diff --git a/Modules/_testinternalcapi.c b/Modules/_testinternalcapi.c
index 16be593763bf667..5b5516046fff407 100644
--- a/Modules/_testinternalcapi.c
+++ b/Modules/_testinternalcapi.c
@@ -1182,8 +1182,9 @@ record_eval(PyThreadState *tstate, struct _PyInterpreterFrame *f, int exc)
         assert(module != NULL);
         module_state *state = get_module_state(module);
         Py_DECREF(module);
-        int res = PyList_Append(state->record_list,
-                                FT_ATOMIC_LOAD_PTR_ACQUIRE(func->func_name));
+        PyObject *name = Py_NewRef(FT_ATOMIC_LOAD_PTR_ACQUIRE(func->func_name));
+        int res = PyList_Append(state->record_list, name);
+        Py_DECREF(name);
         if (res < 0) {
             return NULL;
         }
@@ -1244,8 +1245,9 @@ record_eval_interp(PyThreadState *tstate, struct _PyInterpreterFrame *f, int exc
         assert(module != NULL);
         module_state *state = get_module_state(module);
         Py_DECREF(module);
-        int res = PyList_Append(state->record_list,
-                                FT_ATOMIC_LOAD_PTR_ACQUIRE(func->func_name));
+        PyObject *name = Py_NewRef(FT_ATOMIC_LOAD_PTR_ACQUIRE(func->func_name));
+        int res = PyList_Append(state->record_list, name);
+        Py_DECREF(name);
         if (res < 0) {
             return NULL;
         }