Retrieving sys_pubFilename at the item level

I am trying to retrieve any items parent sys_pubFileName attribute. We have redirect functionality built that looks at an xml file to know what redirects should go where. There are cases if someone types in a folder name that is already in the system…the redirect functionality would bypass that section. We need to retrieve the first level sys_pubFileNames to do a comparison check when the redirect item is generated.

Any ideas?

An example would be /joe. If /joe already exists, the cms validation needs to disallow a new /joe from being created.