diff --git a/mlir/examples/standalone/standalone-translate/standalone-translate.cpp b/mlir/examples/standalone/standalone-translate/standalone-translate.cpp
--- a/mlir/examples/standalone/standalone-translate/standalone-translate.cpp
+++ b/mlir/examples/standalone/standalone-translate/standalone-translate.cpp
@@ -11,16 +11,23 @@
 //
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
 
+#include "Standalone/StandaloneDialect.h"
+#include "mlir/IR/BuiltinOps.h"
 #include "mlir/InitAllTranslations.h"
 #include "mlir/Support/LogicalResult.h"
 #include "mlir/Tools/mlir-translate/MlirTranslateMain.h"
-
-#include "Standalone/StandaloneDialect.h"
+#include "mlir/Tools/mlir-translate/Translation.h"
 
 int main(int argc, char **argv) {
   mlir::registerAllTranslations();
 
   // TODO: Register standalone translations here.
+  mlir::TranslateFromMLIRRegistration withdescription(
+      "option", "different from option",
+      [](mlir::ModuleOp op, llvm::raw_ostream &output) {
+        return mlir::LogicalResult::success();
+      },
+      [](mlir::DialectRegistry &a) {});
 
   return failed(
       mlir::mlirTranslateMain(argc, argv, "MLIR Translation Testing Tool"));
diff --git a/mlir/include/mlir/Tools/mlir-translate/Translation.h b/mlir/include/mlir/Tools/mlir-translate/Translation.h
--- a/mlir/include/mlir/Tools/mlir-translate/Translation.h
+++ b/mlir/include/mlir/Tools/mlir-translate/Translation.h
@@ -75,6 +75,10 @@
                               const TranslateSourceMgrToMLIRFunction &function);
   TranslateToMLIRRegistration(llvm::StringRef name,
                               const TranslateStringRefToMLIRFunction &function);
+  TranslateToMLIRRegistration(llvm::StringRef name, llvm::StringRef description,
+                              const TranslateSourceMgrToMLIRFunction &function);
+  TranslateToMLIRRegistration(llvm::StringRef name, llvm::StringRef description,
+                              const TranslateStringRefToMLIRFunction &function);
 };
 
 struct TranslateFromMLIRRegistration {
@@ -82,10 +86,17 @@
       llvm::StringRef name, const TranslateFromMLIRFunction &function,
       const std::function<void(DialectRegistry &)> &dialectRegistration =
           [](DialectRegistry &) {});
+  TranslateFromMLIRRegistration(
+      llvm::StringRef name, llvm::StringRef description,
+      const TranslateFromMLIRFunction &function,
+      const std::function<void(DialectRegistry &)> &dialectRegistration =
+          [](DialectRegistry &) {});
 };
 struct TranslateRegistration {
   TranslateRegistration(llvm::StringRef name,
                         const TranslateFunction &function);
+  TranslateRegistration(llvm::StringRef name, llvm::StringRef description,
+                        const TranslateFunction &function);
 };
 /// \}
 
diff --git a/mlir/lib/Tools/mlir-translate/Translation.cpp b/mlir/lib/Tools/mlir-translate/Translation.cpp
--- a/mlir/lib/Tools/mlir-translate/Translation.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/Tools/mlir-translate/Translation.cpp
@@ -31,8 +31,15 @@
   return translationRegistry;
 }
 
+/// Get the mutable static map between registered file-to-file MLIR translations
+/// and the description corresponding to the command line name.
+static llvm::StringMap<StringRef> &getTranslationDescription() {
+  static llvm::StringMap<StringRef> translationDescription;
+  return translationDescription;
+}
+
 /// Register the given translation.
-static void registerTranslation(StringRef name,
+static void registerTranslation(StringRef name, StringRef description,
                                 const TranslateFunction &function) {
   auto &translationRegistry = getTranslationRegistry();
   if (translationRegistry.find(name) != translationRegistry.end())
@@ -40,12 +47,19 @@
         "Attempting to overwrite an existing <file-to-file> function");
   assert(function &&
          "Attempting to register an empty translate <file-to-file> function");
+  auto &translationDescription = getTranslationDescription();
   translationRegistry[name] = function;
+  translationDescription[name] = description;
 }
 
 TranslateRegistration::TranslateRegistration(
     StringRef name, const TranslateFunction &function) {
-  registerTranslation(name, function);
+  registerTranslation(name, name, function);
+}
+
+TranslateRegistration::TranslateRegistration(
+    StringRef name, StringRef description, const TranslateFunction &function) {
+  registerTranslation(name, description, function);
 }
 
