diff --git a/src/shared/unit-file.c b/src/shared/unit-file.c
index 5bb580285cc..01e10c596d6 100644
--- a/src/shared/unit-file.c
+++ b/src/shared/unit-file.c
@@ -616,6 +616,41 @@ int unit_file_build_name_map(
         return 1;
 }
 
+int unit_file_remove_from_name_map(
+                const LookupPaths *lp,
+                uint64_t *cache_timestamp_hash,
+                Hashmap **unit_ids_map,
+                Hashmap **unit_names_map,
+                Set **path_cache,
+                const char *path) {
+
+        int r;
+
+        assert(path);
+
+        /* This assumes the specified path is already removed, and drops the relevant entries from the maps. */
+
+        /* If one of the lookup paths we are monitoring is already changed, let's rebuild the map. Then, the
+         * new map should not contain entries relevant to the specified path. */
+        r = unit_file_build_name_map(lp, cache_timestamp_hash, unit_ids_map, unit_names_map, path_cache);
+        if (r != 0)
+                return r;
+
+        /* If not, drop the relevant entries. */
+
+        _cleanup_free_ char *name = NULL;
+        r = path_extract_filename(path, &name);
+        if (r < 0)
+                return log_warning_errno(r, "Failed to extract file name from '%s': %m", path);
+
+        _unused_ _cleanup_free_ char *key = NULL;
+        free(hashmap_remove2(*unit_ids_map, name, (void**) &key));
+        string_strv_hashmap_remove(*unit_names_map, name, name);
+        free(set_remove(*path_cache, path));
+
+        return 0;
+}
+
 static int add_name(
                 const char *unit_name,
                 Set **names,
diff --git a/src/shared/unit-file.h b/src/shared/unit-file.h
index 1c89a92c7d9..dd7dc57d15e 100644
--- a/src/shared/unit-file.h
+++ b/src/shared/unit-file.h
@@ -68,6 +68,14 @@ int unit_file_build_name_map(
                 Hashmap **unit_names_map,
                 Set **path_cache);
 
+int unit_file_remove_from_name_map(
+                const LookupPaths *lp,
+                uint64_t *cache_timestamp_hash,
+                Hashmap **unit_ids_map,
+                Hashmap **unit_names_map,
+                Set **path_cache,
+                const char *path);
+
 int unit_file_find_fragment(
                 Hashmap *unit_ids_map,
                 Hashmap *unit_name_map,
diff --git a/src/test/test-unit-file.c b/src/test/test-unit-file.c
index 63e500003c5..a84e6aaf975 100644
--- a/src/test/test-unit-file.c
+++ b/src/test/test-unit-file.c
@@ -1,11 +1,16 @@
 /* SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later */
 
+#include "fileio.h"
 #include "initrd-util.h"
 #include "path-lookup.h"
+#include "path-util.h"
+#include "random-util.h"
+#include "rm-rf.h"
 #include "set.h"
 #include "special.h"
 #include "strv.h"
 #include "tests.h"
+#include "tmpfile-util.h"
 #include "unit-file.h"
 
 TEST(unit_validate_alias_symlink_and_warn) {
@@ -86,6 +91,82 @@ TEST(unit_file_build_name_map) {
         }
 }
 
+static bool test_unit_file_remove_from_name_map_trail(const LookupPaths *lp, size_t trial) {
+        int r;
+
+        log_debug("/* %s(trial=%zu) */", __func__, trial);
+
+        _cleanup_hashmap_free_ Hashmap *unit_ids = NULL, *unit_names = NULL;
+        _cleanup_set_free_ Set *path_cache = NULL;
+        ASSERT_OK_POSITIVE(unit_file_build_name_map(lp, NULL, &unit_ids, &unit_names, &path_cache));
+
+        _cleanup_free_ char *name = NULL;
+        for (size_t i = 0; i < 100; i++) {
+                ASSERT_OK(asprintf(&name, "test-unit-file-%"PRIx64".service", random_u64()));
+                if (!hashmap_contains(unit_ids, name))
+                        break;
+                name = mfree(name);
+        }
+        ASSERT_NOT_NULL(name);
+
+        _cleanup_free_ char *path = path_join(lp->transient, name);
+        ASSERT_NOT_NULL(path);
+        ASSERT_OK(write_string_file(path, "[Unit]\n", WRITE_STRING_FILE_CREATE|WRITE_STRING_FILE_MKDIR_0755));
+
+        uint64_t cache_timestamp_hash = 0;
+        ASSERT_OK_POSITIVE(unit_file_build_name_map(lp, &cache_timestamp_hash, &unit_ids, &unit_names, &path_cache));
+
+        ASSERT_STREQ(hashmap_get(unit_ids, name), path);
+        ASSERT_TRUE(strv_equal(hashmap_get(unit_names, name), STRV_MAKE(name)));
+        ASSERT_TRUE(set_contains(path_cache, path));
+
+        ASSERT_OK_ERRNO(unlink(path));
+
+        ASSERT_OK(r = unit_file_remove_from_name_map(lp, &cache_timestamp_hash, &unit_ids, &unit_names, &path_cache, path));
+        if (r > 0)
+                return false; /* someone touches unit files. Retrying. */
+
+        ASSERT_FALSE(hashmap_contains(unit_ids, name));
+        ASSERT_FALSE(hashmap_contains(unit_names, path));
+        ASSERT_FALSE(set_contains(path_cache, path));
+
+        _cleanup_hashmap_free_ Hashmap *unit_ids_2 = NULL, *unit_names_2 = NULL;
+        _cleanup_set_free_ Set *path_cache_2 = NULL;
+        ASSERT_OK_POSITIVE(unit_file_build_name_map(lp, NULL, &unit_ids_2, &unit_names_2, &path_cache_2));
+
+        if (hashmap_size(unit_ids) != hashmap_size(unit_ids_2) ||
+            hashmap_size(unit_names) != hashmap_size(unit_names_2) ||
+            !set_equal(path_cache, path_cache_2))
+                return false;
+
+        const char *k, *v;
+        HASHMAP_FOREACH_KEY(v, k, unit_ids)
+                if (!streq_ptr(hashmap_get(unit_ids_2, k), v))
+                        return false;
+
+        char **l;
+        HASHMAP_FOREACH_KEY(l, k, unit_names)
+                if (!strv_equal_ignore_order(hashmap_get(unit_names_2, k), l))
+                        return false;
+
+        return true;
+}
+
+
+TEST(unit_file_remove_from_name_map) {
+        _cleanup_(rm_rf_physical_and_freep) char *d = NULL;
+
+        _cleanup_(lookup_paths_done) LookupPaths lp = {};
+        ASSERT_OK(lookup_paths_init(&lp, RUNTIME_SCOPE_SYSTEM, LOOKUP_PATHS_TEMPORARY_GENERATED, NULL));
+        ASSERT_NOT_NULL(d = strdup(lp.temporary_dir));
+
+        for (size_t i = 0; i < 10; i++)
+                if (test_unit_file_remove_from_name_map_trail(&lp, i))
+                        return;
+
+        assert_not_reached();
+}
+
 TEST(runlevel_to_target) {
         in_initrd_force(false);
         ASSERT_STREQ(runlevel_to_target(NULL), NULL);