diff --git a/narwhals/_utils.py b/narwhals/_utils.py
index fba86db337..788d82c1c0 100644
--- a/narwhals/_utils.py
+++ b/narwhals/_utils.py
@@ -1573,13 +1573,7 @@ def check_columns_exist(
 
 
 def check_column_names_are_unique(columns: Collection[str]) -> None:
-    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:
+    if len(columns) != len(set(columns)):
         from collections import Counter
 
         counter = Counter(columns)