diff --git a/ipns/name.go b/ipns/name.go
index b35e8f9d85..c1ef506a38 100644
--- a/ipns/name.go
+++ b/ipns/name.go
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ const (
 // [Multihash]: https://multiformats.io/multihash/
 // [IPNS Name]: https://specs.ipfs.tech/ipns/ipns-record/#ipns-name
 type Name struct {
-	src []byte
+	src string
 }
 
 // NameFromString creates a [Name] from the given IPNS Name in its [string representation].
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ func NameFromRoutingKey(data []byte) (Name, error) {
 
 // NameFromPeer creates a [Name] from the given [peer.ID].
 func NameFromPeer(pid peer.ID) Name {
-	return Name{src: []byte(pid)}
+	return Name{src: string(pid)}
 }
 
 // NameFromCid creates a [Name] from the given [cid.Cid].
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ func NameFromCid(c cid.Cid) (Name, error) {
 	if code != mc.Libp2pKey {
 		return Name{}, fmt.Errorf("CID codec %q is not allowed for IPNS Names, use  %q instead", code, mc.Libp2pKey)
 	}
-	return Name{src: c.Hash()}, nil
+	return Name{src: string(c.Hash())}, nil
 }
 
 // RoutingKey returns the binary IPNS Routing Key for the given [Name]. Note that
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ func NameFromCid(c cid.Cid) (Name, error) {
 func (n Name) RoutingKey() []byte {
 	var buffer bytes.Buffer
 	buffer.WriteString(NamespacePrefix)
-	buffer.Write(n.src) // Note: we append raw multihash bytes (no multibase)
+	buffer.WriteString(n.src) // Note: we append raw multihash bytes (no multibase)
 	return buffer.Bytes()
 }
 
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ func (n Name) MarshalJSON() ([]byte, error) {
 
 // Equal returns whether the records are equal.
 func (n Name) Equal(other Name) bool {
-	return bytes.Equal(n.src, other.src)
+	return n.src == other.src
 }
 
 // AsPath returns the IPNS Name as a [path.Path] prefixed by [path.IPNSNamespace].
diff --git a/namesys/ipns_publisher.go b/namesys/ipns_publisher.go
index 8ac687de04..74ef35853c 100644
--- a/namesys/ipns_publisher.go
+++ b/namesys/ipns_publisher.go
@@ -56,8 +56,8 @@ func (p *IPNSPublisher) Publish(ctx context.Context, priv crypto.PrivKey, value
 
 // IpnsDsKey returns a datastore key given an IPNS identifier (peer
 // ID). Defines the storage key for IPNS records in the local datastore.
-func IpnsDsKey(id peer.ID) ds.Key {
-	return ds.NewKey("/ipns/" + base32.RawStdEncoding.EncodeToString([]byte(id)))
+func IpnsDsKey(name ipns.Name) ds.Key {
+	return ds.NewKey("/ipns/" + base32.RawStdEncoding.EncodeToString([]byte(name.Peer())))
 }
 
 // ListPublished returns the latest IPNS records published by this node and
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ func IpnsDsKey(id peer.ID) ds.Key {
 //
 // This method will not search the routing system for records published by other
 // nodes.
-func (p *IPNSPublisher) ListPublished(ctx context.Context) (map[peer.ID]*ipns.Record, error) {
+func (p *IPNSPublisher) ListPublished(ctx context.Context) (map[ipns.Name]*ipns.Record, error) {
 	query, err := p.ds.Query(ctx, dsquery.Query{
 		Prefix: ipns.NamespacePrefix,
 	})
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ func (p *IPNSPublisher) ListPublished(ctx context.Context) (map[peer.ID]*ipns.Re
 	}
 	defer query.Close()
 
-	records := make(map[peer.ID]*ipns.Record)
+	records := make(map[ipns.Name]*ipns.Record)
 	for {
 		select {
 		case result, ok := <-query.Next():
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ func (p *IPNSPublisher) ListPublished(ctx context.Context) (map[peer.ID]*ipns.Re
 				log.Errorf("ipns ds key invalid: %s", result.Key)
 				continue
 			}
-			records[peer.ID(pid)] = rec
+			records[ipns.NameFromPeer(peer.ID(pid))] = rec
 		case <-ctx.Done():
 			return nil, ctx.Err()
 		}
@@ -112,24 +112,24 @@ func (p *IPNSPublisher) ListPublished(ctx context.Context) (map[peer.ID]*ipns.Re
 //
 // If `checkRouting` is true and we have no existing record, this method will
 // check the routing system for any existing records.
-func (p *IPNSPublisher) GetPublished(ctx context.Context, id peer.ID, checkRouting bool) (*ipns.Record, error) {
+func (p *IPNSPublisher) GetPublished(ctx context.Context, name ipns.Name, checkRouting bool) (*ipns.Record, error) {
 	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, time.Second*30)
 	defer cancel()
 
