diff --git a/pkg/internal/discover/watcher_kube.go b/pkg/internal/discover/watcher_kube.go
index f405673be..425c18e29 100644
--- a/pkg/internal/discover/watcher_kube.go
+++ b/pkg/internal/discover/watcher_kube.go
@@ -248,9 +248,9 @@ func withMetadata(pp processAttrs, info *kube.PodInfo) processAttrs {
 
 	if info.Owner != nil {
 		ret.metadata[attr.Name(info.Owner.LabelName).Prom()] = info.Owner.Name
-		topName, topLabel := info.Owner.TopOwnerNameLabel()
-		ret.metadata[attr.Name(topLabel).Prom()] = topName
-		ret.metadata[services.AttrOwnerName] = topName
+		topOwner := info.Owner.TopOwner()
+		ret.metadata[attr.Name(topOwner.LabelName).Prom()] = topOwner.Name
+		ret.metadata[services.AttrOwnerName] = topOwner.Name
 	}
 	return ret
 }
diff --git a/pkg/internal/kube/informer.go b/pkg/internal/kube/informer.go
index 27418b5be..ec3b3651f 100644
--- a/pkg/internal/kube/informer.go
+++ b/pkg/internal/kube/informer.go
@@ -324,8 +324,8 @@ func (k *Metadata) AddNodeEventHandler(h cache.ResourceEventHandler) error {
 }
 
 func (i *PodInfo) ServiceName() string {
-	if on, _ := i.Owner.TopOwnerNameLabel(); on != "" {
-		return on
+	if to := i.Owner.TopOwner(); to != nil {
+		return to.Name
 	}
 	return i.Name
 }
diff --git a/pkg/internal/kube/owner.go b/pkg/internal/kube/owner.go
index d8e99b909..13bfbb5ea 100644
--- a/pkg/internal/kube/owner.go
+++ b/pkg/internal/kube/owner.go
@@ -62,30 +62,30 @@ func unrecognizedOwner(or *metav1.OwnerReference) *Owner {
 	}
 }
 
-// TopOwnerNameLabel returns the top-level name and metadata label in the owner chain.
+// TopOwner returns the top Owner in the owner chain.
 // For example, if the owner is a ReplicaSet, it will return the Deployment name.
-func (o *Owner) TopOwnerNameLabel() (string, OwnerLabel) {
-	if o == nil {
-		return "", ""
-	}
-	if o.LabelName == OwnerReplicaSet {
-		// we have two levels of ownership at most
-		if o.Owner != nil {
-			return o.Owner.Name, o.Owner.LabelName
-		}
-		// if the replicaset informer is disabled, we can't get the owner deployment,
-		// so we will heuristically extract it from the ReplicaSet Name (and cache it)
-		topOwnerName := o.Name
-		if idx := strings.LastIndexByte(topOwnerName, '-'); idx > 0 {
-			topOwnerName = topOwnerName[:idx]
+func (o *Owner) TopOwner() *Owner {
+	// we have two levels of ownership at most
+	if o != nil && o.LabelName == OwnerReplicaSet && o.Owner == nil {
+		// we heuristically extract the Deployment name from the replicaset name
+		if idx := strings.LastIndexByte(o.Name, '-'); idx > 0 {
 			o.Owner = &Owner{
-				Name:      topOwnerName,
+				Name:      o.Name[:idx],
 				LabelName: OwnerDeployment,
+				Kind:      "Deployment",
 			}
-			return topOwnerName, OwnerDeployment
+		} else {
+			// just caching the own replicaset as owner, in order to cache the result
+			o.Owner = o
 		}
+		return o.Owner
+	}
+
+	// just return the highest existing owner (two levels of ownership maximum)
+	if o == nil || o.Owner == nil {
+		return o
 	}
-	return o.Name, o.LabelName
+	return o.Owner
 }
 
