diff --git a/claimtrie/node/manager.go b/claimtrie/node/manager.go
index e3f2dae8..391b1270 100644
--- a/claimtrie/node/manager.go
+++ b/claimtrie/node/manager.go
@@ -226,7 +226,7 @@ func (nm *BaseManager) IncrementHeightTo(height int32) ([][]byte, error) {
 		names = append(names, nm.changes[i].Name)
 	}
 
-	if err := nm.repo.AppendChanges(nm.changes); err != nil {
+	if err := nm.repo.AppendChanges(nm.changes); err != nil { // destroys names
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("save changes to node repo: %w", err)
 	}
 
diff --git a/claimtrie/node/noderepo/noderepo_test.go b/claimtrie/node/noderepo/noderepo_test.go
index 1cf2e64e..385fa44e 100644
--- a/claimtrie/node/noderepo/noderepo_test.go
+++ b/claimtrie/node/noderepo/noderepo_test.go
@@ -179,10 +179,10 @@ func TestIterator(t *testing.T) {
 	err = repo.AppendChanges(creation)
 	r.NoError(err)
 
-	var received []change.Change
+	i := 0
 	repo.IterateChildren([]byte{}, func(changes []change.Change) bool {
-		received = append(received, changes...)
+		r.Equal(creation[i], changes[0])
+		i++
 		return true
 	})
-	r.Equal(creation, received)
 }
diff --git a/claimtrie/node/noderepo/pebble.go b/claimtrie/node/noderepo/pebble.go
index 5d7b5440..8af5ef99 100644
--- a/claimtrie/node/noderepo/pebble.go
+++ b/claimtrie/node/noderepo/pebble.go
@@ -96,12 +96,14 @@ func (repo *Pebble) AppendChanges(changes []change.Change) error {
 
 	// TODO: switch to buffer pool and reuse encoder
 	for _, chg := range changes {
+		name := chg.Name
+		chg.Name = nil // don't waste the storage space on this (annotation a better approach?)
 		value, err := msgpack.Marshal(chg)
 		if err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("msgpack marshal value: %w", err)
 		}
 
-		err = batch.Merge(chg.Name, value, pebble.NoSync)
+		err = batch.Merge(name, value, pebble.NoSync)
 		if err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("pebble set: %w", err)
 		}
@@ -124,10 +126,10 @@ func (repo *Pebble) LoadChanges(name []byte) ([]change.Change, error) {
 		defer closer.Close()
 	}
 
-	return unmarshalChanges(data)
+	return unmarshalChanges(name, data)
 }
 
-func unmarshalChanges(data []byte) ([]change.Change, error) {
+func unmarshalChanges(name, data []byte) ([]change.Change, error) {
 	var changes []change.Change
 	dec := msgpack.GetDecoder()
 	defer msgpack.PutDecoder(dec)
@@ -140,6 +142,7 @@ func unmarshalChanges(data []byte) ([]change.Change, error) {
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("msgpack unmarshal: %w", err)
 		}
+		chg.Name = name
 		changes = append(changes, chg)
 	}
 
@@ -189,7 +192,8 @@ func (repo *Pebble) IterateChildren(name []byte, f func(changes []change.Change)
 	defer iter.Close()
 
 	for iter.First(); iter.Valid(); iter.Next() {
-		changes, err := unmarshalChanges(iter.Value())
+		// NOTE! iter.Key() is ephemeral!
+		changes, err := unmarshalChanges(iter.Key(), iter.Value())
 		if err != nil {
 			panic(err)
 		}