diff --git a/src/lib/ares_init.c b/src/lib/ares_init.c
index 738fc2aa..51668a5c 100644
--- a/src/lib/ares_init.c
+++ b/src/lib/ares_init.c
@@ -233,7 +233,7 @@ done:
       if (channel->servers)
         ares_free(channel->servers);
       if (channel->ndomains != -1)
-        ares_strsplit_free(channel->domains, channel->ndomains);
+        ares__strsplit_free(channel->domains, channel->ndomains);
       if (channel->sortlist)
         ares_free(channel->sortlist);
       if(channel->lookups)
@@ -1995,12 +1995,12 @@ static int set_search(ares_channel channel, const char *str)
   if(channel->ndomains != -1) {
     /* LCOV_EXCL_START: all callers check ndomains == -1 */
     /* if we already have some domains present, free them first */
-    ares_strsplit_free(channel->domains, channel->ndomains);
+    ares__strsplit_free(channel->domains, channel->ndomains);
     channel->domains = NULL;
     channel->ndomains = -1;
   } /* LCOV_EXCL_STOP */
 
-  channel->domains  = ares_strsplit(str, ", ", &cnt);
+  channel->domains  = ares__strsplit(str, ", ", &cnt);
   channel->ndomains = (int)cnt;
   if (channel->domains == NULL || channel->ndomains == 0) {
     channel->domains  = NULL;
diff --git a/src/lib/ares_private.h b/src/lib/ares_private.h
index 53043a65..d38e52e7 100644
--- a/src/lib/ares_private.h
+++ b/src/lib/ares_private.h
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ W32_FUNC const char *_w32_GetHostsFile (void);
 #endif
 
 #include "ares_strdup.h"
-#include "ares_strsplit.h"
+#include "ares__strsplit.h"
 
 #ifndef HAVE_STRCASECMP
 #  include "ares_strcasecmp.h"
diff --git a/src/lib/ares_strsplit.c b/src/lib/ares_strsplit.c
index db1f66a4..fa51f66f 100644
--- a/src/lib/ares_strsplit.c
+++ b/src/lib/ares_strsplit.c
@@ -18,11 +18,11 @@
 #endif
 
 #include "ares_setup.h"
-#include "ares_strsplit.h"
+#include "ares__strsplit.h"
 #include "ares.h"
 #include "ares_private.h"
 
-void ares_strsplit_free(char **elms, size_t num_elm)
+void ares__strsplit_free(char **elms, size_t num_elm)
 {
   size_t i;
 
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ void ares_strsplit_free(char **elms, size_t num_elm)
   ares_free(elms);
 }
 
-char **ares_strsplit(const char *in, const char *delms, size_t *num_elm) {
+char **ares__strsplit(const char *in, const char *delms, size_t *num_elm) {
   const char *p;
   char **table;
   void *tmp;
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ char **ares_strsplit(const char *in, const char *delms, size_t *num_elm) {
         /* copy unique strings only */
         table[j] = ares_malloc(i + 1);
         if (table[j] == NULL) {
-          ares_strsplit_free(table, j);
+          ares__strsplit_free(table, j);
           return NULL;
         }
         strncpy(table[j], p, i);
diff --git a/src/lib/ares_strsplit.h b/src/lib/ares_strsplit.h
index 96a2b1f1..009ee51b 100644
--- a/src/lib/ares_strsplit.h
+++ b/src/lib/ares_strsplit.h
@@ -32,10 +32,10 @@
  * returns an allocated array of allocated string elements.
  *
  */
-char **ares_strsplit(const char *in, const char *delms, size_t *num_elm);
+char **ares__strsplit(const char *in, const char *delms, size_t *num_elm);
 
-/* Frees the result returned from ares_strsplit(). */
-void ares_strsplit_free(char **elms, size_t num_elm);
+/* Frees the result returned from ares__strsplit(). */
+void ares__strsplit_free(char **elms, size_t num_elm);
 
 
 #endif /* HEADER_CARES_STRSPLIT_H */
diff --git a/test/ares-test-internal.cc b/test/ares-test-internal.cc
index 465ff1bb..60989457 100644
--- a/test/ares-test-internal.cc
+++ b/test/ares-test-internal.cc
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ extern "C" {
 #include "ares_nowarn.h"
 #include "ares_inet_net_pton.h"
 #include "ares_data.h"
-#include "ares_strsplit.h"
+#include "ares__strsplit.h"
 #include "ares_private.h"
 #include "bitncmp.h"
 
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ TEST_F(LibraryTest, Strsplit) {
     },
   };
   for(size_t i = 0; i < data.inputs.size(); i++) {
-    char **out = ares_strsplit(data.inputs.at(i).c_str(),
+    char **out = ares__strsplit(data.inputs.at(i).c_str(),
                                data.delimiters.at(i).c_str(), &n);
     if(data.expected.at(i).size() == 0) {
       EXPECT_EQ(out, nullptr);
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ TEST_F(LibraryTest, Strsplit) {
         EXPECT_STREQ(out[j], data.expected.at(i).at(j).c_str());
       }
     }
-    ares_strsplit_free(out, n);
+    ares__strsplit_free(out, n);
   }
 }
 #endif