diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/77544-fix-error-yaml-inventory-int-hostnames.yml b/changelogs/fragments/77544-fix-error-yaml-inventory-int-hostnames.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..aa389b12d5d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/77544-fix-error-yaml-inventory-int-hostnames.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - yaml inventory plugin - fix the error message for non-string hostnames (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/77519).
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/inventory_yaml/runme.sh b/test/integration/targets/inventory_yaml/runme.sh
index b82f499d162..a8818dd99bb 100755
--- a/test/integration/targets/inventory_yaml/runme.sh
+++ b/test/integration/targets/inventory_yaml/runme.sh
@@ -2,3 +2,5 @@
 
 # handle empty/commented out group keys correctly https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/47254
 ANSIBLE_VERBOSITY=0 diff -w <(ansible-inventory -i ./test.yml --list) success.json
+
+ansible-inventory -i ./test_int_hostname.yml --list 2>&1 | grep 'Host pattern 1234 must be a string'
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/inventory_yaml/test_int_hostname.yml b/test/integration/targets/inventory_yaml/test_int_hostname.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..d2285cb990a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/integration/targets/inventory_yaml/test_int_hostname.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+all:
+  children:
+    kids:
+      hosts:
+        1234: {}