diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index fcab95b7462..87631799952 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ Features added
   3.10 or above
 * #9447: html theme: Expose the version of Sphinx in the form of tuple as a
   template variable ``sphinx_version_tuple``
+* #9594: manpage: Suppress the title of man page if description is empty
 * #9445: py domain: ``:py:property:`` directive supports ``:classmethod:``
   option to describe the class property
 * #9524: test: SphinxTestApp can take ``builddir`` as an argument
diff --git a/doc/usage/configuration.rst b/doc/usage/configuration.rst
index d3eb462a0d3..a6607e57eb9 100644
--- a/doc/usage/configuration.rst
+++ b/doc/usage/configuration.rst
@@ -2331,6 +2331,8 @@ These options influence manual page output.
 
    *description*
      Description of the manual page.  This is used in the NAME section.
+     Can be an empty string if you do not want to automatically generate
+     the NAME section.
 
    *authors*
      A list of strings with authors, or a single string.  Can be an empty
diff --git a/sphinx/writers/manpage.py b/sphinx/writers/manpage.py
index 90f3accbfd7..12fc31281bc 100644
--- a/sphinx/writers/manpage.py
+++ b/sphinx/writers/manpage.py
@@ -112,9 +112,10 @@ def __init__(self, document: nodes.document, builder: Builder) -> None:
     # overwritten -- added quotes around all .TH arguments
     def header(self) -> str:
         tmpl = (".TH \"%(title_upper)s\" \"%(manual_section)s\""
-                " \"%(date)s\" \"%(version)s\" \"%(manual_group)s\"\n"
-                ".SH NAME\n"
-                "%(title)s \\- %(subtitle)s\n")
+                " \"%(date)s\" \"%(version)s\" \"%(manual_group)s\"\n")
+        if self._docinfo['subtitle']:
+            tmpl += (".SH NAME\n"
+                     "%(title)s \\- %(subtitle)s\n")
         return tmpl % self._docinfo
 
     def visit_start_of_file(self, node: Element) -> None:
diff --git a/tests/test_build_manpage.py b/tests/test_build_manpage.py
index 3680d8651be..e2479e4de77 100644
--- a/tests/test_build_manpage.py
+++ b/tests/test_build_manpage.py
@@ -23,6 +23,9 @@ def test_all(app, status, warning):
     assert r'\fBprint \fP\fIi\fP\fB\en\fP' in content
     assert r'\fBmanpage\en\fP' in content
 
+    # heading (title + description)
+    assert r'sphinxtests \- Sphinx <Tests> 0.6alpha1' in content
+
     # term of definition list including nodes.strong
     assert '\n.B term1\n' in content
     assert '\nterm2 (\\fBstronged partially\\fP)\n' in content
@@ -35,6 +38,15 @@ def test_all(app, status, warning):
     assert 'Footnotes' not in content
 
 
+@pytest.mark.sphinx('man', testroot='basic',
+                    confoverrides={'man_pages': [('index', 'title', None, [], 1)]})
+def test_man_pages_empty_description(app, status, warning):
+    app.builder.build_all()
+
+    content = (app.outdir / 'title.1').read_text()
+    assert r'title \-' not in content
+
+
 @pytest.mark.sphinx('man', testroot='basic',
                     confoverrides={'man_make_section_directory': True})
 def test_man_make_section_directory(app, status, warning):