diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/accumulo/core/clientImpl/NamespaceOperationsImpl.java b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/accumulo/core/clientImpl/NamespaceOperationsImpl.java
index d11efd483cb..1b9cef4154e 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/accumulo/core/clientImpl/NamespaceOperationsImpl.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/accumulo/core/clientImpl/NamespaceOperationsImpl.java
@@ -49,6 +49,8 @@
 import org.apache.accumulo.core.client.admin.TableOperations;
 import org.apache.accumulo.core.clientImpl.thrift.SecurityErrorCode;
 import org.apache.accumulo.core.clientImpl.thrift.TVersionedProperties;
+import org.apache.accumulo.core.clientImpl.thrift.TableOperationExceptionType;
+import org.apache.accumulo.core.clientImpl.thrift.ThriftTableOperationException;
 import org.apache.accumulo.core.data.NamespaceId;
 import org.apache.accumulo.core.data.constraints.Constraint;
 import org.apache.accumulo.core.iterators.IteratorUtil.IteratorScope;
@@ -150,10 +152,6 @@ public void delete(String namespace) throws AccumuloException, AccumuloSecurityE
           SecurityErrorCode.UNSUPPORTED_OPERATION);
     }
 
-    if (!context.getTableMapping(namespaceId).getIdToNameMap().isEmpty()) {
-      throw new NamespaceNotEmptyException(namespaceId.canonical(), namespace, null);
-    }
-
     List<ByteBuffer> args = Arrays.asList(ByteBuffer.wrap(namespace.getBytes(UTF_8)));
     Map<String,String> opts = new HashMap<>();
 
@@ -162,6 +160,13 @@ public void delete(String namespace) throws AccumuloException, AccumuloSecurityE
     } catch (NamespaceExistsException e) {
       // should not happen
       throw new AssertionError(e);
+    } catch (AccumuloException e) {
+      if (e.getCause() instanceof ThriftTableOperationException ttoe
+          && ttoe.getType() == TableOperationExceptionType.NAMESPACE_NOTEMPTY) {
+        throw new NamespaceNotEmptyException(ttoe.getTableId(), namespace, ttoe.getDescription(),
+            ttoe);
+      }
+      throw e;
     }
 
   }
diff --git a/core/src/main/thrift-gen-java/org/apache/accumulo/core/clientImpl/thrift/TableOperationExceptionType.java b/core/src/main/thrift-gen-java/org/apache/accumulo/core/clientImpl/thrift/TableOperationExceptionType.java
index 639fd8892f5..871b01a23f4 100644
--- a/core/src/main/thrift-gen-java/org/apache/accumulo/core/clientImpl/thrift/TableOperationExceptionType.java
+++ b/core/src/main/thrift-gen-java/org/apache/accumulo/core/clientImpl/thrift/TableOperationExceptionType.java
@@ -37,7 +37,8 @@ public enum TableOperationExceptionType implements org.apache.thrift.TEnum {
   NAMESPACE_NOTFOUND(8),
   INVALID_NAME(9),
   OBSOLETE_BULK_BAD_LOAD_MAPPING(10),
-  BULK_CONCURRENT_MERGE(11);
+  BULK_CONCURRENT_MERGE(11),
+  NAMESPACE_NOTEMPTY(12);
 
   private final int value;
 
@@ -84,6 +85,8 @@ public static TableOperationExceptionType findByValue(int value) {
         return OBSOLETE_BULK_BAD_LOAD_MAPPING;
       case 11:
         return BULK_CONCURRENT_MERGE;
+      case 12:
+        return NAMESPACE_NOTEMPTY;
       default:
         return null;
     }
diff --git a/core/src/main/thrift/client.thrift b/core/src/main/thrift/client.thrift
index 2fd886a9c53..2cc267ae990 100644
--- a/core/src/main/thrift/client.thrift
+++ b/core/src/main/thrift/client.thrift
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ enum TableOperationExceptionType {
   INVALID_NAME
   OBSOLETE_BULK_BAD_LOAD_MAPPING
   BULK_CONCURRENT_MERGE
+  NAMESPACE_NOTEMPTY
 }
 
 enum ConfigurationType {
diff --git a/server/manager/src/main/java/org/apache/accumulo/manager/tableOps/namespace/delete/DeleteNamespace.java b/server/manager/src/main/java/org/apache/accumulo/manager/tableOps/namespace/delete/DeleteNamespace.java
index 1f218059681..2c756901f95 100644
--- a/server/manager/src/main/java/org/apache/accumulo/manager/tableOps/namespace/delete/DeleteNamespace.java
+++ b/server/manager/src/main/java/org/apache/accumulo/manager/tableOps/namespace/delete/DeleteNamespace.java
@@ -20,7 +20,9 @@
 
 import static org.apache.accumulo.core.util.LazySingletons.GSON;
 
