 100644
--- a/src/interfaces/libpq/.gitignore
+++ b/src/interfaces/libpq/.gitignore
@@ -1,4 +1 @@
 /exports.list
-# .c files that are symlinked in from elsewhere
-/encnames.c
-/wchar.c
diff --git a/src/interfaces/libpq/Makefile b/src/interfaces/libpq/Makefile
index f5f1c0c08da..a06882651f1 100644
--- a/src/interfaces/libpq/Makefile
+++ b/src/interfaces/libpq/Makefile
@@ -45,11 +45,6 @@ OBJS = \
 	pqexpbuffer.o \
 	fe-auth.o
 
-# src/backend/utils/mb
-OBJS += \
-	encnames.o \
-	wchar.o
-
 ifeq ($(with_openssl),yes)
 OBJS += \
 	fe-secure-common.o \
@@ -102,17 +97,7 @@ include $(top_srcdir)/src/Makefile.shlib
 backend_src = $(top_srcdir)/src/backend
 
 
-# We use a few backend modules verbatim, but since we need
-# to compile with appropriate options to build a shared lib, we can't
-# use the same object files built for the backend.
-# Instead, symlink the source files in here and build our own object files.
-# When you add a file here, remember to add it in the "clean" target below.
-
-encnames.c wchar.c: % : $(backend_src)/utils/mb/%
-	rm -f $@ && $(LN_S) $< .
-
-
-# Make dependencies on pg_config_paths.h visible, too.
+# Make dependencies on pg_config_paths.h visible in all builds.
 fe-connect.o: fe-connect.c $(top_builddir)/src/port/pg_config_paths.h
 fe-misc.o: fe-misc.c $(top_builddir)/src/port/pg_config_paths.h
 
@@ -144,8 +129,6 @@ clean distclean: clean-lib
 	rm -f $(OBJS) pthread.h
 # Might be left over from a Win32 client-only build
 	rm -f pg_config_paths.h
-# Remove files we (may have) symlinked in from other places
-	rm -f encnames.c wchar.c
 
 maintainer-clean: distclean
 	$(MAKE) -C test $@
diff --git a/src/tools/msvc/Mkvcbuild.pm b/src/tools/msvc/Mkvcbuild.pm
index f6ab0d528b1..67b9f238b21 100644
--- a/src/tools/msvc/Mkvcbuild.pm
+++ b/src/tools/msvc/Mkvcbuild.pm
@@ -120,11 +120,12 @@ sub mkvcbuild
 	}
 
 	our @pgcommonallfiles = qw(
-	  base64.c config_info.c controldata_utils.c d2s.c exec.c f2s.c file_perm.c ip.c
+	  base64.c config_info.c controldata_utils.c d2s.c encnames.c exec.c
+	  f2s.c file_perm.c ip.c
 	  keywords.c kwlookup.c link-canary.c md5.c
 	  pg_lzcompress.c pgfnames.c psprintf.c relpath.c rmtree.c
 	  saslprep.c scram-common.c string.c stringinfo.c unicode_norm.c username.c
-	  wait_error.c);
+	  wait_error.c wchar.c);
 
 	if ($solution->{options}->{openssl})
 	{