diff --git a/rust/proc-macro2/fallback.rs b/rust/proc-macro2/fallback.rs
index 335f574c1f3e50..142ab99a8f4df9 100644
--- a/rust/proc-macro2/fallback.rs
+++ b/rust/proc-macro2/fallback.rs
@@ -826,11 +826,11 @@ impl Ident {
 }
 
 pub(crate) fn is_ident_start(c: char) -> bool {
-    c == '_' || unicode_ident::is_xid_start(c)
+    c == '_' || c.is_ascii_alphabetic()
 }
 
 pub(crate) fn is_ident_continue(c: char) -> bool {
-    unicode_ident::is_xid_continue(c)
+    c == '_' || c.is_ascii_alphanumeric()
 }
 
 #[track_caller]