+import org.apache.accumulo.core.clientImpl.AcceptableThriftTableOperationException;
 import org.apache.accumulo.core.clientImpl.thrift.TableOperation;
+import org.apache.accumulo.core.clientImpl.thrift.TableOperationExceptionType;
 import org.apache.accumulo.core.data.NamespaceId;
 import org.apache.accumulo.core.fate.FateId;
 import org.apache.accumulo.core.fate.Repo;
@@ -48,7 +50,12 @@ public long isReady(FateId fateId, FateEnv environment) throws Exception {
   }
 
   @Override
-  public Repo<FateEnv> call(FateId fateId, FateEnv environment) {
+  public Repo<FateEnv> call(FateId fateId, FateEnv environment) throws Exception {
+    if (!environment.getContext().getTableMapping(namespaceId).getIdToNameMap().isEmpty()) {
+      throw new AcceptableThriftTableOperationException(namespaceId.canonical(), null,
+          TableOperation.DELETE, TableOperationExceptionType.NAMESPACE_NOTEMPTY,
+          "Namespace is not empty");
+    }
     environment.getEventPublisher().event("deleting namespace %s ", namespaceId);
     return new NamespaceCleanUp(namespaceId);
   }
diff --git a/test/src/main/java/org/apache/accumulo/test/NamespacesIT_SimpleSuite.java b/test/src/main/java/org/apache/accumulo/test/NamespacesIT_SimpleSuite.java
index f91124245ee..5e94f87c1e4 100644
--- a/test/src/main/java/org/apache/accumulo/test/NamespacesIT_SimpleSuite.java
+++ b/test/src/main/java/org/apache/accumulo/test/NamespacesIT_SimpleSuite.java
@@ -20,6 +20,9 @@
 
 import static java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit.SECONDS;
 import static org.apache.accumulo.test.harness.AccumuloITBase.MINI_CLUSTER_ONLY;
+import static org.easymock.EasyMock.createMock;
+import static org.easymock.EasyMock.expect;
+import static org.easymock.EasyMock.replay;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertFalse;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertNotNull;
@@ -39,6 +42,7 @@
 import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.SortedSet;
 import java.util.TreeSet;
+import java.util.UUID;
 
 import org.apache.accumulo.cluster.ClusterUser;
 import org.apache.accumulo.core.client.Accumulo;
@@ -60,6 +64,7 @@
 import org.apache.accumulo.core.client.admin.TableOperations;
 import org.apache.accumulo.core.client.security.SecurityErrorCode;
 import org.apache.accumulo.core.client.security.tokens.PasswordToken;
+import org.apache.accumulo.core.clientImpl.AcceptableThriftTableOperationException;
 import org.apache.accumulo.core.clientImpl.Namespace;
 import org.apache.accumulo.core.clientImpl.thrift.TableOperation;
 import org.apache.accumulo.core.clientImpl.thrift.TableOperationExceptionType;
@@ -70,6 +75,8 @@
 import org.apache.accumulo.core.data.Range;
 import org.apache.accumulo.core.data.RowRange;
 import org.apache.accumulo.core.data.Value;
+import org.apache.accumulo.core.fate.FateId;
+import org.apache.accumulo.core.fate.FateInstanceType;
 import org.apache.accumulo.core.iterators.Filter;
 import org.apache.accumulo.core.iterators.IteratorUtil.IteratorScope;
 import org.apache.accumulo.core.iterators.SortedKeyValueIterator;
@@ -79,6 +86,8 @@
 import org.apache.accumulo.core.security.SystemPermission;
 import org.apache.accumulo.core.security.TablePermission;
 import org.apache.accumulo.core.util.tables.TableNameUtil;
+import org.apache.accumulo.manager.tableOps.FateEnv;
+import org.apache.accumulo.manager.tableOps.namespace.delete.DeleteNamespace;
 import org.apache.accumulo.test.constraints.NumericValueConstraint;
 import org.apache.accumulo.test.harness.SharedMiniClusterBase;
 import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;
@@ -268,6 +277,23 @@ public void deleteNonEmptyNamespace() throws Exception {
     assertThrows(NamespaceNotEmptyException.class, () -> c.namespaceOperations().delete(namespace));
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void deleteNamespaceFateOpRejectsNonEmptyNamespace() throws Exception {
+    String tableName = namespace + ".1";
+    c.namespaceOperations().create(namespace);
+    c.tableOperations().create(tableName);
+
+    var context = getCluster().getServerContext();
+    FateEnv env = createMock(FateEnv.class);
+    expect(env.getContext()).andReturn(context).anyTimes();
+    replay(env);
+
+    var e = assertThrows(AcceptableThriftTableOperationException.class,
+        () -> new DeleteNamespace(context.getNamespaceId(namespace))
+            .call(FateId.from(FateInstanceType.USER, UUID.randomUUID()), env));
+    assertEquals(TableOperationExceptionType.NAMESPACE_NOTEMPTY, e.getType());
+  }
+
   @Test
   public void setProperties() throws Exception {
     c.namespaceOperations().create(namespace);