diff --git a/packages/foam-vscode/src/features/create-from-template.ts b/packages/foam-vscode/src/features/create-from-template.ts
index d2b21541b..0032cc464 100644
--- a/packages/foam-vscode/src/features/create-from-template.ts
+++ b/packages/foam-vscode/src/features/create-from-template.ts
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 import {
-  window,
   commands,
   ExtensionContext,
-  workspace,
+  QuickPickItem,
   SnippetString,
   Uri,
+  window,
+  workspace,
 } from 'vscode';
 import * as path from 'path';
 import { FoamFeature } from '../types';
@@ -31,7 +32,13 @@ export class UserCancelledOperation extends Error {
 
 const knownFoamVariables = new Set(['FOAM_TITLE']);
 
-const defaultTemplateDefaultText: string = '# ${FOAM_TITLE}'; // eslint-disable-line no-template-curly-in-string
+const defaultTemplateDefaultText: string = `---
+foam_template:
+  name: New Note
+  description: Foam's default new note template
+---
+# \${FOAM_TITLE}
+`;
 const defaultTemplateUri = Uri.joinPath(templatesDir, 'new-note.md');
 
 const templateContent = `# \${1:$TM_FILENAME_BASE}
@@ -53,9 +60,21 @@ For a full list of features see [the VS Code snippets page](https://code.visuals
 2. create a note from this template by running the \`Foam: Create New Note From Template\` command
 `;
 
-async function getTemplates(): Promise<string[]> {
+async function templateMetadata(templateUri: Uri): Promise<object> {
+  const contents = await workspace.fs
+    .readFile(templateUri)
+    .then(bytes => bytes.toString());
+  let templateMetadata: object, _templateWithFoamFrontmatterRemoved: string;
+  [
+    templateMetadata,
+    _templateWithFoamFrontmatterRemoved,
+  ] = extractFoamTemplateFrontmatterMetadata(contents);
+  return templateMetadata;
+}
+
+async function getTemplates(): Promise<Uri[]> {
   const templates = await workspace.findFiles('.foam/templates/**.md');
-  return templates.map(template => path.basename(template.path));
+  return templates;
 }
 
 async function offerToCreateTemplate(): Promise<void> {
@@ -155,12 +174,73 @@ export function substituteFoamVariables(
   return templateText;
 }
 
+function sortTemplatesMetadata(templatesMetadata: object[]) {
+  // Sort by name's existence, name, then path
+  return templatesMetadata.sort((t1, t2) => {
+    if (t1['name'] === undefined && t2['name'] !== undefined) {
+      return 1;
+    }
+
+    if (t1['name'] !== undefined && t2['name'] === undefined) {
+      return -1;
+    }
+
+    if (t1['name'] > t2['name']) {
+      return 1;
+    }
+
+    if (t1['name'] < t2['name']) {
+      return -1;
+    }
+
+    if (t1['templatePath'] > t2['templatePath']) {
+      return 1;
+    }
+
+    if (t1['templatePath'] < t2['templatePath']) {
+      return -1;
+    }
+
+    return 0;
+  });
+}
+
 async function askUserForTemplate() {
   const templates = await getTemplates();
   if (templates.length === 0) {
     return offerToCreateTemplate();
   }
-  return await window.showQuickPick(templates, {
+
+  const templatesMetadata = sortTemplatesMetadata(
+    await Promise.all(
+      templates.map(async templateUri => {
+        const metadata = await templateMetadata(templateUri);
+        metadata['templatePath'] = path.basename(templateUri.path);
+        return metadata;
+      })
+    )
+  );
+
+  const items: QuickPickItem[] = await Promise.all(
+    templatesMetadata.map(metadata => {
+      const label = metadata['name'] || metadata['templatePath'];
+      const description = metadata['name'] ? metadata['templatePath'] : null;
+      const detail = metadata['description'];
+      const item = {
+        label: label,
+        description: description,
+        detail: detail,
+      };
+      Object.keys(item).forEach(key => {
+        if (!item[key]) {
+          delete item[key];
+        }
+      });
+      return item;
+    })
+  );
+
+  return await window.showQuickPick(items, {
     placeHolder: 'Select a template to use.',
   });
 }
@@ -300,7 +380,9 @@ async function createNoteFromTemplate(
   if (selectedTemplate === undefined) {
     return;
   }
-  templateFilename = selectedTemplate as string;
+  templateFilename =
+    (selectedTemplate as QuickPickItem).description ||
+    (selectedTemplate as QuickPickItem).label;
   const templateUri = Uri.joinPath(templatesDir, templateFilename);
   const templateText = await workspace.fs
     .readFile(templateUri)
diff --git a/packages/foam-vscode/src/utils/template-frontmatter-parser.test.ts b/packages/foam-vscode/src/utils/template-frontmatter-parser.test.ts
index f9da4519c..623e19267 100644
--- a/packages/foam-vscode/src/utils/template-frontmatter-parser.test.ts
+++ b/packages/foam-vscode/src/utils/template-frontmatter-parser.test.ts
@@ -61,6 +61,8 @@ foo: bar
   test('Returns the `foam_template` metadata when it is used in its own frontmatter block', () => {
     const input = `---
 foam_template:
+  name: My Note Template
+  description: This is my note template
   filepath: journal/$CURRENT_YEAR-$CURRENT_MONTH-$CURRENT_DATE_$FOAM_TITLE.md
 ---
 
