diff --git a/datasette/static/app.css b/datasette/static/app.css
index 9226580b..8e68c1bf 100644
--- a/datasette/static/app.css
+++ b/datasette/static/app.css
@@ -1264,9 +1264,15 @@ dialog.row-delete-dialog::backdrop {
     justify-content: flex-start;
     gap: 12px;
     flex-shrink: 0;
+    min-width: 0;
 }
 
 .row-delete-dialog .modal-title {
+    display: flex;
+    align-items: center;
+    gap: 0.35rem;
+    min-width: 0;
+    max-width: 100%;
     font-size: 1rem;
     font-weight: 600;
     color: var(--ink);
@@ -1388,16 +1394,30 @@ dialog.row-edit-dialog::backdrop {
     align-items: center;
     gap: 12px;
     flex-shrink: 0;
+    min-width: 0;
 }
 
 .row-edit-dialog .modal-title {
+    display: flex;
+    align-items: center;
+    gap: 0.35rem;
+    min-width: 0;
+    max-width: 100%;
     font-size: 1rem;
     font-weight: 600;
     color: var(--ink);
 }
 
-.row-edit-dialog .modal-title code {
+.row-edit-dialog .modal-title .row-dialog-action,
+.row-delete-dialog .modal-title .row-dialog-action {
+    flex: 0 0 auto;
+    white-space: nowrap;
+}
+
+.row-edit-dialog .modal-title code,
+.row-delete-dialog .modal-title code {
     display: inline;
+    flex: 0 0 auto;
     padding: 2px 5px;
     border: 1px solid var(--rule);
     border-radius: 4px;
@@ -1407,6 +1427,14 @@ dialog.row-edit-dialog::backdrop {
     overflow-wrap: anywhere;
 }
 
+.row-edit-dialog .modal-title .row-dialog-label,
+.row-delete-dialog .modal-title .row-dialog-label {
+    min-width: 0;
+    overflow: hidden;
+    text-overflow: ellipsis;
+    white-space: nowrap;
+}
+
 .row-edit-form {
     display: flex;
     flex: 1 1 auto;
diff --git a/datasette/static/table.js b/datasette/static/table.js
index c8109c62..53c4592b 100644
--- a/datasette/static/table.js
+++ b/datasette/static/table.js
@@ -471,6 +471,10 @@ function rowDisplayLabel(row) {
   return tildeDecode(row.getAttribute("data-row") || "");
 }
 
+function rowTitleLabel(row) {
+  return row.getAttribute("data-row-label") || "";
+}
+
 function tableBaseUrl() {
   var tableUrl =
     window._datasetteTableData && window._datasetteTableData.tableUrl;
@@ -607,6 +611,7 @@ function ensureRowDeleteDialog(manager) {
 
   rowDeleteDialogState = {
     dialog: dialog,
+    title: dialog.querySelector(".modal-title"),
     message: dialog.querySelector(".row-delete-message"),
     rowId: dialog.querySelector(".row-delete-id"),
     error: dialog.querySelector(".row-delete-error"),
@@ -741,6 +746,12 @@ function openRowDeleteDialog(button, manager) {
 
   clearRowDeleteDialogError(state);
   setRowDeleteDialogBusy(state, false);
+  setRowDialogTitle(
+    state.title,
+    "Delete row",
+    state.currentPkPath || "this row",
+    rowTitleLabel(row),
+  );
   state.rowId.textContent = state.currentPkPath || "this row";
 
   if (!state.dialog.open) {
@@ -1335,16 +1346,26 @@ function renderRowInsertFields(state, data) {
   (firstControl || state.saveButton).focus();
 }
 