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
@@ -55,7 +69,8 @@
 // Puts `function` into the to-MLIR translation registry unless there is already
 // a function registered for the same name.
 static void registerTranslateToMLIRFunction(
-    StringRef name, const TranslateSourceMgrToMLIRFunction &function) {
+    StringRef name, StringRef description,
+    const TranslateSourceMgrToMLIRFunction &function) {
   auto wrappedFn = [function](llvm::SourceMgr &sourceMgr, raw_ostream &output,
                               MLIRContext *context) {
     OwningOpRef<ModuleOp> module = function(sourceMgr, context);
@@ -64,20 +79,32 @@
     module->print(output);
     return success();
   };
-  registerTranslation(name, wrappedFn);
+  registerTranslation(name, description, wrappedFn);
 }
 
 TranslateToMLIRRegistration::TranslateToMLIRRegistration(
     StringRef name, const TranslateSourceMgrToMLIRFunction &function) {
-  registerTranslateToMLIRFunction(name, function);
+  TranslateToMLIRRegistration(name, name, function);
 }
 
+TranslateToMLIRRegistration::TranslateToMLIRRegistration(
+    StringRef name, StringRef description,
+    const TranslateSourceMgrToMLIRFunction &function) {
+  registerTranslateToMLIRFunction(name, description, function);
+}
 /// Wraps `function` with a lambda that extracts a StringRef from a source
 /// manager and registers the wrapper lambda as a to-MLIR conversion.
 TranslateToMLIRRegistration::TranslateToMLIRRegistration(
     StringRef name, const TranslateStringRefToMLIRFunction &function) {
+  TranslateToMLIRRegistration(name, name, function);
+}
+
+TranslateToMLIRRegistration::TranslateToMLIRRegistration(
+    StringRef name, StringRef description,
+    const TranslateStringRefToMLIRFunction &function) {
   registerTranslateToMLIRFunction(
-      name, [function](llvm::SourceMgr &sourceMgr, MLIRContext *ctx) {
+      name, description,
+      [function](llvm::SourceMgr &sourceMgr, MLIRContext *ctx) {
         const llvm::MemoryBuffer *buffer =
             sourceMgr.getMemoryBuffer(sourceMgr.getMainFileID());
         return function(buffer->getBuffer(), ctx);
@@ -91,17 +118,26 @@
 TranslateFromMLIRRegistration::TranslateFromMLIRRegistration(
     StringRef name, const TranslateFromMLIRFunction &function,
     const std::function<void(DialectRegistry &)> &dialectRegistration) {
-  registerTranslation(name, [function, dialectRegistration](
-                                llvm::SourceMgr &sourceMgr, raw_ostream &output,
-                                MLIRContext *context) {
-    DialectRegistry registry;
-    dialectRegistration(registry);
-    context->appendDialectRegistry(registry);
-    auto module = parseSourceFile<ModuleOp>(sourceMgr, context);
-    if (!module || failed(verify(*module)))
-      return failure();
-    return function(module.get(), output);
-  });
+  TranslateFromMLIRRegistration(name, name, function, dialectRegistration);
+}
+
+TranslateFromMLIRRegistration::TranslateFromMLIRRegistration(
+    StringRef name, StringRef description,
+    const TranslateFromMLIRFunction &function,
+    const std::function<void(DialectRegistry &)> &dialectRegistration) {
+  registerTranslation(name, description,
+                      [function, dialectRegistration](
+                          llvm::SourceMgr &sourceMgr, raw_ostream &output,
+                          MLIRContext *context) {
+                        DialectRegistry registry;
+                        dialectRegistration(registry);
+                        context->appendDialectRegistry(registry);
+                        auto module =
+                            parseSourceFile<ModuleOp>(sourceMgr, context);
+                        if (!module || failed(verify(*module)))
+                          return failure();
+                        return function(module.get(), output);
+                      });
 }
 
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
@@ -110,8 +146,11 @@
 
 TranslationParser::TranslationParser(llvm::cl::Option &opt)
     : llvm::cl::parser<const TranslateFunction *>(opt) {
-  for (const auto &kv : getTranslationRegistry())
-    addLiteralOption(kv.first(), &kv.second, kv.first());
+  auto &translationDescription = getTranslationDescription();
+  for (const auto &kv : getTranslationRegistry()) {
+    addLiteralOption(kv.first(), &kv.second,
+                     translationDescription[kv.first()]);
+  }
 }
 
 void TranslationParser::printOptionInfo(const llvm::cl::Option &o,