diff --git a/narwhals/_pandas_like/dataframe.py b/narwhals/_pandas_like/dataframe.py
index 738292bd54..076115bccf 100644
--- a/narwhals/_pandas_like/dataframe.py
+++ b/narwhals/_pandas_like/dataframe.py
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@
 from narwhals._pandas_like.series import PANDAS_TO_NUMPY_DTYPE_MISSING, PandasLikeSeries
 from narwhals._pandas_like.utils import (
     align_and_extract_native,
-    check_column_names_are_unique,
     get_dtype_backend,
     native_to_narwhals_dtype,
     object_native_to_narwhals_dtype,
@@ -22,6 +21,7 @@
     Implementation,
     _into_arrow_table,
     _remap_full_join_keys,
+    check_column_names_are_unique,
     exclude_column_names,
     generate_temporary_column_name,
     parse_columns_to_drop,
diff --git a/narwhals/_pandas_like/utils.py b/narwhals/_pandas_like/utils.py
index 4ffeac468c..125dfa0e98 100644
--- a/narwhals/_pandas_like/utils.py
+++ b/narwhals/_pandas_like/utils.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
     check_columns_exist,
     isinstance_or_issubclass,
 )
-from narwhals.exceptions import DuplicateError, ShapeError
+from narwhals.exceptions import ShapeError
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
     from pandas._typing import Dtype as PandasDtype
@@ -592,25 +592,6 @@ def select_columns_by_name(
         raise
 
 
-def check_column_names_are_unique(columns: pd.Index[str]) -> None:
-    try:
-        len_unique_columns = len(columns.drop_duplicates())
-    except Exception:  # noqa: BLE001  # pragma: no cover
-        msg = f"Expected hashable (e.g. str or int) column names, got: {columns}"
-        raise ValueError(msg) from None
-
-    if len(columns) != len_unique_columns:
-        from collections import Counter
-
-        counter = Counter(columns)
-        msg = ""
-        for key, value in counter.items():
-            if value > 1:
-                msg += f"\n- '{key}' {value} times"
-        msg = f"Expected unique column names, got:{msg}"
-        raise DuplicateError(msg)
-
-
 def is_non_nullable_boolean(s: PandasLikeSeries) -> bool:
     # cuDF booleans are nullable but the native dtype is still 'bool'.
     return (
diff --git a/narwhals/_utils.py b/narwhals/_utils.py
index b3eb0f0fd6..fba86db337 100644
--- a/narwhals/_utils.py
+++ b/narwhals/_utils.py
@@ -1573,7 +1573,12 @@ def check_columns_exist(
 
 
 def check_column_names_are_unique(columns: Collection[str]) -> None:
-    len_unique_columns = len(set(columns))
+    try:
+        len_unique_columns = len(set(columns))
+    except TypeError as exc:  # pragma: no cover
+        msg = f"Expected hashable (e.g. str or int) column names, got: {columns}"
+        raise TypeError(msg) from exc
+
     if len(columns) != len_unique_columns:
         from collections import Counter