-function setRowEditDialogTitle(state, text, codeText) {
-  state.title.textContent = "";
-  state.title.appendChild(document.createTextNode(text));
+function setRowDialogTitle(title, text, codeText, labelText) {
+  title.textContent = "";
+  var action = document.createElement("span");
+  action.className = "row-dialog-action";
+  action.textContent = text;
+  title.appendChild(action);
   if (!codeText) {
     return;
   }
-  state.title.appendChild(document.createTextNode(" "));
+  title.appendChild(document.createTextNode(" "));
   var code = document.createElement("code");
   code.textContent = codeText;
-  state.title.appendChild(code);
+  title.appendChild(code);
+  if (labelText && labelText !== codeText) {
+    title.appendChild(document.createTextNode(" "));
+    var label = document.createElement("span");
+    label.className = "row-dialog-label";
+    label.textContent = labelText;
+    title.appendChild(label);
+  }
 }
 
 function ensureRowEditDialog(manager) {
@@ -1494,7 +1515,12 @@ async function openRowEditDialog(button, manager) {
   setRowEditDialogLoading(state, true);
   state.fields.innerHTML = "";
   state.dialog.removeAttribute("aria-describedby");
-  setRowEditDialogTitle(state, "Edit row", state.currentPkPath || "this row");
+  setRowDialogTitle(
+    state.title,
+    "Edit row",
+    state.currentPkPath || "this row",
+    rowTitleLabel(row),
+  );
   state.summary.hidden = true;
   state.summary.textContent = "";
 
@@ -1561,8 +1587,8 @@ function openRowInsertDialog(button, manager) {
   setRowEditDialogLoading(state, false);
   state.fields.innerHTML = "";
   state.dialog.removeAttribute("aria-describedby");
-  setRowEditDialogTitle(
-    state,
+  setRowDialogTitle(
+    state.title,
     insertData.tableName ? "Insert row into " + insertData.tableName : "Insert row",
   );
   state.summary.hidden = true;
diff --git a/datasette/templates/_table.html b/datasette/templates/_table.html
index 38454da3..171b6442 100644
--- a/datasette/templates/_table.html
+++ b/datasette/templates/_table.html
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
         </thead>
         <tbody>
         {% for row in display_rows %}
-            <tr{% if row.pk_path is not none %} data-row="{{ row.row_path }}"{% endif %}>
+            <tr{% if row.pk_path is not none %} data-row="{{ row.row_path }}"{% if row.row_label %} data-row-label="{{ row.row_label }}"{% endif %}{% endif %}>
                 {% for cell in row %}
                     <td class="col-{{ cell.column|to_css_class }} type-{{ cell.value_type }}">{{ cell.value }}</td>
                 {% endfor %}
diff --git a/datasette/views/table.py b/datasette/views/table.py
index c58e39f3..c962637f 100644
--- a/datasette/views/table.py
+++ b/datasette/views/table.py
@@ -66,10 +66,12 @@ class Row:
         cells,
         pk_path=None,
         row_path=None,
+        row_label=None,
     ):
         self.cells = cells
         self.pk_path = pk_path
         self.row_path = row_path
+        self.row_label = row_label
 
     def __iter__(self):
         return iter(self.cells)
@@ -96,6 +98,20 @@ class Row:
         return json.dumps(d, default=repr, indent=2)
 
