diff --git a/src/stdatamodels/fits_support.py b/src/stdatamodels/fits_support.py
index 4b7383c4..4c553f33 100644
--- a/src/stdatamodels/fits_support.py
+++ b/src/stdatamodels/fits_support.py
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@
 log.addHandler(logging.NullHandler())
 
 
-__all__ = ["to_fits", "from_fits", "fits_hdu_name", "get_hdu", "is_builtin_fits_keyword"]
+__all__ = ["to_fits", "from_fits", "get_hdu", "is_builtin_fits_keyword"]
 
 
 _ASDF_EXTENSION_NAME = "ASDF"
@@ -112,22 +112,10 @@ def _get_indexed_keyword(keyword, i):
     return keyword
 
 
-def fits_hdu_name(name):
-    """
-    Returns a FITS hdu name in the correct form for the current
-    version of Python.
-    """
-    if isinstance(name, bytes):
-        return name.decode("ascii")
-    return name
-
-
 def _get_hdu_name(schema):
     hdu_name = schema.get("fits_hdu")
     if hdu_name in (None, "PRIMARY"):
         hdu_name = 0
-    else:
-        hdu_name = fits_hdu_name(hdu_name)
     return hdu_name
 
 
@@ -470,7 +458,6 @@ def normalize_array(node):
 def _save_extra_fits(hdulist, tree):
     # Handle _extra_fits
     for hdu_name, parts in tree.get("extra_fits", {}).items():
-        hdu_name = fits_hdu_name(hdu_name)
         if "data" in parts:
             hdu_type = _get_hdu_type(hdu_name, value=parts["data"])
             hdu = _get_or_make_hdu(hdulist, hdu_name, hdu_type=hdu_type, value=parts["data"])