diff --git a/commit.c b/commit.c
index fc3d6fb2c3..5f616b7201 100644
--- a/commit.c
+++ b/commit.c
@@ -1580,9 +1580,8 @@ void set_merge_remote_desc(struct commit *commit,
 			   const char *name, struct object *obj)
 {
 	struct merge_remote_desc *desc;
-	desc = xmalloc(sizeof(*desc));
+	FLEX_ALLOC_STR(desc, name, name);
 	desc->obj = obj;
-	desc->name = xstrdup(name);
 	commit->util = desc;
 }
 
diff --git a/commit.h b/commit.h
index ed2a1f0265..15ee924f2f 100644
--- a/commit.h
+++ b/commit.h
@@ -356,7 +356,7 @@ extern void for_each_mergetag(each_mergetag_fn fn, struct commit *commit, void *
 
 struct merge_remote_desc {
 	struct object *obj; /* the named object, could be a tag */
-	const char *name;
+	char name[FLEX_ARRAY];
 };
 #define merge_remote_util(commit) ((struct merge_remote_desc *)((commit)->util))
 extern void set_merge_remote_desc(struct commit *commit,