diff --git a/include/trick/MemoryManager.hh b/include/trick/MemoryManager.hh
index 6f98c8ad..8227f568 100644
--- a/include/trick/MemoryManager.hh
+++ b/include/trick/MemoryManager.hh
@@ -309,7 +309,7 @@ namespace Trick {
              @param var_name - the address of the variable.
              @return 0 = SUCCESS, 1 = FAILURE
              */
-            int delete_var(const char* var_name);
+            int delete_var(std::string var_name);
 
             /**
              Forget about the external variable at the given address. DOES NOT attempt to deallocate the
@@ -325,7 +325,7 @@ namespace Trick {
              @param var_name - the address of the external variable.
              @return 0 = SUCCESS, 1 = FAILURE
              */
-            int delete_extern_var(const char* var_name);
+            int delete_extern_var(std::string var_name);
 
             /**
              Checkpoint all allocations known to the MemoryManager to the given stream.
diff --git a/trick_source/sim_services/MemoryManager/MemoryManager_delete_var.cpp b/trick_source/sim_services/MemoryManager/MemoryManager_delete_var.cpp
index cd5a17f8..4bde1c45 100644
--- a/trick_source/sim_services/MemoryManager/MemoryManager_delete_var.cpp
+++ b/trick_source/sim_services/MemoryManager/MemoryManager_delete_var.cpp
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ int Trick::MemoryManager::delete_var(void* address ) {
 }
 
 // MEMBER FUNCTION
-int Trick::MemoryManager::delete_var( const char* name) {
+int Trick::MemoryManager::delete_var( std::string name) {
 
     VARIABLE_MAP::iterator pos;
     ALLOC_INFO *alloc_info;
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ int Trick::MemoryManager::delete_extern_var( void* address) {
 }
 
 // MEMBER FUNCTION
-int Trick::MemoryManager::delete_extern_var( const char* name) {
+int Trick::MemoryManager::delete_extern_var( std::string name) {
     // delete_var will remove the external variable from the allocation map
     return delete_var(name) ;
 }