diff --git a/c++/config/commence.in b/c++/config/commence.in
index a5fb2662b3..872fdb0f42 100644
--- a/c++/config/commence.in
+++ b/c++/config/commence.in
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 
 ## Things that Make needs
 .SUFFIXES:
-.SUFFIXES: .C .o .lo
+.SUFFIXES: .cpp .o .lo
 @SET_MAKE@
 
 ## Directories to search
diff --git a/c++/config/conclude.in b/c++/config/conclude.in
index 790da2d50b..ac6897f77e 100644
--- a/c++/config/conclude.in
+++ b/c++/config/conclude.in
@@ -168,10 +168,10 @@ maintainer-clean: distclean
 	-$(RM) *~ core core.* *.core *.bak *.contrib gmon.out
 
 ## Implicit rules
-.C.o:
+.cpp.o:
 	$(CXX) $(CXXFLAGS) $(CPPFLAGS) -c $<
 
-.C.lo:
+.cpp.lo:
 	@$(LT_COMPILE) $(CXXFLAGS) $(CPPFLAGS) -c $<
 
 ##-----------------------------------------------------------------------------