diff --git a/tools/nid_names.py b/tools/nid_names.py
index 0df8c3f147..2c4cce5a23 100644
--- a/tools/nid_names.py
+++ b/tools/nid_names.py
@@ -163,9 +163,11 @@ def main(argv=None):
     options = [option for action in parser._actions for option in action.option_strings]
     arguments = sys.argv[1:] if argv is None else argv
     args = parser.parse_args(nid_arguments(arguments, options))
+    requested_options = {option_name(argument, options) for argument in arguments}
+    requested_nids = "--nid" in requested_options
+    if requested_nids and requested_options & {"--name", "--symbol"}:
+        parser.error("--name/--symbol cannot be combined with --nid")
     if args.name:
-        if args.nid:
-            parser.error("--name/--symbol cannot be combined with --nid")
         rows = [{"name": name, "nid": compute_nid(name)} for name in args.name]
         if args.json:
             print(json.dumps({"symbols": rows}, indent=1))
@@ -174,7 +176,6 @@ def main(argv=None):
             for row in rows:
                 print("%-40s %s" % (row["name"], row["nid"]))
         return 0
-    requested_nids = any(option_name(argument, options) == "--nid" for argument in arguments)
     for nid in args.nid or []:
         if re.fullmatch(r"[A-Za-z0-9+\-]{11}", nid) is None:
             parser.error(f"invalid NID {nid!r}: expected 11 characters from A-Z, a-z, 0-9, + or -")
diff --git a/tools/tests/test_nid_names.py b/tools/tests/test_nid_names.py
index 6dd4b20804..213f79c47f 100644
--- a/tools/tests/test_nid_names.py
+++ b/tools/tests/test_nid_names.py
@@ -94,6 +94,31 @@ class DatabaseCacheTests(unittest.TestCase):
 class NidArgumentTests(unittest.TestCase):
     options = ["-h", "--help", "--db", "--nid", "--json"]
 
+    def test_name_and_nid_modes_conflict_even_with_empty_filters(self):
+        for name_option in ("--name", "--symbol", "--na", "--sym"):
+            for nid_option in ("--nid", "--ni"):
+                for names, nids in (
+                        ([name_option], [nid_option]),
+                        ([name_option, "ceilf"], [nid_option]),
+                        ([name_option + "=ceilf"], [nid_option]),
+                        ([name_option], [nid_option, "AAAAAAAAAAA"]),
+                        ([name_option], [nid_option + "=AAAAAAAAAAA"])):
+                    for arguments in (names + nids, nids + names):
+                        with self.subTest(arguments=arguments), \
+                                contextlib.redirect_stdout(io.StringIO()) as output, \
+                                contextlib.redirect_stderr(io.StringIO()) as error, \
+                                patch.object(nid_names, "load_db", return_value={}) as database, \
+                                patch.object(nid_names, "collect_unknowns", return_value={}) as sources, \
+                                patch.object(nid_names, "collect_real_names", return_value=set()) as definitions:
+                            with self.assertRaises(SystemExit) as exited:
+                                nid_names.main([*arguments, "--json"])
+                            self.assertEqual(exited.exception.code, 2)
+                            self.assertIn("--name/--symbol cannot be combined with --nid", error.getvalue())
+                            self.assertEqual(output.getvalue(), "")
+                            database.assert_not_called()
+                            sources.assert_not_called()
+                            definitions.assert_not_called()
+
     def test_invalid_nids_fail_before_database_or_source_access(self):
         for nid in ("short", "ABCDEFGHIJKL", "ABCDEFGHIJ/", "ABCDEFGHIJ_", "ABCDEFGHIJ\u00e9", "", "--jsooon"):
             with self.subTest(nid=nid):