diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 5a35f9d763..b55b878f31 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -12,6 +12,11 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+- `opentelemetry-api`: Fix `AttributeError` instead of `TypeError` when invalid type is passed
+  to `_clean_extended_attribute_value` on Python 3.9 due to `typing.Mapping`/`typing.Sequence`
+  lacking `__name__`
+  ([#4821](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python/issues/4821))
+
 - `opentelemetry-sdk`: Add `create_resource` and `create_propagator`/`configure_propagator` to declarative file configuration, enabling Resource and propagator instantiation from config files without reading env vars
   ([#4979](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python/pull/4979))
 - `opentelemetry-sdk`: Map Python `CRITICAL` log level to OTel `FATAL` severity text per the specification
diff --git a/opentelemetry-api/src/opentelemetry/attributes/__init__.py b/opentelemetry-api/src/opentelemetry/attributes/__init__.py
index ad6dab5935..5a3d6a878e 100644
--- a/opentelemetry-api/src/opentelemetry/attributes/__init__.py
+++ b/opentelemetry-api/src/opentelemetry/attributes/__init__.py
@@ -191,7 +191,7 @@ def _clean_extended_attribute_value(  # pylint: disable=too-many-branches
     except Exception:
         raise TypeError(
             f"Invalid type {type(value).__name__} for attribute value. "
-            f"Expected one of {[valid_type.__name__ for valid_type in _VALID_ANY_VALUE_TYPES]} or a "
+            f"Expected one of {[getattr(valid_type, '__name__', getattr(valid_type, '_name', str(valid_type))) for valid_type in _VALID_ANY_VALUE_TYPES]} or a "
             "sequence of those types",
         )
 
diff --git a/opentelemetry-api/tests/attributes/test_attributes.py b/opentelemetry-api/tests/attributes/test_attributes.py
index 40d04fbe7d..83940143c8 100644
--- a/opentelemetry-api/tests/attributes/test_attributes.py
+++ b/opentelemetry-api/tests/attributes/test_attributes.py
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
     BoundedAttributes,
     _clean_attribute,
     _clean_extended_attribute,
+    _clean_extended_attribute_value,
 )
 
 
@@ -183,6 +184,19 @@ def test_mapping(self):
             _clean_extended_attribute("headers", mapping, None), expected
         )
 
+    def test_invalid_type_raises_type_error_not_attribute_error(self):
+        # On Python 3.9, typing generics like Mapping/Sequence lack __name__,
+        # which previously caused AttributeError instead of TypeError (#4821).
+        class NoStr:
+            def __str__(self):
+                raise Exception("cannot stringify")
+
+        with self.assertRaises(TypeError) as ctx:
+            _clean_extended_attribute_value(NoStr(), None)
+
+        self.assertIn("Invalid type", str(ctx.exception))
+        self.assertIn("Expected one of", str(ctx.exception))
+
 
 class TestBoundedAttributes(unittest.TestCase):
     # pylint: disable=consider-using-dict-items