diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/service/DefaultLocationService.test.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/service/DefaultLocationService.test.ts
index e2b82ad2c0..562bae4867 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/service/DefaultLocationService.test.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/service/DefaultLocationService.test.ts
@@ -196,7 +196,7 @@ describe('DefaultLocationServiceTest', () => {
           { type: 'url', target: 'https://backstage.io/catalog-info.yaml' },
           true,
         ),
-      ).rejects.toThrowError('Duplicate nested entity: foo');
+      ).rejects.toThrowError('Duplicate nested entity: location:default/foo');
     });
 
     it('should return exists false when the location does not exist beforehand', async () => {
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/service/DefaultLocationService.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/service/DefaultLocationService.ts
index d28112eda3..8dd2274842 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/service/DefaultLocationService.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/service/DefaultLocationService.ts
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import {
   LocationSpec,
   LOCATION_ANNOTATION,
   ORIGIN_LOCATION_ANNOTATION,
+  stringifyEntityRef,
 } from '@backstage/catalog-model';
 import {
   CatalogProcessingOrchestrator,
@@ -69,13 +70,18 @@ export class DefaultLocationService implements LocationService {
       });
 
       if (processed.ok) {
-        const { metadata, kind } = processed.completedEntity;
         if (
           entities.some(
-            e => e.metadata.name === metadata.name && e.kind === kind,
+            e =>
+              stringifyEntityRef(e) ===
+              stringifyEntityRef(processed.completedEntity),
           )
         ) {
-          throw new Error(`Duplicate nested entity: ${metadata.name}`);
+          throw new Error(
+            `Duplicate nested entity: ${stringifyEntityRef(
+              processed.completedEntity,
+            )}`,
+          );
         }
         unprocessedEntities.push(...processed.deferredEntities);
         entities.push(processed.completedEntity);