diff --git a/IO/Image/Testing/Cxx/CMakeLists.txt b/IO/Image/Testing/Cxx/CMakeLists.txt
index 30d106cafc..dbc0321bd7 100644
--- a/IO/Image/Testing/Cxx/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/IO/Image/Testing/Cxx/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ vtk_add_test_cxx(vtkIOImageCxxTests tests
   NO_DATA NO_VALID NO_OUTPUT
   TestDataObjectIO.cxx
   TestMetaIO.cxx
+  TestMetaImageReaderName.cxx
   TestImportExport.cxx
   TestHDRReaderInvalidFileHandling.cxx
   TestBMPReaderInvalidFileHandling.cxx
diff --git a/IO/Image/vtkMetaImageReader.cxx b/IO/Image/vtkMetaImageReader.cxx
index 19e8baf0f8..3321db733e 100644
--- a/IO/Image/vtkMetaImageReader.cxx
+++ b/IO/Image/vtkMetaImageReader.cxx
@@ -215,8 +215,6 @@ void vtkMetaImageReader::ExecuteDataWithInformation(vtkDataObject* output, vtkIn
     return;
   }
 
-  data->GetPointData()->GetScalars()->SetName("MetaImage");
-
   this->ComputeDataIncrements();
 
   if (!this->MetaImagePtr->Read(this->FileName, true, data->GetScalarPointer()))
@@ -226,6 +224,9 @@ void vtkMetaImageReader::ExecuteDataWithInformation(vtkDataObject* output, vtkIn
   }
 
   this->MetaImagePtr->ElementByteOrderFix();
+
+  const char* name = this->MetaImagePtr->Name();
+  data->GetPointData()->GetScalars()->SetName(name && name[0] ? name : "MetaImage");
 }
 
