diff --git a/pandas/io/excel.py b/pandas/io/excel.py
index d5258cb32e6e0..8f1025ff59b1d 100644
--- a/pandas/io/excel.py
+++ b/pandas/io/excel.py
@@ -309,6 +309,9 @@ def _excel2num(x):
                     cols.append(_excel2num(rng))
             return cols
 
+        if len(parse_cols) != len(set(parse_cols)):
+            warn('You have duplicate column names. Consider re-name them. ')
+
         if isinstance(parse_cols, int):
             return i <= parse_cols
         elif isinstance(parse_cols, compat.string_types):