diff --git a/Lib/test/test_compile.py b/Lib/test/test_compile.py
index e18dff6c3b24b5..8039ccca262262 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_compile.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_compile.py
@@ -467,7 +467,7 @@ def test_compile_invalid_namedexpr(self):
             type_ignores=[],
         )
 
-        with self.assertRaises(SyntaxError):
+        with self.assertRaisesRegex(ValueError, "NamedExpr target must be a Name"):
             compile(ast.fix_missing_locations(m), "<file>", "exec")
 
     def test_compile_ast(self):
diff --git a/Python/ast.c b/Python/ast.c
index 21cb38f8cbfb65..9ae03e5b75c953 100644
--- a/Python/ast.c
+++ b/Python/ast.c
@@ -381,6 +381,11 @@ validate_expr(struct validator *state, expr_ty exp, expr_context_ty ctx)
         ret = validate_exprs(state, exp->v.Tuple.elts, ctx, 0);
         break;
     case NamedExpr_kind:
+        if (exp->v.NamedExpr.target->kind != Name_kind) {
+            PyErr_SetString(PyExc_ValueError,
+                            "NamedExpr target must be a Name");
+            return 0;
+        }
         ret = validate_expr(state, exp->v.NamedExpr.value, Load);
         break;
     /* This last case doesn't have any checking. */
diff --git a/Python/symtable.c b/Python/symtable.c
index cebf01f7f4417a..d737c09203d31b 100644
--- a/Python/symtable.c
+++ b/Python/symtable.c
@@ -1869,10 +1869,7 @@ static int
 symtable_extend_namedexpr_scope(struct symtable *st, expr_ty e)
 {
     assert(st->st_stack);
-    if (e->kind != Name_kind) {
-        PyErr_SetString(PyExc_SyntaxError, ":= target must be a Name");
-        VISIT_QUIT(st, 0);
-    }
+    assert(e->kind == Name_kind);
 
     PyObject *target_name = e->v.Name.id;
     Py_ssize_t i, size;