diff --git a/object-file.c b/object-file.c
index b254bc50d7..5ffbf3d4fd 100644
--- a/object-file.c
+++ b/object-file.c
@@ -1888,16 +1888,16 @@ void hash_object_file(const struct git_hash_algo *algo, const void *buf,
 }
 
 /* Finalize a file on disk, and close it. */
-static void close_loose_object(int fd)
+static void close_loose_object(int fd, const char *filename)
 {
 	if (the_repository->objects->odb->will_destroy)
 		goto out;
 
 	if (fsync_object_files > 0)
-		fsync_or_die(fd, "loose object file");
+		fsync_or_die(fd, filename);
 	else
 		fsync_component_or_die(FSYNC_COMPONENT_LOOSE_OBJECT, fd,
-				       "loose object file");
+				       filename);
 
 out:
 	if (close(fd) != 0)
@@ -2011,7 +2011,7 @@ static int write_loose_object(const struct object_id *oid, char *hdr,
 		die(_("confused by unstable object source data for %s"),
 		    oid_to_hex(oid));
 
-	close_loose_object(fd);
+	close_loose_object(fd, tmp_file.buf);
 
 	if (mtime) {
 		struct utimbuf utb;