diff --git a/packages/opentelemetry-sdk-trace-base/src/Span.ts b/packages/opentelemetry-sdk-trace-base/src/Span.ts
index 2d267bbb09..ea3526b29b 100644
--- a/packages/opentelemetry-sdk-trace-base/src/Span.ts
+++ b/packages/opentelemetry-sdk-trace-base/src/Span.ts
@@ -284,7 +284,7 @@ export class Span implements APISpan, ReadableSpan {
       attributesOrStartTime = undefined;
     }
 
-    const attributes = sanitizeAttributes(attributesOrStartTime);
+    const attributes: SpanAttributes = {};
     if (typeof exception === 'string') {
       attributes[SemanticAttributes.EXCEPTION_MESSAGE] = exception;
     } else if (exception) {
@@ -301,6 +301,9 @@ export class Span implements APISpan, ReadableSpan {
         attributes[SemanticAttributes.EXCEPTION_STACKTRACE] = exception.stack;
       }
     }
+    if (attributesOrStartTime) {
+      Object.assign(attributes, sanitizeAttributes(attributesOrStartTime));
+    }
 
     // these are minimum requirements from spec
     if (
diff --git a/packages/opentelemetry-sdk-trace-base/test/common/Span.test.ts b/packages/opentelemetry-sdk-trace-base/test/common/Span.test.ts
index 0567af8ba5..873865a0dc 100644
--- a/packages/opentelemetry-sdk-trace-base/test/common/Span.test.ts
+++ b/packages/opentelemetry-sdk-trace-base/test/common/Span.test.ts
@@ -1233,16 +1233,47 @@ describe('Span', () => {
         // @ts-expect-error writing readonly property. performance time origin is mocked to return ms value of [1,1]
         span['_performanceOffset'] = 0;
         assert.strictEqual(span.events.length, 0);
-        span.recordException('boom', {
+        const exception = { code: 'Error', message: 'boom', stack: 'bar' };
+        span.recordException(exception, {
           ...validAttributes,
           ...invalidAttributes,
         } as unknown as SpanAttributes);
         const event = span.events[0];
         assert.deepStrictEqual(event.attributes, {
+          [SemanticAttributes.EXCEPTION_TYPE]: 'Error',
           [SemanticAttributes.EXCEPTION_MESSAGE]: 'boom',
+          [SemanticAttributes.EXCEPTION_STACKTRACE]: 'bar',
           ...validAttributes,
         });
       });
+
+      it('should prioritize the provided attributes over generated', () => {
+        const span = new Span(
+          tracer,
+          ROOT_CONTEXT,
+          name,
+          spanContext,
+          SpanKind.CLIENT
+        );
+        // @ts-expect-error writing readonly property. performance time origin is mocked to return ms value of [1,1]
+        span['_performanceOffset'] = 0;
+        assert.strictEqual(span.events.length, 0);
+        const exception = { code: 'Error', message: 'boom', stack: 'bar' };
+        span.recordException(exception, {
+          [SemanticAttributes.EXCEPTION_TYPE]: 'OverrideError',
+          [SemanticAttributes.EXCEPTION_MESSAGE]: 'override-boom',
+          [SemanticAttributes.EXCEPTION_STACKTRACE]: 'override-bar',
+          ...validAttributes,
+          ...invalidAttributes,
+        } as unknown as SpanAttributes);
+        const event = span.events[0];
+        assert.deepStrictEqual(event.attributes, {
+          ...validAttributes,
+          [SemanticAttributes.EXCEPTION_TYPE]: 'OverrideError',
+          [SemanticAttributes.EXCEPTION_MESSAGE]: 'override-boom',
+          [SemanticAttributes.EXCEPTION_STACKTRACE]: 'override-bar',
+        });
+      });
     });
 
     describe('when exception code is numeric', () => {