diff --git a/Doc/library/sqlite3.rst b/Doc/library/sqlite3.rst
index e20b4b3db370eb..8609be2ca65a8d 100644
--- a/Doc/library/sqlite3.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/sqlite3.rst
@@ -165,9 +165,10 @@ Module functions and constants
    that 'mytype' is the type of the column. It will try to find an entry of
    'mytype' in the converters dictionary and then use the converter function found
    there to return the value. The column name found in :attr:`Cursor.description`
-   is only the first word of the column name, i.  e. if you use something like
-   ``'as "x [datetime]"'`` in your SQL, then we will parse out everything until the
-   first blank for the column name: the column name would simply be "x".
+   does not include the type, i. e. if you use something like
+   ``'as "Expiration date [datetime]"'`` in your SQL, then we will parse out
+   everything until the first ``'['`` for the column name and strip
+   the preceeding space: the column name would simply be "Expiration date".
 
 
 .. function:: connect(database[, timeout, detect_types, isolation_level, check_same_thread, factory, cached_statements, uri])
diff --git a/Lib/sqlite3/test/regression.py b/Lib/sqlite3/test/regression.py
index 865bd88f74f10a..25c58f562d4c3f 100644
--- a/Lib/sqlite3/test/regression.py
+++ b/Lib/sqlite3/test/regression.py
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ def CheckStatementReset(self):
     def CheckColumnNameWithSpaces(self):
         cur = self.con.cursor()
         cur.execute('select 1 as "foo bar [datetime]"')
-        self.assertEqual(cur.description[0][0], "foo bar")
+        self.assertEqual(cur.description[0][0], "foo bar [datetime]")
 
         cur.execute('select 1 as "foo baz"')
         self.assertEqual(cur.description[0][0], "foo baz")
diff --git a/Lib/sqlite3/test/types.py b/Lib/sqlite3/test/types.py
index 6bc8d71def0e31..77811212d49cb0 100644
--- a/Lib/sqlite3/test/types.py
+++ b/Lib/sqlite3/test/types.py
@@ -253,13 +253,13 @@ def CheckNone(self):
 
     def CheckColName(self):
         self.cur.execute("insert into test(x) values (?)", ("xxx",))
-        self.cur.execute('select x as "x [bar]" from test')
+        self.cur.execute('select x as "x y [bar]" from test')
         val = self.cur.fetchone()[0]
         self.assertEqual(val, "<xxx>")
 
         # Check if the stripping of colnames works. Everything after the first
-        # whitespace should be stripped.
-        self.assertEqual(self.cur.description[0][0], "x")
+        # '[' (and the preceeding space) should be stripped.
+        self.assertEqual(self.cur.description[0][0], "x y")
 
     def CheckCaseInConverterName(self):
         self.cur.execute("select 'other' as \"x [b1b1]\"")
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-03-11-23-08-25.bpo-39652.gbasrk.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-03-11-23-08-25.bpo-39652.gbasrk.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..9b75ae9df6cec0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-03-11-23-08-25.bpo-39652.gbasrk.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+The column name found in ``sqlite3.Cursor.description`` is now truncated on
+the first '[' only if the PARSE_COLNAMES option is set.
diff --git a/Modules/_sqlite/cursor.c b/Modules/_sqlite/cursor.c
index e96f3888b46163..6c98a99bd02573 100644
--- a/Modules/_sqlite/cursor.c
+++ b/Modules/_sqlite/cursor.c
@@ -198,22 +198,31 @@ int pysqlite_build_row_cast_map(pysqlite_Cursor* self)
     return 0;
 }
 
-PyObject* _pysqlite_build_column_name(const char* colname)
+static PyObject *
+_pysqlite_build_column_name(pysqlite_Cursor *self, const char *colname)
 {
     const char* pos;
+    Py_ssize_t len;
 
     if (!colname) {
         Py_RETURN_NONE;
     }
 
-    for (pos = colname;; pos++) {
-        if (*pos == 0 || *pos == '[') {
-            if ((*pos == '[') && (pos > colname) && (*(pos-1) == ' ')) {
-                pos--;
+    if (self->connection->detect_types & PARSE_COLNAMES) {
+        for (pos = colname; *pos; pos++) {
+            if (*pos == '[') {
+                if ((pos != colname) && (*(pos-1) == ' ')) {
+                    pos--;
+                }
+                break;
             }
-            return PyUnicode_FromStringAndSize(colname, pos - colname);
         }
+        len = pos - colname;
+    }
+    else {
+        len = strlen(colname);
     }
+    return PyUnicode_FromStringAndSize(colname, len);
 }
 
 /*
@@ -389,6 +398,7 @@ PyObject* _pysqlite_query_execute(pysqlite_Cursor* self, int multiple, PyObject*
     PyObject* result;
     int numcols;
     PyObject* descriptor;
+    PyObject* column_name;
     PyObject* second_argument = NULL;
     sqlite_int64 lastrowid;
 
@@ -569,7 +579,13 @@ PyObject* _pysqlite_query_execute(pysqlite_Cursor* self, int multiple, PyObject*
                 if (!descriptor) {
                     goto error;
                 }
-                PyTuple_SetItem(descriptor, 0, _pysqlite_build_column_name(sqlite3_column_name(self->statement->st, i)));
+                column_name = _pysqlite_build_column_name(self,
+                                sqlite3_column_name(self->statement->st, i));
+                if (!column_name) {
+                    Py_DECREF(descriptor);
+                    goto error;
+                }
+                PyTuple_SetItem(descriptor, 0, column_name);
                 Py_INCREF(Py_None); PyTuple_SetItem(descriptor, 1, Py_None);
                 Py_INCREF(Py_None); PyTuple_SetItem(descriptor, 2, Py_None);
                 Py_INCREF(Py_None); PyTuple_SetItem(descriptor, 3, Py_None);