diff --git a/lib/internal/util.js b/lib/internal/util.js
index d915a699b54717..2d408bbbb68016 100644
--- a/lib/internal/util.js
+++ b/lib/internal/util.js
@@ -202,11 +202,6 @@ function getConstructorOf(obj) {
 }
 
 function getSystemErrorName(err) {
-  if (typeof err !== 'number' || err >= 0 || !Number.isSafeInteger(err)) {
-    throw new errors.TypeError('ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE', 'err',
-                               'negative number');
-  }
-
   const entry = errmap.get(err);
   return entry ? entry[0] : `Unknown system error ${err}`;
 }
diff --git a/lib/util.js b/lib/util.js
index 45f580d08f4d72..1379eb3f31a9d2 100644
--- a/lib/util.js
+++ b/lib/util.js
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ const {
   customInspectSymbol,
   deprecate,
   getConstructorOf,
-  getSystemErrorName,
+  getSystemErrorName: internalErrorName,
   isError,
   promisify,
   join
@@ -1065,6 +1065,14 @@ function callbackify(original) {
   return callbackified;
 }
 
+function getSystemErrorName(err) {
+  if (typeof err !== 'number' || err >= 0 || !Number.isSafeInteger(err)) {
+    throw new errors.TypeError('ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE', 'err',
+                               'negative number');
+  }
+  return internalErrorName(err);
+}
+
 // Keep the `exports =` so that various functions can still be monkeypatched
 module.exports = exports = {
   _errnoException,