diff --git a/apps/apps.c b/apps/apps.c
index 4090e605e5415bb66fc04178a83dcaea899e8c7e..9be656054a45f5753f0acc7f456a01f90532eb00 100644
--- a/apps/apps.c
+++ b/apps/apps.c
@@ -1768,8 +1768,14 @@ X509_NAME *parse_name(const char *cp, long chtype, int canmulti)
     char *work;
     X509_NAME *n;
 
-    if (*cp++ != '/')
+    if (*cp++ != '/') {
+        BIO_printf(bio_err,
+                   "name is expected to be in the format "
+                   "/type0=value0/type1=value1/type2=... where characters may "
+                   "be escaped by \\. This name is not in that format: '%s'\n",
+                   --cp);
         return NULL;
+    }
 
     n = X509_NAME_new();
     if (n == NULL)