diff --git a/R/pkg/R/DataFrame.R b/R/pkg/R/DataFrame.R
index bfec3245cf52a..fefe25b1480a3 100644
--- a/R/pkg/R/DataFrame.R
+++ b/R/pkg/R/DataFrame.R
@@ -323,10 +323,8 @@ setMethod("names",
 setMethod("names<-",
           signature(x = "SparkDataFrame"),
           function(x, value) {
-            if (!is.null(value)) {
-              sdf <- callJMethod(x@sdf, "toDF", as.list(value))
-              dataFrame(sdf)
-            }
+            colnames(x) <- value
+            x
           })
 
 #' @rdname columns
diff --git a/R/pkg/inst/tests/testthat/test_sparkSQL.R b/R/pkg/inst/tests/testthat/test_sparkSQL.R
index 417a03ff61827..418f128ce8e8a 100644
--- a/R/pkg/inst/tests/testthat/test_sparkSQL.R
+++ b/R/pkg/inst/tests/testthat/test_sparkSQL.R
@@ -869,6 +869,14 @@ test_that("names() colnames() set the column names", {
   colnames(df) <- c("col3", "col4")
   expect_equal(names(df)[1], "col3")
 
+  expect_error(names(df) <- NULL, "Invalid column names.")
+  expect_error(names(df) <- c("sepal.length", "sepal_width"),
+               "Column names cannot contain the '.' symbol.")
+  expect_error(names(df) <- c(1, 2), "Invalid column names.")
+  expect_error(names(df) <- c("a"),
+               "Column names must have the same length as the number of columns in the dataset.")
+  expect_error(names(df) <- c("1", NA), "Column names cannot be NA.")
+
   expect_error(colnames(df) <- c("sepal.length", "sepal_width"),
                "Column names cannot contain the '.' symbol.")
   expect_error(colnames(df) <- c(1, 2), "Invalid column names.")