diff --git a/pyo3-derive-backend/src/pymethod.rs b/pyo3-derive-backend/src/pymethod.rs
index 6afb66ef309..a3d2f4ad0ed 100644
--- a/pyo3-derive-backend/src/pymethod.rs
+++ b/pyo3-derive-backend/src/pymethod.rs
@@ -475,10 +475,14 @@ fn impl_arg_param(
 
     let ty = arg.ty;
     let name = arg.name;
+    let transform_error = quote! {
+        |e| pyo3::derive_utils::argument_extraction_error(_py, stringify!(#name), e)
+    };
 
     if spec.is_args(&name) {
         return quote! {
-            let #arg_name = <#ty as pyo3::FromPyObject>::extract(_args.as_ref())?;
+            let #arg_name = <#ty as pyo3::FromPyObject>::extract(_args.as_ref())
+                .map_err(#transform_error)?;
         };
     } else if spec.is_kwargs(&name) {
         return quote! {
@@ -518,7 +522,7 @@ fn impl_arg_param(
 
         quote! {
             let #mut_ _tmp: #target_ty = match #arg_value {
-                Some(_obj) => _obj.extract()?,
+                Some(_obj) => _obj.extract().map_err(#transform_error)?,
                 None => #default,
             };
             let #arg_name = #borrow_tmp;
@@ -526,7 +530,7 @@ fn impl_arg_param(
     } else {
         quote! {
             let #arg_name = match #arg_value {
-                Some(_obj) => _obj.extract()?,
+                Some(_obj) => _obj.extract().map_err(#transform_error)?,
                 None => #default,
             };
         }
diff --git a/src/derive_utils.rs b/src/derive_utils.rs
index 52e22fac2f5..4c2eee5ec86 100644
--- a/src/derive_utils.rs
+++ b/src/derive_utils.rs
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ use crate::err::{PyErr, PyResult};
 use crate::exceptions::PyTypeError;
 use crate::instance::PyNativeType;
 use crate::pyclass::{PyClass, PyClassThreadChecker};
-use crate::types::{PyAny, PyDict, PyModule, PyTuple};
+use crate::types::{PyAny, PyDict, PyModule, PyString, PyTuple};
 use crate::{ffi, GILPool, IntoPy, PyCell, Python};
 use std::cell::UnsafeCell;
 
@@ -111,6 +111,18 @@ pub fn parse_fn_args<'p>(
     Ok((args, kwargs))
 }
 
+/// Add the argument name to the error message of an error which occurred during argument extraction
+pub fn argument_extraction_error(py: Python, arg_name: &str, original_error: PyErr) -> PyErr {
+    let reason = original_error
+        .instance(py)
+        .str()
+        .unwrap_or_else(|_| PyString::new(py, ""));
+    PyErr::from_type(
+        original_error.ptype(py),
+        format!("argument '{}': {}", arg_name, reason),
+    )
+}
+
 /// `Sync` wrapper of `ffi::PyModuleDef`.
 #[doc(hidden)]
 pub struct ModuleDef(UnsafeCell<ffi::PyModuleDef>);
diff --git a/tests/test_pyfunction.rs b/tests/test_pyfunction.rs
index 6f6bf44c077..affb768af65 100644
--- a/tests/test_pyfunction.rs
+++ b/tests/test_pyfunction.rs
@@ -119,3 +119,54 @@ fn test_raw_function() {
         .unwrap();
     assert_eq!(res, "Some(true)");
 }
+
+#[pyfunction]
+fn conversion_error(str_arg: &str, int_arg: i64, tuple_arg: (&str, f64), option_arg: Option<i64>) {
+    println!(
+        "{:?} {:?} {:?} {:?}",
+        str_arg, int_arg, tuple_arg, option_arg
+    );
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn test_conversion_error() {
+    let gil = Python::acquire_gil();
+    let py = gil.python();
+
+    let conversion_error = wrap_pyfunction!(conversion_error)(py).unwrap();
+    py_expect_exception!(
+        py,
+        conversion_error,
+        "conversion_error(None, None, None, None)",
+        PyTypeError,
+        "argument 'str_arg': Can't convert None to PyString"
+    );
+    py_expect_exception!(
+        py,
+        conversion_error,
+        "conversion_error(100, None, None, None)",
+        PyTypeError,
+        "argument 'str_arg': Can't convert 100 to PyString"
+    );
+    py_expect_exception!(
+        py,
+        conversion_error,
+        "conversion_error('string1', 'string2', None, None)",
+        PyTypeError,
+        "argument 'int_arg': 'str' object cannot be interpreted as an integer"
+    );
+    py_expect_exception!(
+        py,
+        conversion_error,
+        "conversion_error('string1', -100, 'string2', None)",
+        PyTypeError,
+        "argument 'tuple_arg': Can't convert 'string2' to PyTuple"
+    );
+    py_expect_exception!(
+        py,
+        conversion_error,
+        "conversion_error('string1', -100, ('string2', 10.), 'string3')",
+        PyTypeError,
+        "argument 'option_arg': 'str' object cannot be interpreted as an integer"
+    );
+}
diff --git a/tests/test_string.rs b/tests/test_string.rs
index 38d375b5418..4e1ea4e1b07 100644
--- a/tests/test_string.rs
+++ b/tests/test_string.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 use pyo3::prelude::*;
-use pyo3::py_run;
 use pyo3::wrap_pyfunction;
 
 mod common;
@@ -15,15 +14,11 @@ fn test_unicode_encode_error() {
     let py = gil.python();
 
     let take_str = wrap_pyfunction!(take_str)(py).unwrap();
-    py_run!(
+    py_expect_exception!(
         py,
         take_str,
-        r#"
-        try:
-            take_str('\ud800')
-        except UnicodeEncodeError as e:
-            error_msg = "'utf-8' codec can't encode character '\\ud800' in position 0: surrogates not allowed"
-            assert str(e) == error_msg
-        "#
+        "take_str('\\ud800')",
+        PyUnicodeEncodeError,
+        "argument '_s': 'utf-8' codec can't encode character '\\ud800' in position 0: surrogates not allowed"
     );
 }