diff --git a/icu4c/source/common/ucnv_bld.c b/icu4c/source/common/ucnv_bld.c
index 8fb78fd47bc..b0cd2981590 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/common/ucnv_bld.c
+++ b/icu4c/source/common/ucnv_bld.c
@@ -160,6 +160,7 @@ static uint16_t gAvailableConverterCount = 0;
 
 static char gDefaultConverterNameBuffer[UCNV_MAX_CONVERTER_NAME_LENGTH + 1]; /* +1 for NULL */
 static const char *gDefaultConverterName = NULL;
+static UBool gDefaultConverterContainsOption;
 
 
 static const char DATA_TYPE[] = "cnv";
@@ -182,6 +183,7 @@ static UBool U_CALLCONV ucnv_cleanup(void) {
 
     gDefaultConverterName = NULL;
     gDefaultConverterNameBuffer[0] = 0;
+    gDefaultConverterContainsOption = FALSE;
 
     umtx_destroy(&cnvCacheMutex);           /* Don't worry about destroying the mutex even  */
                                             /*  if the hash table still exists.  The mutex  */
@@ -658,6 +660,7 @@ ucnv_loadSharedData(const char *converterName, UConverterLookupData *lookup, UEr
     UConverterLookupData stackLookup;
     UConverterSharedData *mySharedConverterData = NULL;
     UErrorCode internalErrorCode = U_ZERO_ERROR;
+    UBool mayContainOption = TRUE;
 
     if (U_FAILURE (*err)) {
         return NULL;
@@ -673,6 +676,7 @@ ucnv_loadSharedData(const char *converterName, UConverterLookupData *lookup, UEr
     /* In case "name" is NULL we want to open the default converter. */
     if (converterName == NULL) {
         lookup->realName = ucnv_getDefaultName();
+        mayContainOption = gDefaultConverterContainsOption;
         if (lookup->realName == NULL) {
             *err = U_MISSING_RESOURCE_ERROR;
             return NULL;
@@ -687,7 +691,7 @@ ucnv_loadSharedData(const char *converterName, UConverterLookupData *lookup, UEr
         }
 
         /* get the canonical converter name */
-        lookup->realName = ucnv_io_getConverterName(lookup->cnvName, &internalErrorCode);
+        lookup->realName = ucnv_io_getConverterName(lookup->cnvName, &mayContainOption, &internalErrorCode);
         if (U_FAILURE(internalErrorCode) || lookup->realName == NULL) {
             /*
             * set the input name in case the converter was added
@@ -698,7 +702,7 @@ ucnv_loadSharedData(const char *converterName, UConverterLookupData *lookup, UEr
     }
 
     /* separate the converter name from the options */
-    if(lookup->realName != lookup->cnvName) {
+    if(mayContainOption && lookup->realName != lookup->cnvName) {
         parseConverterOptions(lookup->realName, lookup->cnvName, lookup->locale, &lookup->options, err);
         lookup->realName = lookup->cnvName;
     }
@@ -1113,6 +1117,7 @@ ucnv_getDefaultName() {
         uprv_memcpy(gDefaultConverterNameBuffer, name, length);
         gDefaultConverterNameBuffer[length]=0;
         gDefaultConverterName = gDefaultConverterNameBuffer;
+        gDefaultConverterContainsOption = (UBool)(uprv_strchr(gDefaultConverterName, UCNV_OPTION_SEP_CHAR) != NULL);
         name = gDefaultConverterName;
         ucln_common_registerCleanup(UCLN_COMMON_UCNV, ucnv_cleanup);
         umtx_unlock(&cnvCacheMutex);
@@ -1133,7 +1138,7 @@ ucnv_setDefaultName(const char *converterName) {
         umtx_unlock(&cnvCacheMutex);
     } else {
         UErrorCode errorCode=U_ZERO_ERROR;
-        const char *name=ucnv_io_getConverterName(converterName, &errorCode);
+        const char *name=ucnv_io_getConverterName(converterName, NULL, &errorCode);
 
         umtx_lock(&cnvCacheMutex);
 
