diff --git a/.pre-commit-config.yaml b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
index faae8237297..f0340fb9ddb 100644
--- a/.pre-commit-config.yaml
+++ b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
@@ -38,7 +38,8 @@ repos:
         language: python
         additional_dependencies: [pygments, restructuredtext_lint]
     -   id: changelogs-rst
-        name: changelog files must end in .rst
-        entry: ./scripts/fail
-        language: script
-        files: 'changelog/.*(?<!\.rst)$'
+        name: changelog filenames
+        language: fail
+        entry: 'changelog files must be named ####.(feature|bugfix|doc|removal|vendor|trivial).rst'
+        exclude: changelog/(\d+\.(feature|bugfix|doc|removal|vendor|trivial).rst|README.rst|_template.rst)
+        files: ^changelog/
diff --git a/changelog/3955.trivial.rst b/changelog/3955.trivial.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2c7cd550f44
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/3955.trivial.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Improve pre-commit detection for changelog filenames
diff --git a/scripts/fail b/scripts/fail
deleted file mode 100755
index 301c5518803..00000000000
--- a/scripts/fail
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,7 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
-"""Used by .pre-commit-config.yaml"""
-import sys
-
-if __name__ == "__main__":
-    print(" ".join(sys.argv[1:]))
-    sys.exit(1)
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 3631fc65803..c7ab4f7a5f5 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ commands =
 [testenv:linting]
 skip_install = True
 basepython = python3.6
-deps = pre-commit
+deps = pre-commit>=1.11.0
 commands = pre-commit run --all-files --show-diff-on-failure
 
 [testenv:py27-xdist]
@@ -195,7 +195,7 @@ passenv = *
 deps =
     colorama
     gitpython
-    pre-commit
+    pre-commit>=1.11.0
     towncrier
     wheel
 commands = python scripts/release.py {posargs}