diff --git a/esphome/components/ble_scanner/ble_scanner.h b/esphome/components/ble_scanner/ble_scanner.h
index 7061b6d336..c6d7f24cce 100644
--- a/esphome/components/ble_scanner/ble_scanner.h
+++ b/esphome/components/ble_scanner/ble_scanner.h
@@ -16,12 +16,27 @@ namespace ble_scanner {
 class BLEScanner : public text_sensor::TextSensor, public esp32_ble_tracker::ESPBTDeviceListener, public Component {
  public:
   bool parse_device(const esp32_ble_tracker::ESPBTDevice &device) override {
-    // Format JSON using stack buffer to avoid heap allocations from string concatenation
-    char buf[128];
     char addr_buf[MAC_ADDRESS_PRETTY_BUFFER_SIZE];
+    // Escape special characters in the device name for valid JSON
+    const char *name = device.get_name().c_str();
+    char escaped_name[128];
+    size_t pos = 0;
+    for (; *name != '\0' && pos < sizeof(escaped_name) - 7; name++) {
+      uint8_t c = static_cast<uint8_t>(*name);
+      if (c == '"' || c == '\\') {
+        escaped_name[pos++] = '\\';
+        escaped_name[pos++] = c;
+      } else if (c < 0x20) {
+        pos += snprintf(escaped_name + pos, sizeof(escaped_name) - pos, "\\u%04x", c);
+      } else {
+        escaped_name[pos++] = c;
+      }
+    }
+    escaped_name[pos] = '\0';
+
+    char buf[256];
     snprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), "{\"timestamp\":%" PRId64 ",\"address\":\"%s\",\"rssi\":%d,\"name\":\"%s\"}",
-             static_cast<int64_t>(::time(nullptr)), device.address_str_to(addr_buf), device.get_rssi(),
-             device.get_name().c_str());
+             static_cast<int64_t>(::time(nullptr)), device.address_str_to(addr_buf), device.get_rssi(), escaped_name);
     this->publish_state(buf);
     return true;
   }