diff --git a/tools/docs/kernel-doc b/tools/docs/kernel-doc
index aed09f9a54dd..3a932f95bdf5 100755
--- a/tools/docs/kernel-doc
+++ b/tools/docs/kernel-doc
@@ -210,7 +210,6 @@ def main():
                         help="Enable debug messages")
 
     parser.add_argument("-M", "-modulename", "--modulename",
-                        default="Kernel API",
                         help="Allow setting a module name at the output.")
 
     parser.add_argument("-l", "-enable-lineno", "--enable_lineno",
diff --git a/tools/lib/python/kdoc/kdoc_output.py b/tools/lib/python/kdoc/kdoc_output.py
index 7a181b40810d..c25f80a39cdc 100644
--- a/tools/lib/python/kdoc/kdoc_output.py
+++ b/tools/lib/python/kdoc/kdoc_output.py
@@ -589,7 +589,8 @@ class ManFormat(OutputFormat):
     ``modulename``
         Defines the module name to be used at the troff ``.TH`` output.
 
-        This argument is mandatory.
+        This argument is optional. If not specified, it will be filled
+        with the directory which contains the documented file.
 
     ``section``
         Usually a numeric value from 0 to 9, but man pages also accept
@@ -645,8 +646,8 @@ class ManFormat(OutputFormat):
         title = name.strip()
         module = self.modulename(args)
 
-        self.data += f'.TH "{name}" {self.section} "{self.date}" '
-        self.data += f'"{self.modulename}" "{self.manual}"\n'
+        self.data += f'.TH "{title}" {self.section} "{self.date}" '
+        self.data += f'"{module}" "{self.manual}"\n'
 
     def __init__(self, modulename=None, section="9", manual="Kernel API Manual"):
         """