diff --git a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/loader/BasicLoader.java b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/loader/BasicLoader.java
index 537c6600d0..7c8d04edcc 100644
--- a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/loader/BasicLoader.java
+++ b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/loader/BasicLoader.java
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ public abstract class BasicLoader extends Loader {
 
 		String[] suffixes = new String[length];
 		for ( int i = 0; i < length; i++ ) {
-			suffixes[i] = (Integer.toString( i + seed ) + "_").intern();
+			suffixes[i] = Integer.toString( i + seed ) + '_';
 		}
 		return suffixes;
 	}
diff --git a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/loader/hql/QueryLoader.java b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/loader/hql/QueryLoader.java
index efd17211a3..2a18ab50c5 100644
--- a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/loader/hql/QueryLoader.java
+++ b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/loader/hql/QueryLoader.java
@@ -160,7 +160,7 @@ public class QueryLoader extends BasicLoader {
 			entityAliases[i] = element.getClassAlias();
 			sqlAliasByEntityAlias.put( entityAliases[i], sqlAliases[i] );
 			// TODO should we just collect these like with the collections above?
-			sqlAliasSuffixes[i] = ( size == 1 ) ? "" : (Integer.toString( i ) + "_").intern();
+			sqlAliasSuffixes[i] = ( size == 1 ) ? "" : (Integer.toString( i ) + '_');
 //			sqlAliasSuffixes[i] = element.getColumnAliasSuffix();
 			includeInSelect[i] = !element.isFetch();
 			if ( includeInSelect[i] ) {