diff --git a/submodule.c b/submodule.c
index bc48ea3b68..3c388f85cc 100644
--- a/submodule.c
+++ b/submodule.c
@@ -1283,7 +1283,7 @@ static int get_next_submodule(struct child_process *cp,
 		case RECURSE_SUBMODULES_DEFAULT:
 		case RECURSE_SUBMODULES_ON_DEMAND:
 			if (!submodule ||
-			    !unsorted_string_list_lookup(
+			    !string_list_lookup(
 					&changed_submodule_names,
 					submodule->name))
 				continue;
@@ -1377,6 +1377,7 @@ int fetch_populated_submodules(struct repository *r,
 	/* default value, "--submodule-prefix" and its value are added later */
 
 	calculate_changed_submodule_paths(r);
+	string_list_sort(&changed_submodule_names);
 	run_processes_parallel(max_parallel_jobs,
 			       get_next_submodule,
 			       fetch_start_failure,