@@ -73,6 +75,8 @@ foam_template:
 
     const expected = [
       {
+        name: 'My Note Template',
+        description: 'This is my note template',
         filepath:
           'journal/$CURRENT_YEAR-$CURRENT_MONTH-$CURRENT_DATE_$FOAM_TITLE.md',
       },
@@ -86,6 +90,8 @@ foam_template:
     const input = `---
 foam_template:
   filepath: journal/$CURRENT_YEAR-$CURRENT_MONTH-$CURRENT_DATE_$FOAM_TITLE.md
+  description: This is my note template
+  name: My Note Template
 ---
 
 ---
@@ -116,6 +122,8 @@ more_metadata: *info
       {
         filepath:
           'journal/$CURRENT_YEAR-$CURRENT_MONTH-$CURRENT_DATE_$FOAM_TITLE.md',
+        description: 'This is my note template',
+        name: 'My Note Template',
       },
       output,
     ];
@@ -127,7 +135,9 @@ more_metadata: *info
     const input = `---
 foo: bar
 foam_template:
+  name: My Note Template
   filepath: journal/$CURRENT_YEAR-$CURRENT_MONTH-$CURRENT_DATE_$FOAM_TITLE.md
+  description: This is my note template
 # A YAML comment
 metadata: &info
   title: The Gentlemen
@@ -150,8 +160,10 @@ more_metadata: *info
 
     const expected = [
       {
+        name: 'My Note Template',
         filepath:
           'journal/$CURRENT_YEAR-$CURRENT_MONTH-$CURRENT_DATE_$FOAM_TITLE.md',
+        description: 'This is my note template',
       },
       output,
     ];
@@ -165,7 +177,9 @@ describe('removeFoamMetadata', () => {
     const input = `---
 foo: bar
 foam_template: &foam_template # A YAML comment
+  description: This is my note template
   filepath: journal/$CURRENT_YEAR-$CURRENT_MONTH-$CURRENT_DATE_$FOAM_TITLE.md # A YAML comment
+  name: My Note Template
 # A YAML comment
 metadata: &info
   title: The Gentlemen
diff --git a/packages/foam-vscode/src/utils/template-frontmatter-parser.ts b/packages/foam-vscode/src/utils/template-frontmatter-parser.ts
index ac87e53db..db3395f81 100644
--- a/packages/foam-vscode/src/utils/template-frontmatter-parser.ts
+++ b/packages/foam-vscode/src/utils/template-frontmatter-parser.ts
@@ -47,5 +47,8 @@ export function extractFoamTemplateFrontmatterMetadata(
 }
 
 export function removeFoamMetadata(contents: string) {
-  return contents.replace(/^\s*foam_template:.*?\n\s*filepath:.*\n/gm, '');
+  return contents.replace(
+    /^\s*foam_template:.*?\n(?:\s*(?:filepath|name|description):.*\n)+/gm,
+    ''
+  );
 }