Intern identifiers coming out of UniqueNameGenerator

pytools/__init__.py

@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ import operator
 import sys
 
 from pytools.decorator import decorator
+from six.moves import intern
 
 try:
     decorator_module = __import__("decorator", level=0)
@@ -1763,6 +1764,8 @@ class UniqueNameGenerator:
             if not self.is_name_conflicting(var_name):
                 break
 
+        var_name = intern(var_name)
+
         self.existing_names.add(var_name)
         return var_name