diff --git a/changelog.d/3243.deprecation.rst b/changelog.d/3243.deprecation.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..067bf29f69
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/3243.deprecation.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+Added a deprecation warning when `setuptools.find_packages()` includes
+a package in the reserved top-level package name list (e.g. ``tests``)
+-- by :user:`mgorny`.
diff --git a/setuptools/discovery.py b/setuptools/discovery.py
index 95c3c7f83e..45f75acafc 100644
--- a/setuptools/discovery.py
+++ b/setuptools/discovery.py
@@ -44,12 +44,15 @@
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
 from typing import Callable, Dict, Iterator, Iterable, List, Optional, Tuple, Union
+import warnings
 
 import _distutils_hack.override  # noqa: F401
 
 from distutils import log
 from distutils.util import convert_path
 
+import setuptools
+
 _Path = Union[str, os.PathLike]
 _Filter = Callable[[str], bool]
 StrIter = Iterator[str]
@@ -148,6 +151,13 @@ def _find_iter(cls, where: _Path, exclude: _Filter, include: _Filter) -> StrIter
 
                 # Should this package be included?
                 if include(package) and not exclude(package):
+                    top_package = package.split(".")[0]
+                    if top_package in FlatLayoutPackageFinder._EXCLUDE:
+                        warnings.warn(
+                            f"{top_package!r} is a reserved package name. "
+                            "Please add it to find_package(exclude=...)",
+                            setuptools.SetuptoolsDeprecationWarning,
+                        )
                     yield package
 
                 # Keep searching subdirectories, as there may be more packages
diff --git a/setuptools/tests/test_find_packages.py b/setuptools/tests/test_find_packages.py
index efcce924e5..570d2623dd 100644
--- a/setuptools/tests/test_find_packages.py
+++ b/setuptools/tests/test_find_packages.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 
 import pytest
 
+import setuptools
 from setuptools import find_packages
 from setuptools import find_namespace_packages
 from setuptools.discovery import FlatLayoutPackageFinder
@@ -157,13 +158,17 @@ def test_pep420_ns_package(self):
         self._assert_packages(packages, ['pkg', 'pkg.nspkg', 'pkg.subpkg'])
 
     def test_pep420_ns_package_no_includes(self):
-        packages = find_namespace_packages(
-            self.dist_dir, exclude=['pkg.subpkg.assets'])
+        with pytest.warns(setuptools.SetuptoolsDeprecationWarning,
+                          match="'docs' is a reserved package name"):
+            packages = find_namespace_packages(
+                self.dist_dir, exclude=['pkg.subpkg.assets'])
         self._assert_packages(
             packages, ['docs', 'pkg', 'pkg.nspkg', 'pkg.subpkg'])
 
     def test_pep420_ns_package_no_includes_or_excludes(self):
-        packages = find_namespace_packages(self.dist_dir)
+        with pytest.warns(setuptools.SetuptoolsDeprecationWarning,
+                          match="'docs' is a reserved package name"):
+            packages = find_namespace_packages(self.dist_dir)
         expected = [
             'docs', 'pkg', 'pkg.nspkg', 'pkg.subpkg', 'pkg.subpkg.assets']
         self._assert_packages(packages, expected)