diff --git a/src/uucore/src/lib/features/quoting_style.rs b/src/uucore/src/lib/features/quoting_style.rs
index 5b838be31..d9dcd078b 100644
--- a/src/uucore/src/lib/features/quoting_style.rs
+++ b/src/uucore/src/lib/features/quoting_style.rs
@@ -428,7 +428,7 @@ fn escape_name_inner(name: &[u8], style: &QuotingStyle, dirname: bool) -> Vec<u8
                 (Quotes::Single, true)
             } else if name.contains(&b'\'') {
                 (Quotes::Double, true)
-            } else if *always_quote {
+            } else if *always_quote || name.is_empty() {
                 (Quotes::Single, true)
             } else {
                 (Quotes::Single, false)
@@ -609,6 +609,25 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn test_empty_string() {
+        check_names(
+            "",
+            &[
+                ("", "literal"),
+                ("", "literal-show"),
+                ("", "escape"),
+                ("\"\"", "c"),
+                ("''", "shell"),
+                ("''", "shell-show"),
+                ("''", "shell-always"),
+                ("''", "shell-always-show"),
+                ("''", "shell-escape"),
+                ("''", "shell-escape-always"),
+            ],
+        );
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn test_spaces() {
         check_names(
diff --git a/tests/by-util/test_printf.rs b/tests/by-util/test_printf.rs
index fb397b08d..4c638986a 100644
--- a/tests/by-util/test_printf.rs
+++ b/tests/by-util/test_printf.rs
@@ -242,6 +242,11 @@ fn sub_q_string_special_non_printable() {
         .stdout_only("non-printable: test~");
 }
 
+#[test]
+fn sub_q_string_empty() {
+    new_ucmd!().args(&["%q", ""]).succeeds().stdout_only("''");
+}
+
 #[test]
 fn sub_char() {
     new_ucmd!()