diff --git a/importlib_metadata/__init__.py b/importlib_metadata/__init__.py
index cb20875b..10e57c96 100644
--- a/importlib_metadata/__init__.py
+++ b/importlib_metadata/__init__.py
@@ -565,8 +565,9 @@ def find_distributions(self, context=DistributionFinder.Context()):
     @classmethod
     def _search_paths(cls, name, paths):
         """Find metadata directories in paths heuristically."""
+        prepared = Prepared(name)
         return itertools.chain.from_iterable(
-            path.search(Prepared(name)) for path in map(FastPath, paths)
+            path.search(prepared) for path in map(FastPath, paths)
         )