diff --git a/src/tensorflow.cc b/src/tensorflow.cc
index 440d172..0f2144e 100644
--- a/src/tensorflow.cc
+++ b/src/tensorflow.cc
@@ -317,6 +317,24 @@ ValidateTRITONTFModel(
 
   // Verify that the model configuration input and outputs match what
   // is expected by the model.
+  // Check the name of each input first before checking the count to ensure that
+  // the error message returned includes the names of any unexpected extra
+  // inputs, instead of just a count mismatch error.
+  for (size_t i = 0; i < config_inputs.ArraySize(); i++) {
+    triton::common::TritonJson::Value io;
+    RETURN_IF_ERROR(config_inputs.IndexAsObject(i, &io));
+    RETURN_IF_ERROR(CheckAllowedModelInput(io, expected_inputs));
+
+    std::string io_name;
+    RETURN_IF_ERROR(io.MemberAsString("name", &io_name));
+    const TRITONTF_IO* input = FindIOByName(inputs, io_name);
+    if (input == nullptr) {
+      return TRITONSERVER_ErrorNew(
+          TRITONSERVER_ERROR_INTERNAL,
+          std::string("unexpected inference input '" + io_name + "'").c_str());
+    }
+  }
+
   if (expected_inputs.size() != expected_input_cnt) {
     return TRITONSERVER_ErrorNew(
         TRITONSERVER_ERROR_INVALID_ARG,
@@ -330,16 +348,10 @@ ValidateTRITONTFModel(
   for (size_t i = 0; i < config_inputs.ArraySize(); i++) {
     triton::common::TritonJson::Value io;
     RETURN_IF_ERROR(config_inputs.IndexAsObject(i, &io));
-    RETURN_IF_ERROR(CheckAllowedModelInput(io, expected_inputs));
 
     std::string io_name;
     RETURN_IF_ERROR(io.MemberAsString("name", &io_name));
     const TRITONTF_IO* input = FindIOByName(inputs, io_name);
-    if (input == nullptr) {
-      return TRITONSERVER_ErrorNew(
-          TRITONSERVER_ERROR_INTERNAL,
-          std::string("unexpected inference input '" + io_name + "'").c_str());
-    }
 
     // If a reshape is provided for the input then use that when
     // validating that the TF model matches what is expected.