diff --git a/Include/internal/pycore_ucnhash.h b/Include/internal/pycore_ucnhash.h
index 187dd68e7347ff..1561dfbb3150d3 100644
--- a/Include/internal/pycore_ucnhash.h
+++ b/Include/internal/pycore_ucnhash.h
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ typedef struct {
 
 } _PyUnicode_Name_CAPI;
 
+extern _PyUnicode_Name_CAPI* _PyUnicode_GetNameCAPI(void);
+
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 }
 #endif
diff --git a/Objects/unicodeobject.c b/Objects/unicodeobject.c
index cffc06297a9aee..da0d755ea9036f 100644
--- a/Objects/unicodeobject.c
+++ b/Objects/unicodeobject.c
@@ -5869,6 +5869,23 @@ PyUnicode_AsUTF16String(PyObject *unicode)
     return _PyUnicode_EncodeUTF16(unicode, NULL, 0);
 }
 
+_PyUnicode_Name_CAPI *
+_PyUnicode_GetNameCAPI(void)
+{
+    PyInterpreterState *interp = _PyInterpreterState_GET();
+    _PyUnicode_Name_CAPI *ucnhash_capi;
+
+    ucnhash_capi = _Py_atomic_load_ptr(&interp->unicode.ucnhash_capi);
+    if (ucnhash_capi == NULL) {
+        ucnhash_capi = (_PyUnicode_Name_CAPI *)PyCapsule_Import(
+                PyUnicodeData_CAPSULE_NAME, 1);
+
+        // It's fine if we overwite the value here. It's always the same value.
+        _Py_atomic_store_ptr(&interp->unicode.ucnhash_capi, ucnhash_capi);
+    }
+    return ucnhash_capi;
+}
+
 /* --- Unicode Escape Codec ----------------------------------------------- */
 
 PyObject *
diff --git a/Python/codecs.c b/Python/codecs.c
index b79bf555f2f22a..da9744f32b51de 100644
--- a/Python/codecs.c
+++ b/Python/codecs.c
@@ -932,8 +932,6 @@ PyObject *PyCodec_BackslashReplaceErrors(PyObject *exc)
     return Py_BuildValue("(Nn)", res, end);
 }
 
-static _PyUnicode_Name_CAPI *ucnhash_capi = NULL;
-
 PyObject *PyCodec_NameReplaceErrors(PyObject *exc)
 {
     if (PyObject_TypeCheck(exc, (PyTypeObject *)PyExc_UnicodeEncodeError)) {
@@ -954,13 +952,13 @@ PyObject *PyCodec_NameReplaceErrors(PyObject *exc)
             return NULL;
         if (!(object = PyUnicodeEncodeError_GetObject(exc)))
             return NULL;
-        if (!ucnhash_capi) {
-            /* load the unicode data module */
-            ucnhash_capi = (_PyUnicode_Name_CAPI *)PyCapsule_Import(
-                                            PyUnicodeData_CAPSULE_NAME, 1);
-            if (!ucnhash_capi) {
-                return NULL;
-            }
+        _PyUnicode_Name_CAPI *ucnhash_capi = _PyUnicode_GetNameCAPI();
+        if (ucnhash_capi == NULL) {
+            PyErr_SetString(
+                    PyExc_UnicodeError,
+                    "\\N escapes not supported (can't load unicodedata module)"
+            );
+            return NULL;
         }
         for (i = start, ressize = 0; i < end; ++i) {
             /* object is guaranteed to be "ready" */