diff --git a/zerver/lib/email_notifications.py b/zerver/lib/email_notifications.py
index 94c0eb919f..658bf3abaa 100644
--- a/zerver/lib/email_notifications.py
+++ b/zerver/lib/email_notifications.py
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ from zerver.lib.url_encoding import (
     stream_narrow_url,
     topic_narrow_url,
 )
-from zerver.lib.user_groups import access_user_group_by_id, get_user_group_members
+from zerver.lib.user_groups import access_user_group_by_id, get_user_group_direct_members
 from zerver.models import (
     Message,
     Recipient,
@@ -368,7 +368,7 @@ def get_mentioned_user_group_name(
     smallest_user_group_name = None
     for user_group_id in mentioned_user_group_ids:
         current_user_group = access_user_group_by_id(user_group_id, user_profile, for_mention=True)
-        current_user_group_size = len(get_user_group_members(current_user_group))
+        current_user_group_size = len(get_user_group_direct_members(current_user_group))
 
         if current_user_group_size < smallest_user_group_size:
             # If multiple user groups are mentioned, we prefer the
diff --git a/zerver/lib/user_groups.py b/zerver/lib/user_groups.py
index ab1aa20972..4c81097bce 100644
--- a/zerver/lib/user_groups.py
+++ b/zerver/lib/user_groups.py
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ def access_user_group_by_id(
         user_group = UserGroup.objects.get(id=user_group_id, realm=user_profile.realm)
         if not for_mention and user_group.is_system_group:
             raise JsonableError(_("Insufficient permission"))
-        group_member_ids = get_user_group_members(user_group)
+        group_member_ids = get_user_group_direct_members(user_group)
         if (
             not user_profile.is_realm_admin
             and not user_profile.is_moderator
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ def create_user_group(
         return user_group
 
 
-def get_user_group_members(user_group: UserGroup) -> List[UserProfile]:
+def get_user_group_direct_members(user_group: UserGroup) -> List[UserProfile]:
     members = UserGroupMembership.objects.filter(user_group=user_group)
     return [member.user_profile.id for member in members]
 
diff --git a/zerver/views/user_groups.py b/zerver/views/user_groups.py
index 0a60be4185..3464d0265e 100644
--- a/zerver/views/user_groups.py
+++ b/zerver/views/user_groups.py
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ from zerver.lib.response import json_success
 from zerver.lib.user_groups import (
     access_user_group_by_id,
     get_memberships_of_users,
-    get_user_group_members,
+    get_user_group_direct_members,
     user_groups_in_realm_serialized,
 )
 from zerver.lib.users import user_ids_to_users
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ def remove_members_from_group_backend(
 
     user_profiles = user_ids_to_users(members, user_profile.realm)
     user_group = access_user_group_by_id(user_group_id, user_profile)
-    group_member_ids = get_user_group_members(user_group)
+    group_member_ids = get_user_group_direct_members(user_group)
     for member in members:
         if member not in group_member_ids:
             raise JsonableError(_("There is no member '{}' in this user group").format(member))