diff --git a/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/NamespaceExistException.java b/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/NamespaceExistException.java
index 393a003802c..23fa130092b 100644
--- a/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/NamespaceExistException.java
+++ b/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/NamespaceExistException.java
@@ -32,6 +32,6 @@ public class NamespaceExistException extends DoNotRetryIOException {
   }
 
   public NamespaceExistException(String namespace) {
-    super(namespace);
+    super("Namespace " + namespace + " already exists");
   }
 }