diff --git a/numpy/distutils/unixccompiler.py b/numpy/distutils/unixccompiler.py
--- a/numpy/distutils/unixccompiler.py
+++ b/numpy/distutils/unixccompiler.py
@@ -44,8 +44,6 @@ def UnixCCompiler__compile(self, obj, src, ext, cc_args, extra_postargs, pp_opts
         if opt not in llink_s:
             self.linker_so = llink_s.split() + opt.split()
 
-    display = '%s: %s' % (os.path.basename(self.compiler_so[0]), src)
-
     # gcc style automatic dependencies, outputs a makefile (-MF) that lists
     # all headers needed by a c file as a side effect of compilation (-MMD)
     if getattr(self, '_auto_depends', False):
@@ -54,8 +52,15 @@ def UnixCCompiler__compile(self, obj, src, ext, cc_args, extra_postargs, pp_opts
         deps = []
 
     try:
-        self.spawn(self.compiler_so + cc_args + [src, '-o', obj] + deps +
-                   extra_postargs, display = display)
+        if self.detect_language(src) == 'c++':
+            display = '%s: %s' % (os.path.basename(self.compiler_so_cxx[0]), src)
+            self.spawn(self.compiler_so_cxx + cc_args + [src, '-o', obj] + deps +
+                       extra_postargs, display = display)
+        else:
+            display = '%s: %s' % (os.path.basename(self.compiler_so[0]), src)
+            self.spawn(self.compiler_so + cc_args + [src, '-o', obj] + deps +
+                       extra_postargs, display = display)
+
     except DistutilsExecError:
         msg = str(get_exception())
         raise CompileError(msg)