diff --git a/dlls/kernel32/locale.c b/dlls/kernel32/locale.c
index a465ba6e298..e5e32d3cb54 100644
--- a/dlls/kernel32/locale.c
+++ b/dlls/kernel32/locale.c
@@ -1182,32 +1182,12 @@ BOOL WINAPI GetUserPreferredUILanguages( DWORD flags, ULONG *count, WCHAR *buffe
  */
 LCID WINAPI LocaleNameToLCID( LPCWSTR name, DWORD flags )
 {
-    struct locale_name locale_name;
-    static int once;
+    LCID lcid;
 
-    if (flags && !once++)
-        FIXME( "unsupported flags %x\n", flags );
-
-    if (name == LOCALE_NAME_USER_DEFAULT)
-        return GetUserDefaultLCID();
-
-    /* string parsing */
-    parse_locale_name( name, &locale_name );
-
-    TRACE( "found lcid %x for %s, matches %d\n",
-           locale_name.lcid, debugstr_w(name), locale_name.matches );
-
-    if (!locale_name.matches)
-    {
-        SetLastError(ERROR_INVALID_PARAMETER);
-        return 0;
-    }
-
-    if (locale_name.matches == 1)
-        WARN( "locale %s not recognized, defaulting to %s\n",
-              debugstr_w(name), debugstr_w(locale_name.lang) );
-
-    return locale_name.lcid;
+    if (!name) return GetUserDefaultLCID();
+    if (!set_ntstatus( RtlLocaleNameToLcid( name, &lcid, 2 ))) return 0;
+    if (!(flags & LOCALE_ALLOW_NEUTRAL_NAMES)) lcid = ConvertDefaultLocale( lcid );
+    return lcid;
 }
 
 
@@ -2570,18 +2550,9 @@ BOOL WINAPI IsValidLocale( LCID lcid, DWORD flags )
  */
 BOOL WINAPI IsValidLocaleName( LPCWSTR locale )
 {
-    struct locale_name locale_name;
+    LCID lcid;
 
-    if (!locale)
-        return FALSE;
-
-    /* string parsing */
-    parse_locale_name( locale, &locale_name );
-
-    TRACE( "found lcid %x for %s, matches %d\n",
-           locale_name.lcid, debugstr_w(locale), locale_name.matches );
-
-    return locale_name.matches > 0;
+    return !RtlLocaleNameToLcid( locale, &lcid, 2 );
 }
 
 /******************************************************************************
diff --git a/dlls/kernel32/tests/locale.c b/dlls/kernel32/tests/locale.c
index b87f99c1c2a..9a136934433 100644
--- a/dlls/kernel32/tests/locale.c
+++ b/dlls/kernel32/tests/locale.c
@@ -2856,6 +2856,9 @@ static void test_LocaleNameToLCID(void)
     ok(lcid == MAKELCID(MAKELANGID(LANG_SPANISH, SUBLANG_SPANISH_MODERN), SORT_DEFAULT), "Got wrong lcid for es-es: 0x%x\n", lcid);
 
     /* english neutral name */
+    lcid = pLocaleNameToLCID(enW, LOCALE_ALLOW_NEUTRAL_NAMES);
+    ok(lcid == MAKELCID(MAKELANGID(LANG_ENGLISH, SUBLANG_NEUTRAL), SORT_DEFAULT) ||
+       broken(lcid == 0) /* Vista */, "got 0x%04x\n", lcid);
     lcid = pLocaleNameToLCID(enW, 0);
     ok(lcid == MAKELCID(MAKELANGID(LANG_ENGLISH, SUBLANG_ENGLISH_US), SORT_DEFAULT) ||
        broken(lcid == 0) /* Vista */, "got 0x%04x\n", lcid);
@@ -2871,6 +2874,7 @@ static void test_LocaleNameToLCID(void)
             *buffer = 0;
             ret = pLCIDToLocaleName(lcid, buffer, ARRAY_SIZE(buffer), 0);
             ok(ret > 0, "%s: got %d\n", wine_dbgstr_w(ptr->name), ret);
+            todo_wine_if (ptr->todo)
             ok(!lstrcmpW(ptr->sname, buffer), "%s: got wrong locale name %s\n",
                 wine_dbgstr_w(ptr->name), wine_dbgstr_w(buffer));
 
@@ -4740,6 +4744,7 @@ static void test_GetLocaleInfoEx(void)
 static void test_IsValidLocaleName(void)
 {
     static const WCHAR enusW[] = {'e','n','-','U','S',0};
+    static const WCHAR enW[] = {'e','n',0};
     static const WCHAR zzW[] = {'z','z',0};
     static const WCHAR zz_zzW[] = {'z','z','-','Z','Z',0};
     static const WCHAR zzzzW[] = {'z','z','z','z',0};
@@ -4753,6 +4758,8 @@ static void test_IsValidLocaleName(void)
 
     ret = pIsValidLocaleName(enusW);
     ok(ret, "IsValidLocaleName failed\n");
+    ret = pIsValidLocaleName(enW);
+    ok(ret || broken(!ret), "IsValidLocaleName failed\n");
     ret = pIsValidLocaleName(zzW);
     ok(!ret || broken(ret), "IsValidLocaleName should have failed\n");
     ret = pIsValidLocaleName(zz_zzW);