diff --git a/bigquery_etl/metadata/parse_metadata.py b/bigquery_etl/metadata/parse_metadata.py
index b8a684e3b4..630514904e 100644
--- a/bigquery_etl/metadata/parse_metadata.py
+++ b/bigquery_etl/metadata/parse_metadata.py
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
 import enum
 import os
 import re
+import string
+from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Any, Dict, List, Optional
 
 import attr
@@ -230,9 +232,14 @@ class Metadata:
         with open(metadata_file, "r") as yaml_stream:
             try:
                 metadata = yaml.safe_load(yaml_stream)
-
-                friendly_name = metadata.get("friendly_name", None)
-                description = metadata.get("description", None)
+                table_name = str(Path(metadata_file).parent.name)
+                friendly_name = metadata.get(
+                    "friendly_name", string.capwords(table_name.replace("_", " "))
+                )
+                description = metadata.get(
+                    "description",
+                    "Please provide a description for the query",
+                )
 
                 if "labels" in metadata:
                     for key, label in metadata["labels"].items():
diff --git a/tests/metadata/test_parse_metadata.py b/tests/metadata/test_parse_metadata.py
index 33027ca557..d13e6a068e 100644
--- a/tests/metadata/test_parse_metadata.py
+++ b/tests/metadata/test_parse_metadata.py
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ class TestParseMetadata(object):
         metadata = Metadata.from_file(metadata_file)
 
         assert metadata.friendly_name == "Test metadata file"
-        assert metadata.description is None
+        assert metadata.description == "Please provide a description for the query"
         assert "schedule" in metadata.labels
         assert metadata.labels["schedule"] == "daily"
         assert "public_json" in metadata.labels