diff --git a/git/client.go b/git/client.go
index 774ce5e76..1a6d9ae7f 100644
--- a/git/client.go
+++ b/git/client.go
@@ -378,8 +378,6 @@ func (c *Client) lookupCommit(ctx context.Context, sha, format string) ([]byte,
 
 // ReadBranchConfig parses the `branch.BRANCH.(remote|merge|gh-merge-base)` part of git config.
 func (c *Client) ReadBranchConfig(ctx context.Context, branch string) (cfg BranchConfig) {
-	cfg.LocalName = branch
-
 	prefix := regexp.QuoteMeta(fmt.Sprintf("branch.%s.", branch))
 	args := []string{"config", "--get-regexp", fmt.Sprintf("^%s(remote|merge|%s)$", prefix, MergeBaseConfig)}
 	cmd, err := c.Command(ctx, args...)
diff --git a/git/client_test.go b/git/client_test.go
index 0ec4f7334..fff1397f3 100644
--- a/git/client_test.go
+++ b/git/client_test.go
@@ -737,7 +737,7 @@ func TestClientReadBranchConfig(t *testing.T) {
 			name:             "read branch config",
 			cmdStdout:        "branch.trunk.remote origin\nbranch.trunk.merge refs/heads/trunk\nbranch.trunk.gh-merge-base trunk",
 			wantCmdArgs:      `path/to/git config --get-regexp ^branch\.trunk\.(remote|merge|gh-merge-base)$`,
-			wantBranchConfig: BranchConfig{LocalName: "trunk", RemoteName: "origin", MergeRef: "refs/heads/trunk", MergeBase: "trunk"},
+			wantBranchConfig: BranchConfig{RemoteName: "origin", MergeRef: "refs/heads/trunk", MergeBase: "trunk"},
 		},
 	}
 	for _, tt := range tests {
diff --git a/git/objects.go b/git/objects.go
index f371429dd..ae058a01c 100644
--- a/git/objects.go
+++ b/git/objects.go
@@ -71,8 +71,6 @@ type Commit struct {
 }
 
 type BranchConfig struct {
-	// LocalName of the branch.
-	LocalName  string
 	RemoteName string
 	RemoteURL  *url.URL
 	// MergeBase is the optional base branch to target in a new PR if `--base` is not specified.
diff --git a/pkg/cmd/pr/create/create.go b/pkg/cmd/pr/create/create.go
index 3bfa768b7..6a1e13849 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/pr/create/create.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/pr/create/create.go
@@ -518,7 +518,7 @@ func initDefaultTitleBody(ctx CreateContext, state *shared.IssueMetadataState, u
 	return nil
 }
 
-func determineTrackingBranch(gitClient *git.Client, remotes ghContext.Remotes, headBranchConfig *git.BranchConfig) *git.TrackingRef {
+func determineTrackingBranch(gitClient *git.Client, remotes ghContext.Remotes, localBranchName string, headBranchConfig *git.BranchConfig) *git.TrackingRef {
 	refsForLookup := []string{"HEAD"}
 	var trackingRefs []git.TrackingRef
 
@@ -534,7 +534,7 @@ func determineTrackingBranch(gitClient *git.Client, remotes ghContext.Remotes, h
 	for _, remote := range remotes {
 		tr := git.TrackingRef{
 			RemoteName: remote.Name,
-			BranchName: headBranchConfig.LocalName,
+			BranchName: localBranchName,
 		}
 		trackingRefs = append(trackingRefs, tr)
 		refsForLookup = append(refsForLookup, tr.String())
@@ -647,7 +647,7 @@ func NewCreateContext(opts *CreateOptions) (*CreateContext, error) {
 	headBranchConfig := gitClient.ReadBranchConfig(context.Background(), headBranch)
 	if isPushEnabled {
 		// determine whether the head branch is already pushed to a remote
-		if pushedTo := determineTrackingBranch(gitClient, remotes, &headBranchConfig); pushedTo != nil {
+		if pushedTo := determineTrackingBranch(gitClient, remotes, headBranch, &headBranchConfig); pushedTo != nil {
 			isPushEnabled = false
 			if r, err := remotes.FindByName(pushedTo.RemoteName); err == nil {
 				headRepo = r