diff --git a/pandas/core/indexes/base.py b/pandas/core/indexes/base.py
index 4e098b2f8be9b..69c89635cc828 100644
--- a/pandas/core/indexes/base.py
+++ b/pandas/core/indexes/base.py
@@ -176,10 +176,12 @@ class Index(IndexOpsMixin, PandasObject):
         Otherwise, an error will be raised.
     copy : bool
         Make a copy of input ndarray
-    name : object
+    name : object, optional
         Name to be stored in the index
     tupleize_cols : bool (default: True)
         When True, attempt to create a MultiIndex if possible
+    names : tuple of objects, optional
+        Names to be stored in the index (only accepts tuple of length 1)
 
     See Also
     --------
@@ -261,10 +263,18 @@ def __new__(
         name=None,
         fastpath=None,
         tupleize_cols=True,
+        names=None,
         **kwargs
     ):
 
-        if name is None and hasattr(data, "name"):
+        if names is not None:
+            if name is not None:
+                raise TypeError("Using name and names is unsupported")
+            elif len(names) > 1:
+                raise TypeError("names must be list-like of size 1")
+            # infer name from names when MultiIndex cannot be created
+            name = names[0]
+        elif hasattr(data, "name") and name is None:
             name = data.name
 
         if fastpath is not None:
@@ -492,9 +502,7 @@ def __new__(
                     # 10697
                     from .multi import MultiIndex
 
-                    return MultiIndex.from_tuples(
-                        data, names=name or kwargs.get("names")
-                    )
+                    return MultiIndex.from_tuples(data, names=names or name)
             # other iterable of some kind
             subarr = com.asarray_tuplesafe(data, dtype=object)
             return Index(subarr, dtype=dtype, copy=copy, name=name, **kwargs)
diff --git a/pandas/tests/indexes/test_base.py b/pandas/tests/indexes/test_base.py
index d1ed79118d2fa..d116b45e20121 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/indexes/test_base.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/indexes/test_base.py
@@ -371,6 +371,25 @@ def test_constructor_simple_new(self, vals, dtype):
         result = index._simple_new(index.values, dtype)
         tm.assert_index_equal(result, index)
 
+    def test_constructor_names(self):
+        # test both `name` and `names`
+        with pytest.raises(TypeError):
+            idx = Index([1, 2, 3], name="a", names=("a",))
+
+        # test list-like with length > 1
+        with pytest.raises(TypeError):
+            idx = Index([1, 2, 3], names=("a", "b"))
+
+        # test using `name` for a flat `Index`
+        idx = Index([1, 2, 3], name="a")
+        assert idx.name == "a"
+        assert idx.names == ("a",)
+
+        # test using `names` for a flat `Index`
+        idx = Index([1, 2, 3], names=("a",))
+        assert idx.name == "a"
+        assert idx.names == ("a",)
+
     @pytest.mark.parametrize(
         "vals",
         [