diff --git a/Annex/SpecialRemote.hs b/Annex/SpecialRemote.hs
index 44bc666ce4..3892eea2f2 100644
--- a/Annex/SpecialRemote.hs
+++ b/Annex/SpecialRemote.hs
@@ -42,10 +42,14 @@ findByName n = filter (matching . snd) . M.toList
 			| n' == n -> True
 			| otherwise -> False
 
-remoteNames :: Annex [RemoteName]
-remoteNames = do
+specialRemoteMap :: Annex (M.Map UUID RemoteName)
+specialRemoteMap = do
 	m <- Logs.Remote.readRemoteLog
-	return $ mapMaybe (M.lookup nameKey . snd) $ M.toList m
+	return $ M.fromList $ mapMaybe go (M.toList m)
+  where
+	go (u, c) = case M.lookup nameKey c of
+		Nothing -> Nothing
+		Just n -> Just (u, n)
 
 {- find the specified remote type -}
 findType :: RemoteConfig -> Either String RemoteType
diff --git a/Command/EnableRemote.hs b/Command/EnableRemote.hs
index 84216dd78d..b3ba451c24 100644
--- a/Command/EnableRemote.hs
+++ b/Command/EnableRemote.hs
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ import Command
 import qualified Logs.Remote
 import qualified Types.Remote as R
 import qualified Annex.SpecialRemote
+import qualified Remote
+import Logs.UUID
 
 import qualified Data.Map as M
 
@@ -25,12 +27,19 @@ seek :: CmdParams -> CommandSeek
 seek = withWords start
 
 start :: [String] -> CommandStart
-start [] = unknownNameError "Specify the name of the special remote to enable."
+start [] = unknownNameError "Specify the special remote to enable."
 start (name:ws) = go =<< Annex.SpecialRemote.findExisting name
   where
 	config = Logs.Remote.keyValToConfig ws
 	
-	go Nothing = unknownNameError "Unknown special remote name."
+	go Nothing = do
+		m <- Annex.SpecialRemote.specialRemoteMap
+		confm <- Logs.Remote.readRemoteLog
+		v <- Remote.nameToUUID' name
+		case v of
+			Right u | u `M.member` m ->
+				go (Just (u, fromMaybe M.empty (M.lookup u confm)))
+			_ -> unknownNameError "Unknown special remote."
 	go (Just (u, c)) = do
 		let fullconfig = config `M.union` c	
 		t <- either error return (Annex.SpecialRemote.findType fullconfig)
@@ -39,11 +48,14 @@ start (name:ws) = go =<< Annex.SpecialRemote.findExisting name
 
 unknownNameError :: String -> Annex a
 unknownNameError prefix = do
-	names <- Annex.SpecialRemote.remoteNames
-	error $ prefix ++ "\n" ++
-		if null names
-			then "(No special remotes are currently known; perhaps use initremote instead?)"
-			else "Known special remotes: " ++ unwords names
+	m <- Annex.SpecialRemote.specialRemoteMap
+	descm <- M.unionWith Remote.addName <$> uuidMap <*> pure m
+	msg <- if M.null m
+			then pure "(No special remotes are currently known; perhaps use initremote instead?)"
+			else Remote.prettyPrintUUIDsDescs
+				"known special remotes"
+				descm (M.keys m)
+	error $ prefix ++ "\n" ++ msg
 
 perform :: RemoteType -> UUID -> R.RemoteConfig -> CommandPerform
 perform t u c = do
diff --git a/Command/Info.hs b/Command/Info.hs
index 25a537e8d8..d22c23c04f 100644
--- a/Command/Info.hs
+++ b/Command/Info.hs
@@ -427,8 +427,9 @@ reposizes_stats = stat desc $ nojson $ do
 		. M.toList
 		<$> cachedRepoData
 	let maxlen = maximum (map (length . snd) l)
+	descm <- lift uuidDescriptions
 	-- This also handles json display.
-	s <- lift $ prettyPrintUUIDsWith (Just "size") desc $
+	s <- lift $ prettyPrintUUIDsWith (Just "size") desc descm $
 		map (\(u, sz) -> (u, Just $ mkdisp sz maxlen)) l
 	return $ countRepoList (length l) s
   where
diff --git a/Remote.hs b/Remote.hs
index f24b2e9782..4f57af996e 100644
--- a/Remote.hs
+++ b/Remote.hs
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ module Remote (
 	remoteMap,
 	remoteMap',
 	uuidDescriptions,
+	addName,
 	byName,
 	byName',
 	byNameOrGroup,
@@ -32,6 +33,7 @@ module Remote (
 	byNameWithUUID,
 	byCost,
 	prettyPrintUUIDs,
+	prettyPrintUUIDsDescs,
 	prettyPrintUUIDsWith,
 	prettyListUUIDs,
 	prettyUUID,
@@ -168,34 +170,41 @@ nameToUUID' n = byName' n >>= go
 					_ -> Right u
 			_us -> Left "Found multiple repositories with that description"
 
