diff --git a/src/daft-plan/src/logical_ops/project.rs b/src/daft-plan/src/logical_ops/project.rs
index bb9c754dbc..7b7218e569 100644
--- a/src/daft-plan/src/logical_ops/project.rs
+++ b/src/daft-plan/src/logical_ops/project.rs
@@ -226,7 +226,6 @@ impl Project {
         // (a maybe new input node, and a maybe new list of projection expressions).
         let upstream_schema = input.schema();
         let (projection, substitutions) = Self::factor_expressions(projection, &upstream_schema);
-
         // If there are substitutions to factor out,
         // create a child projection node to do the factoring.
         let input = if substitutions.is_empty() {
@@ -317,10 +316,23 @@ impl Project {
             let substituted_expressions = exprs
                 .iter()
                 .map(|e| {
-                    replace_column_with_semantic_id(e.clone().into(), &subexprs_to_replace, schema)
-                        .unwrap()
-                        .as_ref()
-                        .clone()
+                    let new_expr = replace_column_with_semantic_id(
+                        e.clone().into(),
+                        &subexprs_to_replace,
+                        schema,
+                    )
+                    .unwrap()
+                    .as_ref()
+                    .clone();
+                    // The substitution can unintentionally change the expression's name
+                    // (since the name depends on the first column referenced, which can be substituted away)
+                    // so re-alias the original name here if it has changed.
+                    let old_name = e.name().unwrap();
+                    if new_expr.name().unwrap() != old_name {
+                        Expr::Alias(new_expr.into(), old_name.into())
+                    } else {
+                        new_expr
+                    }
                 })
                 .collect::<Vec<_>>();
 
diff --git a/src/daft-plan/src/optimization/rules/push_down_projection.rs b/src/daft-plan/src/optimization/rules/push_down_projection.rs
index a4259e0c76..dfef1fef25 100644
--- a/src/daft-plan/src/optimization/rules/push_down_projection.rs
+++ b/src/daft-plan/src/optimization/rules/push_down_projection.rs
@@ -547,4 +547,37 @@ mod tests {
         assert_optimized_plan_eq(unoptimized, expected.as_str())?;
         Ok(())
     }
+
+    /// Projection merging: Ensure merging happens even when there is computation
+    /// in both the parent and the child.
+    #[test]
+    fn test_merge_projections() -> DaftResult<()> {
+        let unoptimized = dummy_scan_node(vec![
+            Field::new("a", DataType::Int64),
+            Field::new("b", DataType::Int64),
+        ])
+        .project(
+            vec![
+                binary_op(Operator::Plus, &col("a"), &lit(1)),
+                binary_op(Operator::Plus, &col("b"), &lit(2)),
+                col("a").alias("c"),
+            ],
+            Default::default(),
+        )?
+        .project(
+            vec![
+                binary_op(Operator::Plus, &col("a"), &lit(3)),
+                col("b"),
+                binary_op(Operator::Plus, &col("c"), &lit(4)),
+            ],
+            Default::default(),
+        )?
+        .build();
+
+        let expected = "\
+        Project: [col(a) + lit(1)] + lit(3), col(b) + lit(2), col(a) + lit(4), Partition spec = PartitionSpec { scheme: Unknown, num_partitions: 1, by: None }\
+        \n  Source: Json, File paths = [/foo], File schema = a (Int64), b (Int64), Format-specific config = Json(JsonSourceConfig), Storage config = Native(NativeStorageConfig { io_config: None }), Output schema = a (Int64), b (Int64)";
+        assert_optimized_plan_eq(unoptimized, expected)?;
+        Ok(())
+    }
 }