diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index a48f3fb..6955067 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -296,14 +296,13 @@ For the complete code see [examples/libenvpp_range_example.cpp](examples/libenvp
 
 ### Option Variables
 
-Another frequent use-case is that a value is one of a given set of options. For this an environment variable can be registered with `register_[required]_option`, which takes a list of valid options, against which the value is checked. For example:
+Another frequent use-case is that a value is one of a given set of options. For this an environment variable can be registered with `register_[required]_option`, which takes a list of either pairs of strings and corresponding options, or just valid options, against which the value is checked. For example:
 
 ```cpp
 enum class option {
-    first_choice,
-    second_choice,
-    third_choice,
-    default_choice,
+    first,
+    second,
+    fallback,
 };
 
 int main()
@@ -311,29 +310,29 @@ int main()
     auto pre = env::prefix("OPTION");
 
     const auto option_id =
-        pre.register_option<option>("CHOICE", {option::first_choice, option::second_choice, option::third_choice});
+        pre.register_option<option>("CHOICE", {{"first", option::first}, {"second", option::second}});
 
     const auto parsed_and_validated_pre = pre.parse_and_validate();
 
     if (parsed_and_validated_pre.ok()) {
-        const auto opt = parsed_and_validated_pre.get_or(option_id, option::default_choice);
+        const auto opt = parsed_and_validated_pre.get_or(option_id, option::fallback);
     }
 }
 ```
 
-This registers an `enum class` option, where only a subset of all possible values is considered valid, so that `option::default_choice` can be used as the value if the variable is not set.
+This registers an `enum class` option, where only a subset of all possible values is considered valid, so that `option::fallback` can be used as the value if the variable is not set.
 
 _Note:_ The list of options provided when registering must not be empty, and must not contain duplicates.
 
 _Note:_ As with range variables, the default value given with `get_or` is not enforced to be within the list of options given when registering the option variable.
 
-_Note:_ Since C++ does not provide any way to automatically parse `enum class` types from string, the example above additionally requires a specialized `default_parser` for the `enum class` type.
+_Note:_ For the variant where no mapping to strings is provided, a specialized `default_parser` for the `enum class` type must exist.
 
 _Note:_ Options are mostly intended to be used with `enum class` types, but this is in no way a requirement. Any type can be used as an option, and `enum class` types can also just be normal environment variables.
 
 #### Option Variables - Code
 
-For the full code, including the parser for the enum class, see [examples/libenvpp_option_example.cpp](examples/libenvpp_option_example.cpp).
+For the full code, which features both the simple case shown above and a case with a custom parser, see [examples/libenvpp_option_example.cpp](examples/libenvpp_option_example.cpp).
 
 ### Deprecated Variables
 
diff --git a/examples/libenvpp_option_example.cpp b/examples/libenvpp_option_example.cpp
index 6c44733..e8e65a8 100644
--- a/examples/libenvpp_option_example.cpp
+++ b/examples/libenvpp_option_example.cpp
@@ -36,6 +36,12 @@ struct default_parser<option> {
 };
 } // namespace env
 
+enum class simple_option {
+	opt_a,
+	opt_b,
+	opt_c,
+};
+
 int main()
 {
 	auto pre = env::prefix("OPTION");
@@ -43,6 +49,9 @@ int main()
 	const auto option_id =
 	    pre.register_option<option>("CHOICE", {option::first_choice, option::second_choice, option::third_choice});
 
