diff --git a/icu4c/source/config/mh-linux-va b/icu4c/source/config/mh-linux-va
index 6d954c276d1..f04d4701d5b 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/config/mh-linux-va
+++ b/icu4c/source/config/mh-linux-va
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ## -*-makefile-*-
 ## Linux-specific setup for Visual Age
-## Copyright (c) 2003-2004, International Business Machines Corporation and
+## Copyright (c) 2003-2005, International Business Machines Corporation and
 ## others. All Rights Reserved.
 
 ## Commands to generate dependency files
@@ -27,7 +27,11 @@ THREADSCPPFLAGS = -D_REENTRANT
 LD_RPATH=	-I	
 #LD_RPATH_PRE = -Wl,-rpath,
 
-#LD_SONAME =
+## Compiler switch to embed a library name
+# The initial tab in the next line is to prevent icu-config from reading it.
+	LD_SONAME = -Wl,-soname -Wl,$(notdir $(MIDDLE_SO_TARGET))
+#SH# # We can't depend on MIDDLE_SO_TARGET being set.
+#SH# LD_SONAME=
 
 ## The type of assembly needed when pkgdata is used for generating shared libraries.
 GENCCODE_ASSEMBLY=-a gcc