diff --git a/addons/mail/mail_alias.py b/addons/mail/mail_alias.py
index fc8cdda5aee..b7f245843ad 100644
--- a/addons/mail/mail_alias.py
+++ b/addons/mail/mail_alias.py
@@ -154,6 +154,12 @@ class mail_alias(osv.Model):
             sequence = (sequence + 1) if sequence else 2
         return new_name
 
+    def _clean_and_make_unique(self, cr, uid, name, context=None):
+        # when an alias name appears to already be an email, we keep the local part only
+        name = remove_accents(name).lower().split('@')[0]
+        name = re.sub(r'[^\w+.]+', '-', name)
+        return self._find_unique(cr, uid, name, context=context)
+
     def migrate_to_alias(self, cr, child_model_name, child_table_name, child_model_auto_init_fct,
         alias_model_name, alias_id_column, alias_key, alias_prefix='', alias_force_key='', alias_defaults={},
         alias_generate_name=False, context=None):
@@ -227,11 +233,7 @@ class mail_alias(osv.Model):
         model_name = context.get('alias_model_name')
         parent_model_name = context.get('alias_parent_model_name')
         if vals.get('alias_name'):
-            # when an alias name appears to already be an email, we keep the local part only
-            alias_name = remove_accents(vals['alias_name']).lower().split('@')[0]
-            alias_name = re.sub(r'[^\w+.]+', '-', alias_name)
-            alias_name = self._find_unique(cr, uid, alias_name, context=context)
-            vals['alias_name'] = alias_name
+            vals['alias_name'] = self._clean_and_make_unique(cr, uid, vals.get('alias_name'), context=context)
         if model_name:
             model_id = self.pool.get('ir.model').search(cr, uid, [('model', '=', model_name)], context=context)[0]
             vals['alias_model_id'] = model_id
@@ -243,11 +245,8 @@ class mail_alias(osv.Model):
     def write(self, cr, uid, ids, vals, context=None):
         """"give uniqe alias name if given alias name is allready assigned"""
         if vals.get('alias_name'):
-            alias_name = remove_accents(vals['alias_name']).lower().split('@')[0]
-            alias_name = re.sub(r'[^\w+.]+', '-', alias_name)
-            alias_name = self._find_unique(cr, uid, alias_name, context=context)
-            vals['alias_name'] = alias_name
-        write_res = super(mail_alias, self).write(cr, uid, ids, vals, context=context)
+            vals['alias_name'] = self._clean_and_make_unique(cr, uid, vals.get('alias_name'), context=context)
+        return super(mail_alias, self).write(cr, uid, ids, vals, context=context)
 
     def open_document(self, cr, uid, ids, context=None):
         alias = self.browse(cr, uid, ids, context=context)[0]