+	const auto simple_option_id = pre.register_option<simple_option>(
+	    "SIMPLE", {{"opt_a", simple_option::opt_a}, {"opt_b", simple_option::opt_b}, {"opt_c", simple_option::opt_c}});
+
 	const auto parsed_and_validated_pre = pre.parse_and_validate();
 
 	if (parsed_and_validated_pre.ok()) {
@@ -63,6 +72,21 @@ int main()
 			std::cout << "default_choice" << std::endl;
 			break;
 		}
+
+		const auto simple_opt = parsed_and_validated_pre.get_or(simple_option_id, simple_option::opt_a);
+
+		std::cout << "Simple option: ";
+		switch (simple_opt) {
+		case simple_option::opt_a:
+			std::cout << "opt_a" << std::endl;
+			break;
+		case simple_option::opt_b:
+			std::cout << "opt_b" << std::endl;
+			break;
+		case simple_option::opt_c:
+			std::cout << "opt_c" << std::endl;
+			break;
+		}
 	} else {
 		std::cout << parsed_and_validated_pre.warning_message();
 		std::cout << parsed_and_validated_pre.error_message();
diff --git a/include/libenvpp/env.hpp b/include/libenvpp/env.hpp
index 2540bc6..7edc8f0 100644
--- a/include/libenvpp/env.hpp
+++ b/include/libenvpp/env.hpp
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 #include <vector>
 
 #include <fmt/core.h>
+#include <fmt/ranges.h>
 
 #include <libenvpp/detail/edit_distance.hpp>
 #include <libenvpp/detail/environment.hpp>
@@ -58,6 +59,20 @@ class variable_data {
 	friend class ::env::parsed_and_validated_prefix;
 };
 
+template <typename T>
+std::pair<std::vector<std::string>, std::vector<T>>
+extract_options(const std::initializer_list<std::pair<std::string, T>>& options)
+{
+	std::vector<std::string> option_strings;
+	std::vector<T> option_values;
+	option_strings.reserve(options.size());
+	option_values.reserve(options.size());
+	for (const auto& [str, val] : options) {
+		option_strings.push_back(str);
+		option_values.push_back(val);
+	}
+	return {option_strings, option_values};
+}
 } // namespace detail
 
 template <typename T, bool IsRequired>
@@ -325,10 +340,26 @@ class prefix {
 		return registration_option_helper<T, false>(name, options);
 	}
 
+	template <typename T>
+	[[nodiscard]] auto register_option(const std::string_view name,
+	                                   const std::initializer_list<std::pair<std::string, T>> options)
+	{
+		const auto [option_strings, option_values] = detail::extract_options(options);
+		return registration_option_helper<T, false, true>(name, option_values, option_strings);
+	}
+
 	template <typename T>
 	[[nodiscard]] auto register_required_option(const std::string_view name, const std::initializer_list<T> options)
 	{
-		return registration_option_helper<T, true>(name, options);
+		return registration_option_helper<T, true, false>(name, options);
+	}
+
+	template <typename T>
+	[[nodiscard]] auto register_required_option(const std::string_view name,
+	                                            const std::initializer_list<std::pair<std::string, T>> options)
+	{
+		const auto [option_strings, option_values] = detail::extract_options(options);
+		return registration_option_helper<T, true, true>(name, option_values, option_strings);
 	}
 
 	void register_deprecated(const std::string_view name, const std::string_view deprecation_message)
@@ -426,8 +457,9 @@ class prefix {
 		return registration_helper<T, IsRequired>(name, std::move(parser_and_validator));
 	}
 
