diff --git a/panel-plugin/xkb-util.c b/panel-plugin/xkb-util.c
index d0d0230..058e01b 100644
--- a/panel-plugin/xkb-util.c
+++ b/panel-plugin/xkb-util.c
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ xkb_util_get_layout_string (const gchar *group_name, const gchar *variant)
 gchar*
 xkb_util_normalize_group_name (const gchar* group_name)
 {
-    gchar *c;
+    gchar *c0, *c;
     gchar *result;
     gint cut_length;
     gint index_of_na = -1;
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ xkb_util_normalize_group_name (const gchar* group_name)
     if (strlen (group_name) <= 3)
         return g_strdup (group_name);
 
-    c = g_strdup (group_name);
+    c0 = c = g_strdup (group_name);
 
     while (*c)
     {
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ xkb_util_normalize_group_name (const gchar* group_name)
 
     result = g_strndup (group_name, cut_length);
 
-    g_free (c);
+    g_free (c0);
 
     return result;
 }