-	value, err := p.ds.Get(ctx, IpnsDsKey(id))
+	value, err := p.ds.Get(ctx, IpnsDsKey(name))
 	switch err {
 	case nil:
 	case ds.ErrNotFound:
 		if !checkRouting {
 			return nil, nil
 		}
-		routingKey := ipns.NameFromPeer(id).RoutingKey()
+		routingKey := name.RoutingKey()
 		value, err = p.routing.GetValue(ctx, string(routingKey))
 		if err != nil {
 			// Not found or other network issue. Can't really do
 			// anything about this case.
 			if err != routing.ErrNotFound {
-				log.Debugf("error when determining the last published IPNS record for %s: %s", id, err)
+				log.Debugf("error when determining the last published IPNS record for %s: %s", name, err)
 			}
 
 			return nil, nil
@@ -146,12 +146,13 @@ func (p *IPNSPublisher) updateRecord(ctx context.Context, k crypto.PrivKey, valu
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
+	name := ipns.NameFromPeer(id)
 
 	p.mu.Lock()
 	defer p.mu.Unlock()
 
 	// get previous records sequence number
-	rec, err := p.GetPublished(ctx, id, true)
+	rec, err := p.GetPublished(ctx, name, true)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
@@ -188,7 +189,7 @@ func (p *IPNSPublisher) updateRecord(ctx context.Context, k crypto.PrivKey, valu
 	}
 
 	// Put the new record.
-	dsKey := IpnsDsKey(id)
+	dsKey := IpnsDsKey(name)
 	if err := p.ds.Put(ctx, dsKey, data); err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
diff --git a/namesys/ipns_publisher_test.go b/namesys/ipns_publisher_test.go
index e60c6bb6ee..a783ddd618 100644
--- a/namesys/ipns_publisher_test.go
+++ b/namesys/ipns_publisher_test.go
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ func TestAsyncDS(t *testing.T) {
 	err = publisher.Publish(ctx, ipnsFakeID.PrivateKey(), ipnsVal)
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 
-	ipnsKey := IpnsDsKey(ipnsFakeID.ID())
+	ipnsKey := IpnsDsKey(ipns.NameFromPeer(ipnsFakeID.ID()))
 
 	for k := range ds.syncKeys {
 		if k.IsAncestorOf(ipnsKey) || k.Equal(ipnsKey) {
diff --git a/namesys/republisher/repub.go b/namesys/republisher/repub.go
index 2f53cade69..9023f16ad6 100644
--- a/namesys/republisher/repub.go
+++ b/namesys/republisher/repub.go
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@ func (rp *Republisher) republishEntry(ctx context.Context, priv ic.PrivKey) erro
 	log.Debugf("republishing ipns entry for %s", id)
 
 	// Look for it locally only
-	rec, err := rp.getLastIPNSRecord(ctx, id)
+	rec, err := rp.getLastIPNSRecord(ctx, ipns.NameFromPeer(id))
 	if err != nil {
 		if err == errNoEntry {
 			span.SetAttributes(attribute.Bool("NoEntry", true))
@@ -173,9 +173,9 @@ func (rp *Republisher) republishEntry(ctx context.Context, priv ic.PrivKey) erro
 	return err
 }
 
-func (rp *Republisher) getLastIPNSRecord(ctx context.Context, id peer.ID) (*ipns.Record, error) {
+func (rp *Republisher) getLastIPNSRecord(ctx context.Context, name ipns.Name) (*ipns.Record, error) {
 	// Look for it locally only
-	val, err := rp.ds.Get(ctx, namesys.IpnsDsKey(id))
+	val, err := rp.ds.Get(ctx, namesys.IpnsDsKey(name))
 	switch err {
 	case nil:
 	case ds.ErrNotFound:
diff --git a/namesys/republisher/repub_test.go b/namesys/republisher/repub_test.go
index 2759e21b75..74297a41cb 100644
--- a/namesys/republisher/repub_test.go
+++ b/namesys/republisher/repub_test.go
@@ -191,7 +191,7 @@ func TestLongEOLRepublish(t *testing.T) {
 	err = verifyResolution(nsystems, name, p)
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 
-	rec, err := getLastIPNSRecord(ctx, publisher.store, publisher.h.ID())
+	rec, err := getLastIPNSRecord(ctx, publisher.store, ipns.NameFromPeer(publisher.h.ID()))
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 
 	finalEol, err := rec.Validity()
@@ -199,9 +199,9 @@ func TestLongEOLRepublish(t *testing.T) {
 	require.Equal(t, expiration.UTC(), finalEol.UTC())
 }
 
-func getLastIPNSRecord(ctx context.Context, dstore ds.Datastore, id peer.ID) (*ipns.Record, error) {
+func getLastIPNSRecord(ctx context.Context, dstore ds.Datastore, name ipns.Name) (*ipns.Record, error) {
 	// Look for it locally only
-	val, err := dstore.Get(ctx, namesys.IpnsDsKey(id))
+	val, err := dstore.Get(ctx, namesys.IpnsDsKey(name))
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}