@@ -1147,6 +1152,7 @@ ucnv_setDefaultName(const char *converterName) {
                 uprv_memcpy(gDefaultConverterNameBuffer, converterName, length);
                 gDefaultConverterNameBuffer[length]=0;
                 gDefaultConverterName=gDefaultConverterNameBuffer;
+                gDefaultConverterContainsOption = (UBool)(uprv_strchr(gDefaultConverterName, UCNV_OPTION_SEP_CHAR) != NULL);
             }
         }
         umtx_unlock(&cnvCacheMutex);
diff --git a/icu4c/source/common/ucnv_io.c b/icu4c/source/common/ucnv_io.c
index c8524b719c1..320733ef5e6 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/common/ucnv_io.c
+++ b/icu4c/source/common/ucnv_io.c
@@ -73,6 +73,8 @@
  * index of this list is also used by other sections, like the 4th section.
  * The index for the 3rd and 4th section is used to get the
  * alias -> converter name mapping. Section 3 and 4 form a two column table.
+ * Some of the most significant bits of each index may contain other
+ * information (see findConverter for details).
  *
  * 4) This section contains a list of mapped converter names. Consider this
  * as a table that maps the 3rd section to the 1st section. This list contains
@@ -187,7 +189,8 @@ enum {
 };
 
 static const UConverterAliasOptions defaultTableOptions = {
-    UCNV_IO_UNNORMALIZED
+    UCNV_IO_UNNORMALIZED,
+    0 /* containsCnvOptionInfo */
 };
 static UConverterAlias gMainTable;
 
@@ -435,7 +438,7 @@ ucnv_compareNames(const char *name1, const char *name2) {
  * return the converter number index for gConverterList
  */
 static U_INLINE uint32_t
-findConverter(const char *alias, UErrorCode *pErrorCode) {
+findConverter(const char *alias, UBool *containsOption, UErrorCode *pErrorCode) {
     uint32_t mid, start, limit;
     uint32_t lastMid;
     int result;
@@ -484,6 +487,14 @@ findConverter(const char *alias, UErrorCode *pErrorCode) {
             if (gMainTable.untaggedConvArray[mid] & UCNV_AMBIGUOUS_ALIAS_MAP_BIT) {
                 *pErrorCode = U_AMBIGUOUS_ALIAS_WARNING;
             }
+            /* State whether the canonical converter name contains an option.
+            This information is contained in this list in order to maintain backward & forward compatibility. */
+            if (containsOption) {
+                UBool containsCnvOptionInfo = (UBool)gMainTable.optionTable->containsCnvOptionInfo;
+                *containsOption = (UBool)((containsCnvOptionInfo
+                    && ((gMainTable.untaggedConvArray[mid] & UCNV_CONTAINS_OPTION_BIT) != 0))
+                    || !containsCnvOptionInfo);
+            }
             return gMainTable.untaggedConvArray[mid] & UCNV_CONVERTER_INDEX_MASK;
         }
     }
@@ -528,7 +539,7 @@ findTaggedAliasListsOffset(const char *alias, const char *standard, UErrorCode *
     uint32_t tagNum = getTagNumber(standard);
 
     /* Make a quick guess. Hopefully they used a TR22 canonical alias. */
-    convNum = findConverter(alias, &myErr);
+    convNum = findConverter(alias, NULL, &myErr);
     if (myErr != U_ZERO_ERROR) {
         *pErrorCode = myErr;
     }
@@ -579,7 +590,7 @@ findTaggedConverterNum(const char *alias, const char *standard, UErrorCode *pErr
     uint32_t tagNum = getTagNumber(standard);
 
     /* Make a quick guess. Hopefully they used a TR22 canonical alias. */
-    convNum = findConverter(alias, &myErr);
+    convNum = findConverter(alias, NULL, &myErr);
     if (myErr != U_ZERO_ERROR) {
         *pErrorCode = myErr;
     }
@@ -615,9 +626,9 @@ findTaggedConverterNum(const char *alias, const char *standard, UErrorCode *pErr
 
