diff --git a/Lib/argparse.py b/Lib/argparse.py
index 8a12dea76687994..afae9d375cefa8b 100644
--- a/Lib/argparse.py
+++ b/Lib/argparse.py
@@ -727,6 +727,8 @@ def _get_action_name(argument):
         return argument.metavar
     elif argument.dest not in (None, SUPPRESS):
         return argument.dest
+    elif isinstance(argument, _SubParsersAction):
+        return '{%s}' % ','.join(map(str, argument.choices))
     else:
         return None
 
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_argparse.py b/Lib/test/test_argparse.py
index 4d0316f73edcd29..558861fb85e13ce 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_argparse.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_argparse.py
@@ -2052,6 +2052,12 @@ def test_required_subparsers_via_kwarg(self):
         subparsers.add_parser('run')
         self._test_required_subparsers(parser)
 
+    def test_required_subparsers_via_kwarg_no_dest(self):
+        parser = ErrorRaisingArgumentParser()
+        subparsers = parser.add_subparsers(required=True)
+        subparsers.add_parser('run')
+        self.assertArgumentParserError(parser.parse_args, ())
+
     def test_required_subparsers_default(self):
         parser = ErrorRaisingArgumentParser()
         subparsers = parser.add_subparsers(dest='command')
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core and Builtins/2021-05-21-09-18-14.bpo-33109.s97TSf.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core and Builtins/2021-05-21-09-18-14.bpo-33109.s97TSf.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000000..c0835356caccc50
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Core and Builtins/2021-05-21-09-18-14.bpo-33109.s97TSf.rst	
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Fixing argparse required subparsers error handling