diff --git a/swh/storage/in_memory.py b/swh/storage/in_memory.py
--- a/swh/storage/in_memory.py
+++ b/swh/storage/in_memory.py
@@ -450,6 +450,9 @@
             The corresponding directory entry if found, None otherwise.
 
         """
+        return self._directory_entry_get_by_path(directory, paths, b'')
+
+    def _directory_entry_get_by_path(self, directory, paths, prefix):
         if not paths:
             return
 
@@ -461,6 +464,8 @@
         def _get_entry(entries, name):
             for entry in entries:
                 if entry['name'] == name:
+                    entry = entry.copy()
+                    entry['name'] = prefix + entry['name']
                     return entry
 
         first_item = _get_entry(contents, paths[0])
@@ -471,8 +476,8 @@
         if not first_item or first_item['type'] != 'dir':
             return
 
-        return self.directory_entry_get_by_path(
-                first_item['target'], paths[1:])
+        return self._directory_entry_get_by_path(
+                first_item['target'], paths[1:], prefix + paths[0] + b'/')
 
     def revision_add(self, revisions):
         """Add revisions to the storage
diff --git a/swh/storage/tests/test_storage.py b/swh/storage/tests/test_storage.py
--- a/swh/storage/tests/test_storage.py
+++ b/swh/storage/tests/test_storage.py
@@ -191,6 +191,18 @@
             ],
         }
 
+        self.dir4 = {
+            'id': hash_to_bytes('33e45d56f88993aae6a0198013efa80716fd8922'),
+            'entries': [
+                {
+                    'name': b'subdir1',
+                    'type': 'dir',
+                    'target': self.dir3['id'],
+                    'perms': from_disk.DentryPerms.directory,
+                },
+            ]
+        }
+
         self.minus_offset = datetime.timezone(datetime.timedelta(minutes=-120))
         self.plus_offset = datetime.timezone(datetime.timedelta(minutes=120))
 
@@ -930,8 +942,8 @@
         init_missing = list(self.storage.directory_missing([self.dir3['id']]))
         self.assertEqual([self.dir3['id']], init_missing)
 
-        actual_result = self.storage.directory_add([self.dir3])
-        self.assertEqual(actual_result, {'directory:add': 1})
+        actual_result = self.storage.directory_add([self.dir3, self.dir4])
+        self.assertEqual(actual_result, {'directory:add': 2})
 
         expected_entries = [
             {
@@ -980,6 +992,16 @@
                 [entry['name']])
             self.assertEqual(actual_entry, expected_entry)
 
+        # same, but deeper
+        for entry, expected_entry in zip(self.dir3['entries'],
+                                         expected_entries):
+            actual_entry = self.storage.directory_entry_get_by_path(
+                self.dir4['id'],
+                [b'subdir1', entry['name']])
+            expected_entry = expected_entry.copy()
+            expected_entry['name'] = b'subdir1/' + expected_entry['name']
+            self.assertEqual(actual_entry, expected_entry)
+
         # when (nothing should be found here since self.dir is not persisted.)
         for entry in self.dir['entries']:
             actual_entry = self.storage.directory_entry_get_by_path(