diff --git a/pkg/sql/catalog/descs/uncommitted_descriptors.go b/pkg/sql/catalog/descs/uncommitted_descriptors.go
index 8c54dc4493eb..337626774ad1 100644
--- a/pkg/sql/catalog/descs/uncommitted_descriptors.go
+++ b/pkg/sql/catalog/descs/uncommitted_descriptors.go
@@ -218,6 +218,10 @@ func (ud *uncommittedDescriptors) getByName(
 	if got := ud.descs.GetByName(dbID, schemaID, name); got != nil {
 		return false, got.(*uncommittedDescriptor).immutable
 	}
+	// Check whether the set is empty to avoid allocating the NameInfo.
+	if ud.descNames.Empty() {
+		return false, nil
+	}
 	return ud.descNames.Contains(descpb.NameInfo{
 		ParentID:       dbID,
 		ParentSchemaID: schemaID,
diff --git a/pkg/sql/catalog/nstree/set.go b/pkg/sql/catalog/nstree/set.go
index 06592e8e87b2..d0bab68ada65 100644
--- a/pkg/sql/catalog/nstree/set.go
+++ b/pkg/sql/catalog/nstree/set.go
@@ -47,6 +47,11 @@ func (s *Set) Clear() {
 	*s = Set{}
 }
 
+// Empty returns true if the set has no entries.
+func (s *Set) Empty() bool {
+	return !s.initialized() || s.t.Len() == 0
+}
+
 func (s *Set) maybeInitialize() {
 	if s.initialized() {
 		return