diff --git a/builtin/checkout.c b/builtin/checkout.c
index f8033f446e..eb51872347 100644
--- a/builtin/checkout.c
+++ b/builtin/checkout.c
@@ -729,7 +729,7 @@ static void suggest_reattach(struct commit *commit, struct rev_info *revs)
 			"If you want to keep them by creating a new branch, "
 			"this may be a good time\nto do so with:\n\n"
 			" git branch new_branch_name %s\n\n"),
-			sha1_to_hex(commit->object.sha1));
+			find_unique_abbrev(commit->object.sha1, DEFAULT_ABBREV));
 }
 
 /*