buffer-name in find-file-hook

[Joe Bloggs <who@cares.invalid>]

Hi, I am writing a function to add to find-file-hook for hiding text regions saved in 
a list. I need to know the buffer-name of the opened file, so that I can compare it
with the buffer names of the saved regions.
Here is the function:

;; hook for re-hiding regions when new file is opened
(defun hide-region-find-file-hook ()
  (dolist (current hide-region-overlays)
    (if (eq (buffer-name) (car current))
        etc...

the problem is that the 'if' statement never evaluates to true.
I tried debugging in edebug, and both (buffer-name) and (car current) 
evaluate to the same string, but for some reason the 'if' statement evaluates to 'nil'.
I have used the same construct in another function that is called from within the buffer, 
and it works fine.
Can anyone help?