diff --git a/theories/strings.v b/theories/strings.v
index 313342188ecabb096bc64da24dfbc27b74885bc7..6433a991d14a20e86f9ff7ce5ccd285adf1a9c51 100644
--- a/theories/strings.v
+++ b/theories/strings.v
@@ -2,7 +2,12 @@
 (* This file is distributed under the terms of the BSD license. *)
 From Coq Require Import Ascii.
 From Coq Require Export String.
-From stdpp Require Export countable.
+From stdpp Require Export list.
+From stdpp Require Import countable.
+
+(* To avoid randomly ending up with String.length because this module is
+imported hereditarily somewhere. *)
+Notation length := List.length.
 
 (** * Fix scopes *)
 Open Scope string_scope.