diff --git a/plumbum/cli.py b/plumbum/cli.py
index de7fd9a64..a7725d5c9 100644
--- a/plumbum/cli.py
+++ b/plumbum/cli.py
@@ -184,7 +184,11 @@ def __init__(self, names, argtype = str, default = None, list = False, **kwargs)
         self.__doc__ = "Sets an attribute" # to prevent the help message from showing SwitchAttr's docstring
         if "help" in kwargs and default:
             kwargs["help"] += "; the default is %r" % (default,)
-        switch(names, argtype = argtype, argname = "VALUE", list = list, **kwargs)(self)
+
+        if "argname" not in kwargs:
+            kwargs["argname"] = "VALUE"
+
+        switch(names, argtype = argtype, list = list, **kwargs)(self)
         if list:
             self._value = [] if default is None else [default]
         else: