diff --git a/augur/curate/__init__.py b/augur/curate/__init__.py
index 46f5b7070..369844354 100644
--- a/augur/curate/__init__.py
+++ b/augur/curate/__init__.py
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ def register_parser(parent_subparsers):
     return parser
 
 
-def validate_records(records: Iterable[dict], is_input: bool) -> Iterable[dict]:
+def validate_records(records: Iterable[dict], subcmd_name: str, is_input: bool) -> Iterable[dict]:
     """
     Validate that the provided *records* all have the same fields.
     Uses the keys of the first record to check against all other records.
@@ -131,6 +131,10 @@ def validate_records(records: Iterable[dict], is_input: bool) -> Iterable[dict]:
     ----------
     records: iterable of dict
 
+    subcmd_name: str
+        The name of the subcommand whose output is being validated; used in
+        error messages displayed to the user.
+
     is_input: bool
         Whether the provided records come directly from user provided input
     """
@@ -140,8 +144,8 @@ def validate_records(records: Iterable[dict], is_input: bool) -> Iterable[dict]:
     else:
         # Hopefully users should not run into this error as it means we are
         # not uniformly adding/removing fields from records
-        error_message += dedent("""\
-            Something unexpected happened during the augur curate command.
+        error_message += dedent(f"""\
+            Something unexpected happened during the augur curate {subcmd_name} command.
             To report this, please open a new issue including the original command:
                 <https://github.com/nextstrain/augur/issues/new/choose>
             """)
@@ -213,14 +217,17 @@ def run(args):
             input files can be provided via the command line options `--metadata` and `--fasta`.
             See the command's help message for more details."""))
 
+    # Get the name of the subcmd being run
+    subcmd_name = args.subcommand
+
     # Validate records have the same input fields
-    validated_input_records = validate_records(records, True)
+    validated_input_records = validate_records(records, subcmd_name, True)
 
     # Run subcommand to get modified records
     modified_records = getattr(args, SUBCOMMAND_ATTRIBUTE).run(args, validated_input_records)
 
     # Validate modified records have the same output fields
-    validated_output_records = validate_records(modified_records, False)
+    validated_output_records = validate_records(modified_records, subcmd_name, False)
 
     # Output modified records
     # First output FASTA, since the write fasta function yields the records again
diff --git a/tests/io/test_curate_validate_records.py b/tests/io/test_curate_validate_records.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..72f5083f4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/io/test_curate_validate_records.py
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+import pytest
+from augur.curate import validate_records
+from augur.errors import AugurError
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def good_records():
+    return [
+        {"geo_loc_name": "Canada/Vancouver"},
+        {"geo_loc_name": "Canada/Vancouver"},
+    ]
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def bad_records():
+    return [
+        {"geo_loc_name": "Canada/Vancouver"},
+        {"geo_loc_name2": "Canada/Vancouver"},
+    ]
+
+
+class TestCurateValidateRecords:
+    def test_validate_input(self, good_records):
+        validated_records = validate_records(good_records, "test_subcmd", True)
+        assert list(validated_records) == good_records, "good input records validate"
+
+    def test_validate_output(self, good_records):
+        validated_records = validate_records(good_records, "test_subcmd", False)
+
+        assert list(validated_records) == good_records, "good output records validate"
+
+    def test_validate_bad_records(self, bad_records):
+        with pytest.raises(AugurError) as e:
+            list(validate_records(bad_records, "test_subcmd", True))
+        assert str(e.value).startswith(
+            "Records do not have the same fields!"
+        ), "bad input records throw exception with expected message"
+
+    def test_validate_bad_output(self, bad_records):
+        with pytest.raises(AugurError) as e:
+            list(validate_records(bad_records, "test_subcmd", False))
+        assert str(e.value).startswith(
+            "Records do not have the same fields!"
+        ), "bad output records throw exception with expected message"
+        assert (
+          "test_subcmd" in str(e.value)
+        ), "bad output records throw exception with subcmd name in the message"