diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/_color_data.py b/lib/matplotlib/_color_data.py
index 7c47eca30378..774e251d72bd 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/_color_data.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/_color_data.py
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 
 
 # These colors are from Tableau
-TABLEAU_COLORS = OrderedDict((
+TABLEAU_COLORS = (
     ('blue', '#1f77b4'),
     ('orange', '#ff7f0e'),
     ('green', '#2ca02c'),
@@ -26,12 +26,12 @@
     ('pink', '#e377c2'),
     ('gray', '#7f7f7f'),
     ('olive', '#bcbd22'),
-    ('cyan', '#17becf'))
+    ('cyan', '#17becf'),
 )
 
 # Normalize name to "tab:<name>" to avoid name collisions.
 TABLEAU_COLORS = OrderedDict(
-    ('tab:' + name, value) for name, value in TABLEAU_COLORS.items())
+    ('tab:' + name, value) for name, value in TABLEAU_COLORS)
 
 # This mapping of color names -> hex values is taken from
 # a survey run by Randel Monroe see:
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/colors.py b/lib/matplotlib/colors.py
index 179a4bef2597..f665b134df62 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/colors.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/colors.py
@@ -260,7 +260,6 @@ def to_hex(c, keep_alpha=False):
 ### Backwards-compatible color-conversion API
 
 cnames = CSS4_COLORS
-COLOR_NAMES = {'xkcd': XKCD_COLORS, 'css4': CSS4_COLORS, 'tc': TABLEAU_COLORS}
 hexColorPattern = re.compile("\A#[a-fA-F0-9]{6}\Z")