-{- Pretty-prints a list of UUIDs of remotes, for human display.
+{- Pretty-prints a list of UUIDs of remotes, with their descriptions,
+ - for human display.
  -
  - When JSON is enabled, also outputs a machine-readable description
  - of the UUIDs. -}
 prettyPrintUUIDs :: String -> [UUID] -> Annex String
-prettyPrintUUIDs desc uuids = prettyPrintUUIDsWith Nothing desc $
-	zip uuids (repeat (Nothing :: Maybe String))
+prettyPrintUUIDs header uuids = do
+	descm <- uuidDescriptions
+	prettyPrintUUIDsDescs header descm uuids
+
+prettyPrintUUIDsDescs :: String -> M.Map UUID RemoteName -> [UUID] -> Annex String
+prettyPrintUUIDsDescs header descm uuids =
+	prettyPrintUUIDsWith Nothing header descm
+		(zip uuids (repeat (Nothing :: Maybe String)))
 
 {- An optional field can be included in the list of UUIDs. -}
 prettyPrintUUIDsWith
 	:: (JSON v, Show v) 
 	=> Maybe String 
 	-> String 
+	-> M.Map UUID RemoteName
 	-> [(UUID, Maybe v)] 
 	-> Annex String
-prettyPrintUUIDsWith optfield desc uuids = do
+prettyPrintUUIDsWith optfield header descm uuidvals = do
 	hereu <- getUUID
-	m <- uuidDescriptions
-	maybeShowJSON [(desc, map (jsonify m hereu) uuids)]
-	return $ unwords $ map (\u -> "\t" ++ prettify m hereu u ++ "\n") uuids
+	maybeShowJSON [(header, map (jsonify hereu) uuidvals)]
+	return $ unwords $ map (\u -> "\t" ++ prettify hereu u ++ "\n") uuidvals
   where
-	finddescription m u = M.findWithDefault "" u m
-	prettify m hereu (u, optval)
+	finddescription u = M.findWithDefault "" u descm
+	prettify hereu (u, optval)
 		| not (null d) = addoptval $ fromUUID u ++ " -- " ++ d
 		| otherwise = addoptval $ fromUUID u
 	  where
 		ishere = hereu == u
-		n = finddescription m u
+		n = finddescription u
 		d
 			| null n && ishere = "here"
 			| ishere = addName n "here"
@@ -203,9 +212,9 @@ prettyPrintUUIDsWith optfield desc uuids = do
 		addoptval s = case optval of
 			Nothing -> s
 			Just val -> show val ++ ": " ++ s
-	jsonify m hereu (u, optval) = toJSObject $ catMaybes
+	jsonify hereu (u, optval) = toJSObject $ catMaybes
 		[ Just ("uuid", toJSON $ fromUUID u)
-		, Just ("description", toJSON $ finddescription m u)
+		, Just ("description", toJSON $ finddescription u)
 		, Just ("here", toJSON $ hereu == u)
 		, case (optfield, optval) of
 			(Just field, Just val) -> Just (field, showJSON val)
diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index 118df60c03..4c6b3fd8a5 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -3,6 +3,9 @@ git-annex (5.20151020) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium
   * Use statvfs on OSX.
   * Symlink timestamp preservation code uses functions
     from unix-2.7.0 when available, which should be more portable.
+  * enableremote: List uuids and descriptions of remotes that can be
+    enabled, and accept either the uuid or the description in leu if the
+    name.
 
  -- Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>  Mon, 19 Oct 2015 17:00:21 -0400
 
diff --git a/doc/git-annex-enableremote.mdwn b/doc/git-annex-enableremote.mdwn
index 3b543c969b..8467247157 100644
--- a/doc/git-annex-enableremote.mdwn
+++ b/doc/git-annex-enableremote.mdwn
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ git-annex enableremote - enables use of an existing special remote
 
 # SYNOPSIS
 
-git annex enableremote `name [param=value ...]`
+git annex enableremote `name|uuid|desc [param=value ...]`
 
 # DESCRIPTION
 
@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@ originally created with the initremote command.
 The name of the remote is the same name used when originally
 creating that remote with `git annex initremote`. Run 
 `git annex enableremote` without any name to get a list of
-special remote names.
+special remote names. Or you can specify the uuid or description of the
+remote.
   
 Some special remotes may need parameters to be specified every time they are
 enabled. For example, the directory special remote requires a directory=
diff --git a/doc/special_remotes/comment_26_606c1bee71a265f9df3a8cf50fce9a21._comment b/doc/special_remotes/comment_26_606c1bee71a265f9df3a8cf50fce9a21._comment
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..28a35bd9a7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/special_remotes/comment_26_606c1bee71a265f9df3a8cf50fce9a21._comment
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+[[!comment format=mdwn
+ username="joey"
+ subject="""comment 26"""
+ date="2015-10-26T17:36:26Z"
+ content="""
+@craig, this can be slightly confusing, since `git-annex enableremote`
+uses the same name that you used when creating the remote in the first
+place, with `git-annex initremote`... which might be different than
+the name used for that remote in some repository or other, and from
+the description shown in `git annex into`.
+
+Since every remote listed by `git annex info` is apparently a regular git
+repo, not a special remote, with the exception of the glacier one, process
+of deduction suggests that the "gitannexpics" special remote is the same as
+the glacier one.
+
+I've made some changes now, so `git annex enableremote` will list the
+uuid and description, along with the name used by enableremote, and
+will accept any one of those things to specify which remote to enable.
+"""]]