diff --git a/Doc/whatsnew/3.3.rst b/Doc/whatsnew/3.3.rst
index 8cabab6..20e2914 100644
--- a/Doc/whatsnew/3.3.rst
+++ b/Doc/whatsnew/3.3.rst
@@ -939,6 +939,20 @@
   :c:func:`PyUnicode_FromFormat()`, your code will automatically take
   advantage of the new unicode representations.
 
+Building C extensions
+---------------------
+
+* The range of possible file names for C extensions has been narrowed.
+  Very rarely used spellings have been suppressed: under POSIX, files
+  named ``xxxmodule.so``, ``xxxmodule.abi3.so`` and
+  ``xxxmodule.cpython-*.so`` are no longer recognized as implementing
+  the ``xxx`` module.  If you had been generating such files, you have
+  to switch to the other spellings (i.e., remove the ``module`` string
+  from the file names).
+
+  (implemented in :issue:`14040`.)
+
+
 Other issues
 ------------
 
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index d9ad8fc..6e010b7 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -10,6 +10,9 @@
 Core and Builtins
 -----------------
 
+- Issue #14040: Remove rarely used file name suffixes for C extensions
+  (under POSIX mainly).
+
 - Issue #14051: Allow arbitrary attributes to be set of classmethod and
   staticmethod.
 
diff --git a/Python/dynload_aix.c b/Python/dynload_aix.c
index 6287c86..8346f06 100644
--- a/Python/dynload_aix.c
+++ b/Python/dynload_aix.c
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@
 
 const struct filedescr _PyImport_DynLoadFiletab[] = {
     {".so", "rb", C_EXTENSION},
-    {"module.so", "rb", C_EXTENSION},
     {0, 0}
 };
 
diff --git a/Python/dynload_dl.c b/Python/dynload_dl.c
index 37519b2..a914a08 100644
--- a/Python/dynload_dl.c
+++ b/Python/dynload_dl.c
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@
 
 const struct filedescr _PyImport_DynLoadFiletab[] = {
     {".o", "rb", C_EXTENSION},
-    {"module.o", "rb", C_EXTENSION},
     {0, 0}
 };
 
diff --git a/Python/dynload_hpux.c b/Python/dynload_hpux.c
index 3ebbbad..1004010 100644
--- a/Python/dynload_hpux.c
+++ b/Python/dynload_hpux.c
@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@
 
 const struct filedescr _PyImport_DynLoadFiletab[] = {
     {SHLIB_EXT, "rb", C_EXTENSION},
-    {"module"SHLIB_EXT, "rb", C_EXTENSION},
     {0, 0}
 };
 
diff --git a/Python/dynload_next.c b/Python/dynload_next.c
index eb17950..5caff8b 100644
--- a/Python/dynload_next.c
+++ b/Python/dynload_next.c
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@
 
 const struct filedescr _PyImport_DynLoadFiletab[] = {
     {".so", "rb", C_EXTENSION},
-    {"module.so", "rb", C_EXTENSION},
     {0, 0}
 };
 
diff --git a/Python/dynload_shlib.c b/Python/dynload_shlib.c
index 1c215c3..ab24238 100644
--- a/Python/dynload_shlib.c
+++ b/Python/dynload_shlib.c
@@ -39,7 +39,6 @@
 const struct filedescr _PyImport_DynLoadFiletab[] = {
 #ifdef __CYGWIN__
     {".dll", "rb", C_EXTENSION},
-    {"module.dll", "rb", C_EXTENSION},
 #else  /* !__CYGWIN__ */
 #if defined(PYOS_OS2) && defined(PYCC_GCC)
     {".pyd", "rb", C_EXTENSION},
@@ -48,15 +47,10 @@
 #ifdef __VMS
     {".exe", "rb", C_EXTENSION},
     {".EXE", "rb", C_EXTENSION},
-    {"module.exe", "rb", C_EXTENSION},
-    {"MODULE.EXE", "rb", C_EXTENSION},
 #else  /* !__VMS */
     {"." SOABI ".so", "rb", C_EXTENSION},
-    {"module." SOABI ".so", "rb", C_EXTENSION},
     {".abi" PYTHON_ABI_STRING ".so", "rb", C_EXTENSION},
-    {"module.abi" PYTHON_ABI_STRING ".so", "rb", C_EXTENSION},
     {".so", "rb", C_EXTENSION},
-    {"module.so", "rb", C_EXTENSION},
 #endif  /* __VMS */
 #endif  /* defined(PYOS_OS2) && defined(PYCC_GCC) */
 #endif  /* __CYGWIN__ */