diff --git a/icu4c/source/common/ustrenum.cpp b/icu4c/source/common/ustrenum.cpp
index dd7fe78a3a2..762bf99d517 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/common/ustrenum.cpp
+++ b/icu4c/source/common/ustrenum.cpp
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 /*
 **********************************************************************
-* Copyright (c) 2002-2012, International Business Machines
+* Copyright (c) 2002-2014, International Business Machines
 * Corporation and others.  All Rights Reserved.
 **********************************************************************
 * Author: Alan Liu
@@ -130,6 +130,22 @@ StringEnumeration::operator!=(const StringEnumeration& that)const {
 
 // UStringEnumeration implementation --------------------------------------- ***
 
+UStringEnumeration * U_EXPORT2
+UStringEnumeration::fromUEnumeration(
+        UEnumeration *uenumToAdopt, UErrorCode &status) {
+    if (U_FAILURE(status)) {
+        uenum_close(uenumToAdopt);
+        return NULL;
+    }
+    UStringEnumeration *result = new UStringEnumeration(uenumToAdopt);
+    if (result == NULL) {
+        status = U_MEMORY_ALLOCATION_ERROR;
+        uenum_close(uenumToAdopt);
+        return NULL;
+    }
+    return result;
+}
+
 UStringEnumeration::UStringEnumeration(UEnumeration* _uenum) :
     uenum(_uenum) {
     U_ASSERT(_uenum != 0);
diff --git a/icu4c/source/common/ustrenum.h b/icu4c/source/common/ustrenum.h
index ffa2c329642..3816dbfb241 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/common/ustrenum.h
+++ b/icu4c/source/common/ustrenum.h
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 /*
 **********************************************************************
-* Copyright (c) 2002-2012, International Business Machines
+* Copyright (c) 2002-2014, International Business Machines
 * Corporation and others.  All Rights Reserved.
 **********************************************************************
 * Author: Alan Liu
@@ -73,6 +73,8 @@ public:
      */
     static UClassID U_EXPORT2 getStaticClassID();
 
+    static UStringEnumeration * U_EXPORT2 fromUEnumeration(
+            UEnumeration *enumToAdopt, UErrorCode &status);
 private:
     UEnumeration *uenum; // owned
 };
diff --git a/icu4c/source/i18n/coll.cpp b/icu4c/source/i18n/coll.cpp
index 21b59f7395f..cb10f23696b 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/i18n/coll.cpp
+++ b/icu4c/source/i18n/coll.cpp
@@ -867,36 +867,22 @@ Collator::getAvailableLocales(void)
     return NULL;
 }
 
-static StringEnumeration *
-newUStringEnumeration(UEnumeration *uenumToAdopt, UErrorCode &status) {
-    if (U_FAILURE(status)) {
-        uenum_close(uenumToAdopt);
-        return NULL;
-    }
-    StringEnumeration *result = new UStringEnumeration(uenumToAdopt);
-    if (result == NULL) {
-        status = U_MEMORY_ALLOCATION_ERROR;
-        uenum_close(uenumToAdopt);
-        return NULL;
-    }
-    return result;
-}
-
 StringEnumeration* U_EXPORT2
 Collator::getKeywords(UErrorCode& status) {
-    return newUStringEnumeration(ucol_getKeywords(&status), status);
+    return UStringEnumeration::fromUEnumeration(
+            ucol_getKeywords(&status), status);
 }
 
 StringEnumeration* U_EXPORT2
 Collator::getKeywordValues(const char *keyword, UErrorCode& status) {
-    return newUStringEnumeration(
+    return UStringEnumeration::fromUEnumeration(
             ucol_getKeywordValues(keyword, &status), status);
 }
 
 StringEnumeration* U_EXPORT2
 Collator::getKeywordValuesForLocale(const char* key, const Locale& locale,
                                     UBool commonlyUsed, UErrorCode& status) {
-    return newUStringEnumeration(
+    return UStringEnumeration::fromUEnumeration(
             ucol_getKeywordValuesForLocale(
                     key, locale.getName(), commonlyUsed, &status),
             status);