diff --git a/lisp/ob-tangle.el b/lisp/ob-tangle.el
index 2a02554c4..60d07ff00 100644
--- a/lisp/ob-tangle.el
+++ b/lisp/ob-tangle.el
@@ -96,14 +96,10 @@ controlled by the :comments header argument."
   :group 'org-babel
   :type 'string)
 
-(defcustom org-babel-tangle-named-block-combination nil
+(defcustom org-babel-tangle-do-combine-named-blocks nil
   "Combine blocks of the same name during tangling."
   :group 'org-babel
-  :type '(choice
-	  (const :tag "Default: no special handling" nil)
-	  (const :tag "Append all blocks of the same name" append)
-	  (const :tag "Only keep the first block of the same name" first)
-	  (const :tag "Only keep the last block of the same name" last)))
+  :type 'bool)
 
 (defun org-babel-find-file-noselect-refresh (file)
   "Find file ensuring that the latest changes on disk are
@@ -249,7 +245,9 @@ exported source code blocks by language."
                     (setq block-counter (+ 1 block-counter))
                     (add-to-list 'path-collector file-name)))))
             specs)))
-       (org-babel-tangle-combine-named-blocks
+       (funcall (if org-babel-tangle-do-combine-named-blocks
+		    #'org-babel-tangle-combine-named-blocks
+		  #'identity)
 	(org-babel-tangle-collect-blocks lang)))
       (message "tangled %d code block%s from %s" block-counter
                (if (= block-counter 1) "" "s")
@@ -376,37 +374,25 @@ code blocks by language."
   "Combine blocks of the same name.
 This function follows noweb behavior of appending blocks of the
 same name in the order they appear in the file."
-  (if org-babel-tangle-named-block-combination
-      (let (tangled-names)
-	(mapcar
-	 (lambda (by-lang)
-	   (cons
-	    (car by-lang)
-	    (mapcar (lambda (spec)
-		      (let ((name (nth 3 spec)))
-			(unless (member name tangled-names)
-			  (when name
-			    (setf
-			     (nth 5 spec)
-			     (let ((named (mapcar
-					   (lambda (el) (nth 5 el))
-					   (delq
-					    nil
-					    (mapcar
-					     (lambda (el)
-					       (when (equal name (nth 3 el))
-						 el))
-					     (cdr by-lang))))))
-			       (case org-babel-tangle-named-block-combination
-				 (append (mapconcat #'identity
-						    named "\n"))
-				 (first  (first named))
-				 (last   (car (last  named))))))
-			    (add-to-list 'tangled-names name))
-			  spec)))
-		    (cdr by-lang))))
-	 blocks))
-    blocks))
+  (let (tangled-names)
+    (mapcar
+     (lambda (by-lang)
+       (cons
+	(car by-lang)
+	(mapcar (lambda (spec)
+		  (let ((name (nth 3 spec)))
+		    (unless (member name tangled-names)
+		      (when name
+			(setf (nth 5 spec)
+			      (mapconcat
+			       (lambda (el) (nth 5 el))
+			       (remove-if (lambda (el) (not (equal name (nth 3 el))))
+					  (cdr by-lang))
+			       "\n"))
+			(add-to-list 'tangled-names name))
+		      spec)))
+		(cdr by-lang))))
+     blocks)))
 
 (defun org-babel-spec-to-string (spec)
   "Insert SPEC into the current file.