 int vtkMetaImageReader::RequestInformation(
diff --git a/IO/Image/vtkMetaImageReader.h b/IO/Image/vtkMetaImageReader.h
index 93165ef6c1..8405a151bc 100644
--- a/IO/Image/vtkMetaImageReader.h
+++ b/IO/Image/vtkMetaImageReader.h
@@ -37,6 +37,10 @@
  *
  * MetaImage headers are expected to have extension: ".mha" or ".mhd"
  *
+ * The optional Name header field, specified before ElementDataFile, is used as
+ * the point-data scalar array name. If it is absent or empty, the scalar array
+ * is named "MetaImage".
+ *
  * Once you write this header text file, it should be possible to read the
  * image into your ITK based application using the itk::FileIOToImageFilter
  * class.
diff --git a/IO/Image/Testing/Cxx/TestMetaImageReaderName.cxx b/IO/Image/Testing/Cxx/TestMetaImageReaderName.cxx
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..836731d71d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/IO/Image/Testing/Cxx/TestMetaImageReaderName.cxx
@@ -0,0 +1,142 @@
+// SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) Ken Martin, Will Schroeder, Bill Lorensen
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
+
+#include "vtkDataArray.h"
+#include "vtkImageData.h"
+#include "vtkMetaImageReader.h"
+#include "vtkNew.h"
+#include "vtkPointData.h"
+#include "vtkTestUtilities.h"
+
+#include "vtksys/FStream.hxx"
+#include "vtksys/SystemTools.hxx"
+
+#include <cstdlib>
+#include <cstring>
+#include <iostream>
+#include <string>
+
+namespace
+{
+constexpr unsigned char Pixels[] = { 0, 1, 2, 3, 127, 128, 254, 255 };
+
+bool WriteImage(const std::string& fileName, bool local, const char* nameField)
+{
+  vtksys::ofstream header(fileName.c_str(), std::ios::binary);
+  header << "ObjectType = Image\n"
+         << "NDims = 3\n"
+         << "BinaryData = True\n"
+         << "BinaryDataByteOrderMSB = False\n"
+         << nameField << "DimSize = 2 2 2\n"
+         << "ElementType = MET_UCHAR\n"
+         << "ElementDataFile = " << (local ? "LOCAL" : "TestMetaImageReaderName.raw") << '\n';
+  if (local)
+  {
+    header.write(reinterpret_cast<const char*>(Pixels), sizeof(Pixels));
+  }
+  header.close();
+  return !header.fail();
+}
+
+bool CheckImage(vtkMetaImageReader* reader, const char* expectedName)
+{
+  vtkImageData* image = reader->GetOutput();
+  vtkDataArray* scalars = image->GetPointData()->GetScalars();
+  if (!scalars || !scalars->GetName() || std::strcmp(scalars->GetName(), expectedName) != 0)
+  {
+    std::cerr << reader->GetFileName() << ": expected scalar name " << expectedName << ", got "
+              << (scalars && scalars->GetName() ? scalars->GetName() : "(null)") << '\n';
+    return false;
+  }
+
+  const int* dimensions = image->GetDimensions();
+  if (dimensions[0] != 2 || dimensions[1] != 2 || dimensions[2] != 2 ||
+    scalars->GetDataType() != VTK_UNSIGNED_CHAR || scalars->GetNumberOfComponents() != 1 ||
+    scalars->GetNumberOfTuples() != 8)
+  {
+    std::cerr << reader->GetFileName() << ": unexpected image dimensions or scalar layout\n";
+    return false;
+  }
+  for (vtkIdType i = 0; i < 8; ++i)
+  {
+    if (scalars->GetComponent(i, 0) != Pixels[i])
+    {
+      std::cerr << reader->GetFileName() << ": unexpected value at voxel " << i << '\n';
+      return false;
+    }
+  }
+  return true;
+}
+}
+
+int TestMetaImageReaderName(int argc, char* argv[])
+{
+  char* temp =
+    vtkTestUtilities::GetArgOrEnvOrDefault("-T", argc, argv, "VTK_TEMP_DIR", "Testing/Temporary");
+  const std::string tempDir = temp;
+  delete[] temp;
+  if (!vtksys::SystemTools::MakeDirectory(tempDir))
+  {
+    std::cerr << "Cannot create temporary directory " << tempDir << '\n';
+    return EXIT_FAILURE;
+  }
+
+  const std::string rawName = tempDir + "/TestMetaImageReaderName.raw";
+  vtksys::ofstream raw(rawName.c_str(), std::ios::binary);
+  raw.write(reinterpret_cast<const char*>(Pixels), sizeof(Pixels));
+  raw.close();
+  if (raw.fail())
+  {
+    std::cerr << "Cannot write " << rawName << '\n';
+    vtksys::SystemTools::RemoveFile(rawName);
+    return EXIT_FAILURE;
+  }
+
+  const struct
+  {
+    const char* Field;
+    const char* Expected;
+  } cases[] = {
+    { "Name = First volume\n", "First volume" },
+    { "", "MetaImage" },
+    { "Name = Second volume\n", "Second volume" },
+    { "Name =\n", "MetaImage" },
+    { "Name = Third volume\n", "Third volume" },
+    { "Name = \t  \n", "MetaImage" },
+  };
+
+  // Reuse one reader to catch stale names when switching files.
+  vtkNew<vtkMetaImageReader> reader;
+  bool success = true;
+  for (bool local : { true, false })
+  {
+    int index = 0;
+    for (const auto& test : cases)
+    {
+      const std::string fileName = tempDir + "/TestMetaImageReaderName" + std::to_string(index++) +
+        (local ? ".mha" : ".mhd");
+      if (!WriteImage(fileName, local, test.Field))
+      {
+        std::cerr << "Cannot write " << fileName << '\n';
+        success = false;
+      }
+      else
+      {
+        reader->SetFileName(fileName.c_str());
+        reader->UpdateInformation();
+        reader->Update();
+        success = CheckImage(reader, test.Expected) && success;
+
+        // Check both a cached update and a forced reread.
+        reader->Update();
+        success = CheckImage(reader, test.Expected) && success;
+        reader->Modified();
+        reader->Update();
+        success = CheckImage(reader, test.Expected) && success;
+      }
+      vtksys::SystemTools::RemoveFile(fileName);
+    }
+  }
+  vtksys::SystemTools::RemoveFile(rawName);
+  return success ? EXIT_SUCCESS : EXIT_FAILURE;
+}