 
+def row_label_from_label_column(row, label_column):
+    if not label_column:
+        return None
+    try:
+        value = row[label_column]
+    except KeyError:
+        return None
+    if isinstance(value, dict):
+        value = value.get("label")
+    if value is None or value == "":
+        return None
+    return str(value)
+
+
 async def run_sequential(*args):
     # This used to be swappable for asyncio.gather() to run things in
     # parallel, but this lead to hard-to-debug locking issues with
@@ -325,6 +341,9 @@ async def display_columns_and_rows(
     pks_for_display = pks
     if not pks_for_display:
         pks_for_display = ["rowid"]
+    label_column = None
+    if link_column:
+        label_column = await db.label_column_for_table(table_name)
     row_action_permissions = {}
     if link_column and request is not None and db.is_mutable:
         row_action_permissions = await datasette.allowed_many(
@@ -372,6 +391,10 @@ async def display_columns_and_rows(
             is_special_link_column = len(pks) != 1
             pk_path = path_from_row_pks(row, pks, not pks, False)
             row_path = path_from_row_pks(row, pks, not pks)
+            row_label = row_label_from_label_column(row, label_column)
+            row_action_label = pk_path
+            if row_label and row_label != pk_path:
+                row_action_label = "{} {}".format(pk_path, row_label)
             table_path = datasette.urls.table(database_name, table_name)
             row_link = '<a href="{table_path}/{flat_pks_quoted}">{flat_pks}</a>'.format(
                 table_path=table_path,
@@ -407,7 +430,7 @@ async def display_columns_and_rows(
                     'data-row-action="edit">'
                     "{edit_icon}</button>".format(
                         edit_icon=edit_icon,
-                        row_label=markupsafe.escape(pk_path),
+                        row_label=markupsafe.escape(row_action_label),
                     )
                 )
             if row_action_permissions.get("delete-row"):
@@ -417,7 +440,7 @@ async def display_columns_and_rows(
                     'data-row-action="delete">'
                     "{delete_icon}</button>".format(
                         delete_icon=delete_icon,
-                        row_label=markupsafe.escape(pk_path),
+                        row_label=markupsafe.escape(row_action_label),
                     )
                 )
             if row_actions:
@@ -544,6 +567,7 @@ async def display_columns_and_rows(
                     cells,
                     pk_path=pk_path,
                     row_path=row_path,
+                    row_label=row_label,
                 )
             )
         else:
diff --git a/tests/test_table_html.py b/tests/test_table_html.py
index 71d4b852..364457d9 100644
--- a/tests/test_table_html.py
+++ b/tests/test_table_html.py
@@ -682,8 +682,10 @@ async def test_table_html_compound_primary_key(ds_client):
     rows = table.select("tbody tr")
     assert rows[0]["data-row"] == "a,b"
     assert "data-row-pk-path" not in rows[0].attrs
+    assert "data-row-label" not in rows[0].attrs
     assert rows[1]["data-row"] == "a~2Fb,~2Ec-d"
     assert "data-row-pk-path" not in rows[1].attrs
+    assert "data-row-label" not in rows[1].attrs
 
 
 @pytest.mark.asyncio
@@ -884,13 +886,17 @@ async def test_row_delete_action_data_attributes():
 
         row = soup.select_one("table.rows-and-columns tbody tr")
         assert row["data-row"] == "1"
-        assert {key for key in row.attrs if key.startswith("data-row")} == {"data-row"}
+        assert row["data-row-label"] == "One"
+        assert {key for key in row.attrs if key.startswith("data-row")} == {
+            "data-row",
+            "data-row-label",
+        }
 
         edit_button = row.select_one(
             'button.row-inline-action-edit[data-row-action="edit"]'
         )
         assert edit_button is not None
-        assert edit_button["aria-label"] == "Edit row 1"
+        assert edit_button["aria-label"] == "Edit row 1 One"
         assert edit_button["title"] == "Edit row"
         assert edit_button.find("svg") is not None
 
@@ -898,7 +904,7 @@ async def test_row_delete_action_data_attributes():
             'button.row-inline-action-delete[data-row-action="delete"]'
         )
         assert button is not None
-        assert button["aria-label"] == "Delete row 1"
+        assert button["aria-label"] == "Delete row 1 One"
         assert button["title"] == "Delete row"
         assert button.find("svg") is not None
     finally:
@@ -1033,7 +1039,11 @@ async def test_table_fragment_endpoint(ds_client):
     rows = soup.select("[data-row]")
     assert len(rows) == 1
     assert rows[0]["data-row"] == "1"
-    assert {key for key in rows[0].attrs if key.startswith("data-row")} == {"data-row"}
+    assert rows[0]["data-row-label"] == "hello"
+    assert {key for key in rows[0].attrs if key.startswith("data-row")} == {
+        "data-row",
+        "data-row-label",
+    }
 
 
 @pytest.mark.asyncio
@@ -1046,6 +1056,7 @@ async def test_table_fragment_row_parameter_replaces_pk_filters(ds_client):
     rows = soup.select("[data-row]")
     assert len(rows) == 1
     assert rows[0]["data-row"] == "1"
+    assert rows[0]["data-row-label"] == "hello"
 
 
 def test_table_data_uses_base_url(app_client_base_url_prefix):