diff --git a/.changes/next-release/bugfix-AWSS3EventNotifications-3774889.json b/.changes/next-release/bugfix-AWSS3EventNotifications-3774889.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..6b2f9f8d0e33
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changes/next-release/bugfix-AWSS3EventNotifications-3774889.json
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+{
+    "type": "bugfix",
+    "category": "AWS S3 Event Notifications",
+    "contributor": "reifiedbeans",
+    "description": "Fixed parsing of S3 event notifications to allow eventTime to be null when eventName is not"
+}
diff --git a/services-custom/s3-event-notifications/src/main/java/software/amazon/awssdk/eventnotifications/s3/internal/DefaultS3EventNotificationReader.java b/services-custom/s3-event-notifications/src/main/java/software/amazon/awssdk/eventnotifications/s3/internal/DefaultS3EventNotificationReader.java
index cdb1f1975e71..47e139869ec7 100644
--- a/services-custom/s3-event-notifications/src/main/java/software/amazon/awssdk/eventnotifications/s3/internal/DefaultS3EventNotificationReader.java
+++ b/services-custom/s3-event-notifications/src/main/java/software/amazon/awssdk/eventnotifications/s3/internal/DefaultS3EventNotificationReader.java
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ private S3EventNotificationRecord readEventNotificationRecord(JsonNode jsonNode)
         eventNotificationRecord.setEventSource(eventSource);
 
         String eventTime = expectStringOrNull(recordNode, "eventTime");
-        eventNotificationRecord.setEventTime(eventName != null ? Instant.parse(eventTime) : null);
+        eventNotificationRecord.setEventTime(eventTime != null ? Instant.parse(eventTime) : null);
 
         RequestParameters requestParameters = readRequestParameters(recordNode.get("requestParameters"));
         eventNotificationRecord.setRequestParameters(requestParameters);
diff --git a/services-custom/s3-event-notifications/src/test/java/software/amazon/awssdk/eventnotifications/s3/model/S3EventNotificationReaderTest.java b/services-custom/s3-event-notifications/src/test/java/software/amazon/awssdk/eventnotifications/s3/model/S3EventNotificationReaderTest.java
index ef9d2c89154a..b55a2bb74142 100644
--- a/services-custom/s3-event-notifications/src/test/java/software/amazon/awssdk/eventnotifications/s3/model/S3EventNotificationReaderTest.java
+++ b/services-custom/s3-event-notifications/src/test/java/software/amazon/awssdk/eventnotifications/s3/model/S3EventNotificationReaderTest.java
@@ -442,6 +442,53 @@ void missingField_shouldBeNull() {
         assertThat(rec.getResponseElements()).isNull();
     }
 
+    @Test
+    void eventTimeIsNullWhenEventNamePresent_shouldSucceed() {
+        String json = "{\n"
+                      + "  \"Records\" : [ {\n"
+                      + "    \"eventVersion\" : \"2.1\",\n"
+                      + "    \"eventSource\" : \"aws:s3\",\n"
+                      + "    \"awsRegion\" : \"us-west-2\",\n"
+                      // missing eventTime
+                      + "    \"eventName\" : \"ObjectCreated:Put\",\n"
+                      + "    \"userIdentity\" : {\n"
+                      + "      \"principalId\" : \"AIDAJDPLRKLG7UEXAMUID\"\n"
+                      + "    },\n"
+                      + "    \"requestParameters\" : {\n"
+                      + "      \"sourceIPAddress\" : \"127.1.2.3\"\n"
+                      + "    },\n"
+                      + "    \"responseElements\":{\n"
+                      + "      \"x-amz-request-id\":\"C3D13FE58DE4C810\",\n"
+                      + "      \"x-amz-id-2\":\"FMyUVURIY8/IgAtTv8xRjskZQpcIZ9KG4V5Wp6S7S/JRWeUWerMUE5JgHvANOjpD\"\n"
+                      + "    },\n"
+                      + "    \"s3\" : {\n"
+                      + "      \"s3SchemaVersion\" : \"1.0\",\n"
+                      + "      \"configurationId\" : \"testConfigRule\",\n"
+                      + "      \"bucket\" : {\n"
+                      + "        \"name\" : \"mybucket-test\",\n"
+                      + "        \"ownerIdentity\" : {\n"
+                      + "          \"principalId\" : \"A3NL1KOZZKExample\"\n"
+                      + "        },\n"
+                      + "        \"arn\" : \"arn:aws:s3:::mybucket\"\n"
+                      + "      },\n"
+                      + "      \"object\" : {\n"
+                      + "        \"key\" : \"HappyFace-test.jpg\",\n"
+                      + "        \"size\" : 2048,\n"
+                      + "        \"eTag\" : \"d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8etag\",\n"
+                      + "        \"versionId\" : \"096fKKXTRTtl3on89fVO.nfljtsv6vid\",\n"
+                      + "        \"sequencer\" : \"0055AED6DCD9028SEQ\"\n"
+                      + "      }\n"
+                      + "    }\n"
+                      + "  } ]\n"
+                      + "}";
+
+        S3EventNotification event = S3EventNotification.fromJson(json);
+        S3EventNotificationRecord rec = event.getRecords().get(0);
+        assertThat(rec).isNotNull();
+        assertThat(rec.getEventName()).isEqualTo("ObjectCreated:Put");
+        assertThat(rec.getEventTime()).isNull();
+    }
+
     @Test
     void extraFields_areIgnored() {
         String json = "{\"Records\":[], \"toto\":123}";