diff --git a/R/location_slice_from_region_series.R b/R/location_slice_from_region_series.R
index e698b21..00f1c04 100644
--- a/R/location_slice_from_region_series.R
+++ b/R/location_slice_from_region_series.R
@@ -52,6 +52,10 @@ location_slice_from_region_series <-
            directions = 8) {
     # get the region series for this dataset
     climate_brick <- region_series
+    # Check that region_series has valid names
+    if (is.null(names(region_series)) || any(make.names(names(region_series)) != names(region_series))) {
+      stop("The subdatasets in 'region_series' must have valid names.")
+    }
     bio_variables <- names(region_series)
 
     time_bp <- check_time_vars(time_bp = time_bp, time_ce = time_ce)
diff --git a/R/slice_region_series.R b/R/slice_region_series.R
index 70516c0..26686e9 100644
--- a/R/slice_region_series.R
+++ b/R/slice_region_series.R
@@ -27,6 +27,9 @@ slice_region_series <- function(x, time_bp = NULL, time_ce = NULL) {
   if (!time_bp %in% time_bp(x[[1]])) {
     stop("time_bp is not a time slice within the region series x")
   }
+  if (any(make.names(sapply(x, varnames)) != sapply(x, varnames))) {
+    stop("'region_series' subdatasets must have valid varnames")
+  }
   # get index
   time_index <- which(time_bp(x[[1]]) == time_bp)
   # now slice it and convert it to a SpatRaster
@@ -37,6 +40,6 @@ slice_region_series <- function(x, time_bp = NULL, time_ce = NULL) {
       terra::add(climate_spatraster) <- subset(x[[i]], time_index)
     }
   }
-  names(climate_spatraster) <- varnames(climate_spatraster) #<- names(x)
+  names(climate_spatraster) <- varnames(climate_spatraster)
   return(climate_spatraster)
 }
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test_location_slice_from_region_series.R b/tests/testthat/test_location_slice_from_region_series.R
index 706cf4a..a6ad91d 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test_location_slice_from_region_series.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test_location_slice_from_region_series.R
@@ -35,6 +35,66 @@ test_that("location_slice", {
   # wrapper around this function with added code to generate the region series
 })
 
+test_that("location_slice error handling", {
+  
+  # Load data
+  locations <- data.frame(
+    name = c("A", "B", "C", "D"),
+    longitude = c(0, 90, -120, -9), latitude = c(20, 45, 60, 37),
+    time_bp = c(0, -10000, -20000, -10000)
+  )
+
+  this_series <- region_series(
+    bio_variables = c("bio01", "bio12"),
+    dataset = "Example"
+  )
+
+  # Name-related errors
+  name_error <- this_series
+  names(name_error) <- c("1303", "\\")
+
+  expect_error(location_slice_from_region_series(
+    x = locations[, c("longitude", "latitude")],
+    time_bp = locations$time_bp, region_series = name_error, 
+    nn_interpol = FALSE
+  ), "The subdatasets in 'region_series' must have valid names.")
+
+  bio01 <- this_series[[1]]
+  varnames(bio01) <- ""
+  name_error <- sds(bio01, this_series[[2]])
+  names(name_error) <- c("bio01", "bio12")
+
+  expect_error(location_slice_from_region_series(
+    x = locations[, c("longitude", "latitude")],
+    time_bp = locations$time_bp, region_series = name_error, 
+    nn_interpol = FALSE
+  ), "'region_series' subdatasets must have valid varnames")
+
+  # Time-related errors
+  time_error <- locations
+  time_error$time_ce <- seq(-500, -2000, length.out = 4)
+
+  expect_error(location_slice_from_region_series(
+    x = time_error,
+    region_series = this_series, 
+    nn_interpol = FALSE
+  ), "in x, there should only be either a 'time_bp' column, or a 'time_ce' column")
+
+  expect_error(location_slice_from_region_series(
+    x = locations[, c("longitude", "latitude")],
+    region_series = this_series, 
+    nn_interpol = FALSE
+  ), "missing times: they should either be given as a column of x, or as values for time_bp or time_ce")
+
+  expect_error(location_slice_from_region_series(
+    x = locations,
+    time_bp = seq(-500, -2000, length.out = 4),
+    region_series = this_series, 
+    nn_interpol = FALSE
+  ))
+
+})
+
 ################################################################################
 # clean up for the next test
 unlink(data_path, recursive = TRUE)