 func (o *Owner) String() string {
diff --git a/pkg/internal/kube/owner_test.go b/pkg/internal/kube/owner_test.go
index db42359ac..9e2cba65c 100644
--- a/pkg/internal/kube/owner_test.go
+++ b/pkg/internal/kube/owner_test.go
@@ -61,27 +61,33 @@ func TestTopOwnerLabel(t *testing.T) {
 	type testCase struct {
 		expectedLabel OwnerLabel
 		expectedName  string
+		expectedKind  string
 		owner         *Owner
 	}
 	for _, tc := range []testCase{
-		{owner: nil},
-		{expectedLabel: OwnerDaemonSet, expectedName: "ds",
-			owner: &Owner{LabelName: OwnerDaemonSet, Name: "ds"}},
-		{expectedLabel: OwnerDeployment, expectedName: "rs-without-dep-meta",
-			owner: &Owner{LabelName: OwnerReplicaSet, Name: "rs-without-dep-meta-34fb1fa3a"}},
-		{expectedLabel: OwnerDeployment, expectedName: "dep",
-			owner: &Owner{LabelName: OwnerReplicaSet, Name: "dep-34fb1fa3a",
-				Owner: &Owner{LabelName: OwnerDeployment, Name: "dep"}}},
+		{expectedLabel: OwnerDaemonSet, expectedName: "ds", expectedKind: "DaemonSet",
+			owner: &Owner{LabelName: OwnerDaemonSet, Name: "ds", Kind: "DaemonSet"}},
+		{expectedLabel: OwnerDeployment, expectedName: "rs-without-dep-meta", expectedKind: "Deployment",
+			owner: &Owner{LabelName: OwnerReplicaSet, Name: "rs-without-dep-meta-34fb1fa3a", Kind: "ReplicaSet"}},
+		{expectedLabel: OwnerDeployment, expectedName: "dep", expectedKind: "Deployment",
+			owner: &Owner{LabelName: OwnerReplicaSet, Name: "dep-34fb1fa3a", Kind: "ReplicaSet",
+				Owner: &Owner{LabelName: OwnerDeployment, Name: "dep", Kind: "Deployment"}}},
 	} {
 		t.Run(tc.expectedName, func(t *testing.T) {
-			name, label := tc.owner.TopOwnerNameLabel()
-			assert.Equal(t, tc.expectedName, name)
-			assert.Equal(t, tc.expectedLabel, label)
+			topOwner := tc.owner.TopOwner()
+			assert.Equal(t, tc.expectedName, topOwner.Name)
+			assert.Equal(t, tc.expectedLabel, topOwner.LabelName)
+			assert.Equal(t, tc.expectedKind, topOwner.Kind)
 
 			// check that the output is consistent (e.g. after ReplicaSet owner data is cached)
-			name, label = tc.owner.TopOwnerNameLabel()
-			assert.Equal(t, tc.expectedName, name)
-			assert.Equal(t, tc.expectedLabel, label)
+			topOwner = tc.owner.TopOwner()
+			assert.Equal(t, tc.expectedName, topOwner.Name)
+			assert.Equal(t, tc.expectedLabel, topOwner.LabelName)
+			assert.Equal(t, tc.expectedKind, topOwner.Kind)
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+func TestTopOwner_Nil(t *testing.T) {
+	assert.Nil(t, (*Owner)(nil).TopOwner())
+}
diff --git a/pkg/internal/netolly/transform/k8s/kubernetes.go b/pkg/internal/netolly/transform/k8s/kubernetes.go
index d5567c921..cd7a69a54 100644
--- a/pkg/internal/netolly/transform/k8s/kubernetes.go
+++ b/pkg/internal/netolly/transform/k8s/kubernetes.go
@@ -130,11 +130,12 @@ func (n *decorator) decorate(flow *ebpf.Record, prefix, ip string) bool {
 		}
 		return false
 	}
+	topOwner := ipinfo.Owner.TopOwner()
 	flow.Attrs.Metadata[attr.Name(prefix+attrSuffixNs)] = meta.Namespace
 	flow.Attrs.Metadata[attr.Name(prefix+attrSuffixName)] = meta.Name
 	flow.Attrs.Metadata[attr.Name(prefix+attrSuffixType)] = ipinfo.Kind
-	flow.Attrs.Metadata[attr.Name(prefix+attrSuffixOwnerName)] = ipinfo.Owner.Name
-	flow.Attrs.Metadata[attr.Name(prefix+attrSuffixOwnerType)] = ipinfo.Owner.Kind
+	flow.Attrs.Metadata[attr.Name(prefix+attrSuffixOwnerName)] = topOwner.Name
+	flow.Attrs.Metadata[attr.Name(prefix+attrSuffixOwnerType)] = topOwner.Kind
 	if ipinfo.HostIP != "" {
 		flow.Attrs.Metadata[attr.Name(prefix+attrSuffixHostIP)] = ipinfo.HostIP
 		if ipinfo.HostName != "" {
diff --git a/pkg/transform/k8s.go b/pkg/transform/k8s.go
index 498f6123e..92011d205 100644
--- a/pkg/transform/k8s.go
+++ b/pkg/transform/k8s.go
@@ -130,8 +130,8 @@ func (md *metadataDecorator) appendMetadata(span *request.Span, info *kube.PodIn
 	}
 	if info.Owner != nil {
 		span.ServiceID.Metadata[attr.Name(info.Owner.LabelName)] = info.Owner.Name
-		topName, topLabel := info.Owner.TopOwnerNameLabel()
-		span.ServiceID.Metadata[attr.Name(topLabel)] = topName
+		topOwner := info.Owner.TopOwner()
+		span.ServiceID.Metadata[attr.Name(topOwner.LabelName)] = topOwner.Name
 	}
 	// override hostname by the Pod name
 	span.ServiceID.HostName = info.Name