 
 U_CFUNC const char *
-ucnv_io_getConverterName(const char *alias, UErrorCode *pErrorCode) {
+ucnv_io_getConverterName(const char *alias, UBool *containsOption, UErrorCode *pErrorCode) {
     if(haveAliasData(pErrorCode) && isAlias(alias, pErrorCode)) {
-        uint32_t convNum = findConverter(alias, pErrorCode);
+        uint32_t convNum = findConverter(alias, containsOption, pErrorCode);
         if (convNum < gMainTable.converterListSize) {
             return GET_STRING(gMainTable.converterList[convNum]);
         }
@@ -724,7 +735,7 @@ ucnv_openStandardNames(const char *convName,
 static uint16_t
 ucnv_io_countAliases(const char *alias, UErrorCode *pErrorCode) {
     if(haveAliasData(pErrorCode) && isAlias(alias, pErrorCode)) {
-        uint32_t convNum = findConverter(alias, pErrorCode);
+        uint32_t convNum = findConverter(alias, NULL, pErrorCode);
         if (convNum < gMainTable.converterListSize) {
             /* tagListNum - 1 is the ALL tag */
             int32_t listOffset = gMainTable.taggedAliasArray[(gMainTable.tagListSize - 1)*gMainTable.converterListSize + convNum];
@@ -743,7 +754,7 @@ static uint16_t
 ucnv_io_getAliases(const char *alias, uint16_t start, const char **aliases, UErrorCode *pErrorCode) {
     if(haveAliasData(pErrorCode) && isAlias(alias, pErrorCode)) {
         uint32_t currAlias;
-        uint32_t convNum = findConverter(alias, pErrorCode);
+        uint32_t convNum = findConverter(alias, NULL, pErrorCode);
         if (convNum < gMainTable.converterListSize) {
             /* tagListNum - 1 is the ALL tag */
             int32_t listOffset = gMainTable.taggedAliasArray[(gMainTable.tagListSize - 1)*gMainTable.converterListSize + convNum];
@@ -767,7 +778,7 @@ ucnv_io_getAliases(const char *alias, uint16_t start, const char **aliases, UErr
 static const char *
 ucnv_io_getAlias(const char *alias, uint16_t n, UErrorCode *pErrorCode) {
     if(haveAliasData(pErrorCode) && isAlias(alias, pErrorCode)) {
-        uint32_t convNum = findConverter(alias, pErrorCode);
+        uint32_t convNum = findConverter(alias, NULL, pErrorCode);
         if (convNum < gMainTable.converterListSize) {
             /* tagListNum - 1 is the ALL tag */
             int32_t listOffset = gMainTable.taggedAliasArray[(gMainTable.tagListSize - 1)*gMainTable.converterListSize + convNum];
diff --git a/icu4c/source/common/ucnv_io.h b/icu4c/source/common/ucnv_io.h
index 49e6eba854c..c45f904745d 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/common/ucnv_io.h
+++ b/icu4c/source/common/ucnv_io.h
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 #include "udataswp.h"
 
 #define UCNV_AMBIGUOUS_ALIAS_MAP_BIT 0x8000
+#define UCNV_CONTAINS_OPTION_BIT 0x4000
 #define UCNV_CONVERTER_INDEX_MASK 0xFFF
 #define UCNV_NUM_RESERVED_TAGS 2
 #define UCNV_NUM_HIDDEN_TAGS 1
@@ -32,6 +33,7 @@ typedef enum {
 
 typedef struct {
     uint16_t stringNormalizationType;
+    uint16_t containsCnvOptionInfo;
 } UConverterAliasOptions;
 
 typedef struct UConverterAlias {
@@ -85,11 +87,12 @@ ucnv_io_stripEBCDICForCompare(char *dst, const char *name);
  * is returned in mixed-case.
  * Returns NULL if the alias is not found.
  * @param alias The alias name to be searched.
+ * @param containsOption A return value stating whether the returned converter name contains an option (a comma)
  * @param pErrorCode The error code
  * @return the converter name in mixed-case, return NULL if the alias is not found.
  */
 U_CFUNC const char *
-ucnv_io_getConverterName(const char *alias, UErrorCode *pErrorCode);
+ucnv_io_getConverterName(const char *alias, UBool *containsOption, UErrorCode *pErrorCode);
 
 /**
  * Return the number of all aliases and converter names.
diff --git a/icu4c/source/tools/gencnval/gencnval.c b/icu4c/source/tools/gencnval/gencnval.c
index a56d7ef4ba1..dddd3ade1b6 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/tools/gencnval/gencnval.c
+++ b/icu4c/source/tools/gencnval/gencnval.c
@@ -138,7 +138,8 @@ static UBool verbose = FALSE;
 static int lineNum = 1;
 
 static UConverterAliasOptions tableOptions = {
-    UCNV_IO_UNNORMALIZED
+    UCNV_IO_UNNORMALIZED,
+    1 /* containsCnvOptionInfo */
 };
 
 /* prototypes --------------------------------------------------------------- */
@@ -880,6 +881,9 @@ resolveAliases(uint16_t *uniqueAliasArr, uint16_t *uniqueAliasToConverterArr, ui
             oldTagNum = currTagNum;
             /*printf("%s -> %s\n", GET_ALIAS_STR(knownAliases[idx]), GET_ALIAS_STR(converters[currConvNum].converter));*/
         }
+        if (uprv_strchr(GET_ALIAS_STR(converters[currConvNum].converter), UCNV_OPTION_SEP_CHAR) != NULL) {
+            uniqueAliasToConverterArr[uniqueAliasIdx-1] |= UCNV_CONTAINS_OPTION_BIT;
+        }
     }
     return uniqueAliasIdx;
 }