diff --git a/frontend_tests/node_tests/stream_data.js b/frontend_tests/node_tests/stream_data.js
index 86f4a9eb2e..3bd203fe14 100644
--- a/frontend_tests/node_tests/stream_data.js
+++ b/frontend_tests/node_tests/stream_data.js
@@ -243,7 +243,7 @@ run_test('subscribers', () => {
     assert.equal(sub.subscriber_count, 1);
 
     // remove
-    ok = stream_data.remove_subscriber('Rome', brutus.user_id);
+    ok = stream_data.remove_subscriber(sub.stream_id, brutus.user_id);
     assert(ok);
     assert(!stream_data.is_user_subscribed('Rome', brutus.user_id));
     sub = stream_data.get_sub('Rome');
@@ -256,14 +256,14 @@ run_test('subscribers', () => {
     assert.equal(stream_data.is_user_subscribed('Rome', undefined), undefined);
 
     // Verify noop for bad stream when removing subscriber
-    const bad_stream = 'UNKNOWN';
-    blueslip.expect('warn', 'We got a remove_subscriber call for a non-existent stream ' + bad_stream);
-    ok = stream_data.remove_subscriber(bad_stream, brutus.user_id);
+    const bad_stream_id = 999999;
+    blueslip.expect('warn', 'We got a remove_subscriber call for a non-existent stream ' + bad_stream_id);
+    ok = stream_data.remove_subscriber(bad_stream_id, brutus.user_id);
     assert(!ok);
 
     // verify that removing an already-removed subscriber is a noop
     blueslip.expect('warn', 'We tried to remove invalid subscriber: 104');
-    ok = stream_data.remove_subscriber('Rome', brutus.user_id);
+    ok = stream_data.remove_subscriber(sub.stream_id, brutus.user_id);
     assert(!ok);
     assert(!stream_data.is_user_subscribed('Rome', brutus.user_id));
     sub = stream_data.get_sub('Rome');
@@ -284,7 +284,7 @@ run_test('subscribers', () => {
     ok = stream_data.add_subscriber(sub.stream_id, brutus.user_id);
     assert(ok);
     assert.equal(stream_data.is_user_subscribed('Rome', brutus.user_id), true);
-    stream_data.remove_subscriber('Rome', brutus.user_id);
+    stream_data.remove_subscriber(sub.stream_id, brutus.user_id);
     assert.equal(stream_data.is_user_subscribed('Rome', brutus.user_id), false);
     stream_data.add_subscriber(sub.stream_id, brutus.user_id);
     assert.equal(stream_data.is_user_subscribed('Rome', brutus.user_id), true);
@@ -295,7 +295,7 @@ run_test('subscribers', () => {
     sub.invite_only = true;
     stream_data.update_calculated_fields(sub);
     assert.equal(stream_data.is_user_subscribed('Rome', brutus.user_id), undefined);
-    stream_data.remove_subscriber('Rome', brutus.user_id);
+    stream_data.remove_subscriber(sub.stream_id, brutus.user_id);
     assert.equal(stream_data.is_user_subscribed('Rome', brutus.user_id), undefined);
 
     // Verify that we don't crash and return false for a bad stream.
diff --git a/static/js/server_events_dispatch.js b/static/js/server_events_dispatch.js
index 8fb222faca..d58ae52889 100644
--- a/static/js/server_events_dispatch.js
+++ b/static/js/server_events_dispatch.js
@@ -358,7 +358,7 @@ exports.dispatch_normal_event = function dispatch_normal_event(event) {
                     return;
                 }
 
-                if (!stream_data.remove_subscriber(sub.name, user_id)) {
+                if (!stream_data.remove_subscriber(sub.stream_id, user_id)) {
                     blueslip.warn('Cannot process peer_remove event.');
                     return;
                 }
diff --git a/static/js/stream_data.js b/static/js/stream_data.js
index efeb34576c..32e5e3541e 100644
--- a/static/js/stream_data.js
+++ b/static/js/stream_data.js
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ exports.is_subscriber_subset = function (sub1, sub2) {
 exports.unsubscribe_myself = function (sub) {
     // Remove user from subscriber's list
     const user_id = people.my_current_user_id();
-    exports.remove_subscriber(sub.name, user_id);
+    exports.remove_subscriber(sub.stream_id, user_id);
     sub.subscribed = false;
     sub.newly_subscribed = false;
     stream_info.set_false(sub.name, sub);
@@ -644,10 +644,10 @@ exports.add_subscriber = function (stream_id, user_id) {
     return true;
 };
 
-exports.remove_subscriber = function (stream_name, user_id) {
-    const sub = exports.get_sub(stream_name);
+exports.remove_subscriber = function (stream_id, user_id) {
+    const sub = exports.get_sub_by_id(stream_id);
     if (typeof sub === 'undefined') {
-        blueslip.warn("We got a remove_subscriber call for a non-existent stream " + stream_name);
+        blueslip.warn("We got a remove_subscriber call for a non-existent stream " + stream_id);
         return false;
     }
     if (!sub.subscribers.has(user_id)) {
diff --git a/static/js/stream_events.js b/static/js/stream_events.js
index e055b7ce22..688ded30c5 100644
--- a/static/js/stream_events.js
+++ b/static/js/stream_events.js
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ exports.remove_deactivated_user_from_all_streams = function (user_id) {
 
     for (const sub of all_subs) {
         if (stream_data.is_user_subscribed(sub.name, user_id)) {
-            stream_data.remove_subscriber(sub.name, user_id);
+            stream_data.remove_subscriber(sub.stream_id, user_id);
             subs.rerender_subscriptions_settings(sub);
         }
     }