diff --git a/core/Application.php b/core/Application.php
index 8b12fcc9d25a..e791b1fcdc58 100644
--- a/core/Application.php
+++ b/core/Application.php
@@ -40,7 +40,6 @@
 use OC\Core\Controller\RolesController;
 use OC\Core\Controller\TokenController;
 use OC\Core\Controller\TwoFactorChallengeController;
-use OC\Core\Controller\UserController;
 use OC\Core\Controller\UserSyncController;
 use OC\User\AccountMapper;
 use OC\User\SyncService;
@@ -100,14 +99,6 @@ public function __construct(array $urlParams= []) {
 				$c->query('UserSession')
 			);
 		});
-		$container->registerService('UserController', static function (SimpleContainer $c) {
-			return new UserController(
-				$c->query('AppName'),
-				$c->query('Request'),
-				$c->query('UserManager'),
-				$c->query('Defaults')
-			);
-		});
 		$container->registerService('AvatarController', static function (SimpleContainer $c) {
 			/** @var IServerContainer $server */
 			$server = $c->query('ServerContainer');
diff --git a/core/Controller/UserController.php b/core/Controller/UserController.php
deleted file mode 100644
index 02e3a690f2a7..000000000000
--- a/core/Controller/UserController.php
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,80 +0,0 @@
-<?php
-/**
- * @author Lukas Reschke <lukas@statuscode.ch>
- * @author Morris Jobke <hey@morrisjobke.de>
- * @author Thomas Müller <thomas.mueller@tmit.eu>
- *
- * @copyright Copyright (c) 2018, ownCloud GmbH
- * @license AGPL-3.0
- *
- * This code is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
- * it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License, version 3,
- * as published by the Free Software Foundation.
- *
- * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
- * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
- * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
- * GNU Affero General Public License for more details.
- *
- * You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License, version 3,
- * along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>
- *
- */
-
-namespace OC\Core\Controller;
-
-use \OCP\AppFramework\Controller;
-use \OCP\AppFramework\Http\JSONResponse;
-use \OCP\IRequest;
-
-class UserController extends Controller {
-	/**
-	 * @var \OCP\IUserManager
-	 */
-	protected $userManager;
-
-	/**
-	 * @var \OC_Defaults
-	 */
-	protected $defaults;
-
-	public function __construct(
-		$appName,
-		IRequest $request,
-		$userManager,
-		$defaults
-	) {
-		parent::__construct($appName, $request);
-		$this->userManager = $userManager;
-		$this->defaults = $defaults;
-	}
-
-	/**
-	 * Lookup user display names
-	 *
-	 * @NoAdminRequired
-	 *
-	 * @param array $users
-	 *
-	 * @return JSONResponse
-	 */
-	public function getDisplayNames($users) {
-		$result = [];
-
-		foreach ($users as $user) {
-			$userObject = $this->userManager->get($user);
-			if (\is_object($userObject)) {
-				$result[$user] = $userObject->getDisplayName();
-			} else {
-				$result[$user] = $user;
-			}
-		}
-
-		$json = [
-			'users' => $result,
-			'status' => 'success'
-		];
-
-		return new JSONResponse($json);
-	}
-}
diff --git a/core/routes.php b/core/routes.php
index d46c5c314f84..b381a64ae4cc 100644
--- a/core/routes.php
+++ b/core/routes.php
@@ -37,7 +37,6 @@
 		['name' => 'lost#email', 'url' => '/lostpassword/email', 'verb' => 'POST'],
 		['name' => 'lost#resetform', 'url' => '/lostpassword/reset/form/{token}/{userId}', 'verb' => 'GET'],
 		['name' => 'lost#setPassword', 'url' => '/lostpassword/set/{token}/{userId}', 'verb' => 'POST'],
-		['name' => 'user#getDisplayNames', 'url' => '/displaynames', 'verb' => 'POST'],
 		['name' => 'avatar#getAvatar', 'url' => '/avatar/{userId}/{size}', 'verb' => 'GET'],
 		['name' => 'avatar#deleteAvatar', 'url' => '/avatar/', 'verb' => 'DELETE'],
 		['name' => 'avatar#postCroppedAvatar', 'url' => '/avatar/cropped', 'verb' => 'POST'],