diff --git a/gramps/gen/utils/cast.py b/gramps/gen/utils/cast.py
index a0e490f5d..95cd764fe 100644
--- a/gramps/gen/utils/cast.py
+++ b/gramps/gen/utils/cast.py
@@ -41,10 +41,6 @@ LOG = logging.getLogger(".")
 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 from ..const import GRAMPS_LOCALE as glocale
 _ = glocale.translation.gettext
-from ..constfunc import conv_to_unicode
-
-#strings in database are utf-8
-conv_dbstr_to_unicode = lambda x: conv_to_unicode(x, 'UTF-8')
 
 def cast_to_bool(val):
     return val in ['True', 'true', _('True'), _('true'), '1'] # 3139
diff --git a/gramps/plugins/database/bsddb_support/read.py b/gramps/plugins/database/bsddb_support/read.py
index b3ca37b20..9e6d542e0 100644
--- a/gramps/plugins/database/bsddb_support/read.py
+++ b/gramps/plugins/database/bsddb_support/read.py
@@ -68,7 +68,6 @@ from gramps.gen.lib.researcher import Researcher
 from gramps.gen.lib.nameorigintype import NameOriginType
 
 from gramps.gen.utils.callback import Callback
-from gramps.gen.utils.cast import conv_dbstr_to_unicode
 from . import BsddbBaseCursor
 from gramps.gen.db.base import DbReadBase
 from gramps.gen.utils.id import create_id
@@ -916,14 +915,16 @@ class DbBsddbRead(DbReadBase, Callback):
         Return type is a unicode object
         """
         if isinstance(surname, str):
-            surname = surname.encode('utf-8')
-        return conv_dbstr_to_unicode(self.name_group.get(surname, surname))
+            key = surname.encode('utf-8')
+        else:
+            key = surname
+        return self.name_group.get(key, surname)
 
     def get_name_group_keys(self):
         """
         Return the defined names that have been assigned to a default grouping.
         """
-        return list(map(conv_dbstr_to_unicode, list(self.name_group.keys())))
+        return [ng.decode('utf-8') for ng in self.name_group.keys()]
 
     def has_name_group_key(self, name):
         """
diff --git a/gramps/plugins/database/bsddb_support/write.py b/gramps/plugins/database/bsddb_support/write.py
index 54fa64094..39bf48d5b 100644
--- a/gramps/plugins/database/bsddb_support/write.py
+++ b/gramps/plugins/database/bsddb_support/write.py
@@ -72,7 +72,6 @@ from . import (DbBsddbRead, DbWriteBase, BSDDBTxn,
 from gramps.gen.db import exceptions
 from gramps.gen.db.dbconst import *
 from gramps.gen.utils.callback import Callback
-from gramps.gen.utils.cast import conv_dbstr_to_unicode
 from gramps.gen.utils.id import create_id
 from gramps.gen.updatecallback import UpdateCallback
 from gramps.gen.errors import DbError
@@ -1797,9 +1796,8 @@ class DbBsddb(DbBsddbRead, DbWriteBase, UpdateCallback):
         This is a list of unicode objects, which are decoded from the utf-8 in
         bsddb
         """
-        #TODO GTK3: Why double conversion? Convert to a list of str objects!
         self.surname_list = sorted(
-                        map(conv_dbstr_to_unicode, set(self.surnames.keys())),
+                        [s.decode('utf-8') for s in self.surnames.keys()],
                         key=glocale.sort_key)
 
     def add_to_surname_list(self, person, batch_transaction):