-	template <typename T, bool IsRequired>
-	[[nodiscard]] auto registration_option_helper(const std::string_view name, const std::initializer_list<T> options)
+	template <typename T, bool IsRequired, bool SimpleParsing = false>
+	[[nodiscard]] auto registration_option_helper(const std::string_view name, const std::vector<T> options,
+	                                              const std::vector<std::string> option_strings = {})
 	{
 		if (options.size() == 0) {
 			throw empty_option{fmt::format("No options provided for '{}'", get_full_env_var_name(name))};
@@ -437,8 +469,24 @@ class prefix {
 		if (options_set.size() != options.size()) {
 			throw duplicate_option{fmt::format("Duplicate option specified for '{}'", get_full_env_var_name(name))};
 		}
-		const auto parser_and_validator = [options = std::move(options_set)](const std::string_view str) {
-			const auto value = default_parser<T>{}(str);
+		const auto parser_and_validator = [options = std::move(options),
+		                                   strings = std::move(option_strings)](const std::string_view str) {
+			const auto value = [&]() {
+				if constexpr(SimpleParsing) {
+					if(strings.size() != options.size()) {
+						throw option_error{fmt::format("Option strings must be provided for simple option parsing")};
+					}
+					const auto it = std::find(strings.begin(), strings.end(), str);
+					if (it != strings.end()) {
+						return options.at(std::distance(strings.begin(), it));
+					} else {
+						throw option_error{fmt::format("Unrecognized option '{}', should be one of [{}]", str,
+						                               fmt::join(strings, ", "))};
+					}
+				} else {
+					return default_parser<T>{}(str);
+				}
+			}();
 			default_validator<T>{}(value);
 			if (std::all_of(options.begin(), options.end(), [&value](const auto& option) { return option != value; })) {
 				throw option_error{fmt::format("Unrecognized option '{}'", str)};
diff --git a/test/libenvpp_test.cpp b/test/libenvpp_test.cpp
index 4d0d6cf..bec02e0 100644
--- a/test/libenvpp_test.cpp
+++ b/test/libenvpp_test.cpp
@@ -65,12 +65,18 @@ struct default_parser<testing_option> {
 	}
 };
 
+enum class testing_simple_option {
+	OPT_A,
+	OPT_B,
+};
+
 class option_var_fixture {
   public:
-	option_var_fixture() : m_var("LIBENVPP_TESTING_OPTION", "SECOND_OPTION") {}
+	option_var_fixture() : m_var("LIBENVPP_TESTING_OPTION", "SECOND_OPTION"), m_simple("LIBENVPP_TESTING_SIMPLE_OPTION", "OPT_A") {}
 
   private:
 	detail::set_scoped_environment_variable m_var;
+	detail::set_scoped_environment_variable m_simple;
 };
 
 TEST_CASE_METHOD(int_var_fixture, "Retrieving integer environment variable", "[libenvpp]")
@@ -110,11 +116,27 @@ TEST_CASE_METHOD(option_var_fixture, "Retrieving option environment variable", "
 {
 	auto pre = env::prefix("LIBENVPP_TESTING");
 	const auto option_id = pre.register_variable<testing_option>("OPTION");
+	const auto simple_option_id = pre.register_option<testing_simple_option>("SIMPLE_OPTION", {{"OPT_A", testing_simple_option::OPT_A}, {"OPT_B", testing_simple_option::OPT_B}});
 	auto parsed_and_validated_pre = pre.parse_and_validate();
 	REQUIRE(parsed_and_validated_pre.ok());
 	const auto option_val = parsed_and_validated_pre.get(option_id);
 	REQUIRE(option_val.has_value());
 	CHECK(*option_val == testing_option::SECOND_OPTION);
+	const auto simple_option_val = parsed_and_validated_pre.get(simple_option_id);
+	REQUIRE(simple_option_val.has_value());
+	CHECK(*simple_option_val == testing_simple_option::OPT_A);
+}
+
+TEST_CASE("Parsing failure with 'simple' option handling", "[libenvpp]")
+{
+	const auto _ = detail::set_scoped_environment_variable{"LIBENVPP_TESTING_SIMPLE_OPTION", "INVALID_OPTION"};
+
+	auto pre = env::prefix("LIBENVPP_TESTING");
+	(void)pre.register_option<testing_simple_option>("SIMPLE_OPTION", {{"OPT_A", testing_simple_option::OPT_A}, {"OPT_B", testing_simple_option::OPT_B}});
+	auto parsed_and_validated_pre = pre.parse_and_validate();
+	REQUIRE_FALSE(parsed_and_validated_pre.ok());
+	CHECK_THAT(parsed_and_validated_pre.error_message(),
+	           ContainsSubstring("'LIBENVPP_TESTING_SIMPLE_OPTION': Unrecognized option 'INVALID_OPTION', should be one of [OPT_A, OPT_B]"));
 }
 
 struct user_parsable_type {