diff --git a/lib/com_err/parse.y b/lib/com_err/parse.y
index b5cd13aba..718e30712 100644
--- a/lib/com_err/parse.y
+++ b/lib/com_err/parse.y
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ static long
 name2number(const char *str)
 {
     const char *p;
-    long base = 0;
+    long num = 0;
     const char *x = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"
 	"abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789_";
     if(strlen(str) > 4) {
@@ -158,12 +158,12 @@ name2number(const char *str)
 	    yyerror("invalid character in table name");
 	    return 0;
 	}
-	base = (base << 6) + (q - x) + 1;
+	num = (num << 6) + (q - x) + 1;
     }
-    base <<= 8;
-    if(base > 0x7fffffff)
-	base = -(0xffffffff - base + 1);
-    return base;
+    num <<= 8;
+    if(num > 0x7fffffff)
+	num = -(0xffffffff - num + 1);
+    return num;
 }
 
 void