diff --git a/model/metric.go b/model/metric.go
index 12593c7c..81ef78b9 100644
--- a/model/metric.go
+++ b/model/metric.go
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"regexp"
 	"sort"
+	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 	"unicode/utf8"
 
@@ -270,10 +271,6 @@ func metricNeedsEscaping(m *dto.Metric) bool {
 	return false
 }
 
-const (
-	lowerhex = "0123456789abcdef"
-)
-
 // EscapeName escapes the incoming name according to the provided escaping
 // scheme. Depending on the rules of escaping, this may cause no change in the
 // string that is returned. (Especially NoEscaping, which by definition is a
@@ -308,7 +305,7 @@ func EscapeName(name string, scheme EscapingScheme) string {
 			} else if isValidLegacyRune(b, i) {
 				escaped.WriteRune(b)
 			} else {
-				escaped.WriteRune('_')
+				escaped.WriteString("__")
 			}
 		}
 		return escaped.String()
@@ -318,21 +315,15 @@ func EscapeName(name string, scheme EscapingScheme) string {
 		}
 		escaped.WriteString("U__")
 		for i, b := range name {
-			if isValidLegacyRune(b, i) {
+			if b == '_' {
+				escaped.WriteString("__")
+			} else if isValidLegacyRune(b, i) {
 				escaped.WriteRune(b)
 			} else if !utf8.ValidRune(b) {
 				escaped.WriteString("_FFFD_")
-			} else if b < 0x100 {
-				escaped.WriteRune('_')
-				for s := 4; s >= 0; s -= 4 {
-					escaped.WriteByte(lowerhex[b>>uint(s)&0xF])
-				}
-				escaped.WriteRune('_')
-			} else if b < 0x10000 {
+			} else {
 				escaped.WriteRune('_')
-				for s := 12; s >= 0; s -= 4 {
-					escaped.WriteByte(lowerhex[b>>uint(s)&0xF])
-				}
+				escaped.WriteString(strconv.FormatInt(int64(b), 16))
 				escaped.WriteRune('_')
 			}
 		}
@@ -390,8 +381,9 @@ func UnescapeName(name string, scheme EscapingScheme) string {
 			// We think we are in a UTF-8 code, process it.
 			var utf8Val uint
 			for j := 0; i < len(escapedName); j++ {
-				// This is too many characters for a utf8 value.
-				if j > 4 {
+				// This is too many characters for a utf8 value based on the MaxRune
+				// value of '\U0010FFFF'.
+				if j > 6 {
 					return name
 				}
 				// Found a closing underscore, convert to a rune, check validity, and append.
diff --git a/model/metric_test.go b/model/metric_test.go
index ef08a053..8c62f1b5 100644
--- a/model/metric_test.go
+++ b/model/metric_test.go
@@ -261,6 +261,14 @@ func TestEscapeName(t *testing.T) {
 			expectedUnescapedDots: "mysystem.prod.west.cpu.load",
 			expectedValue:         "U__mysystem_2e_prod_2e_west_2e_cpu_2e_load",
 		},
+		{
+			name:                  "name with dots and underscore",
+			input:                 "mysystem.prod.west.cpu.load_total",
+			expectedUnderscores:   "mysystem_prod_west_cpu_load_total",
+			expectedDots:          "mysystem_dot_prod_dot_west_dot_cpu_dot_load__total",
+			expectedUnescapedDots: "mysystem.prod.west.cpu.load_total",
+			expectedValue:         "U__mysystem_2e_prod_2e_west_2e_cpu_2e_load__total",
+		},
 		{
 			name:                  "name with dots and colon",
 			input:                 "http.status:sum",
@@ -269,16 +277,32 @@ func TestEscapeName(t *testing.T) {
 			expectedUnescapedDots: "http.status:sum",
 			expectedValue:         "U__http_2e_status:sum",
 		},
+		{
+			name:                  "name with spaces and emoji",
+			input:                 "label with 😱",
+			expectedUnderscores:   "label_with__",
+			expectedDots:          "label__with____",
+			expectedUnescapedDots: "label_with__",
+			expectedValue:         "U__label_20_with_20__1f631_",
+		},
 		{
 			name:                "name with unicode characters > 0x100",
 			input:               "花火",
 			expectedUnderscores: "__",
-			expectedDots:        "__",
+			expectedDots:        "____",
 			// Dots-replacement does not know the difference between two replaced
 			// characters and a single underscore.
-			expectedUnescapedDots: "_",
+			expectedUnescapedDots: "__",
 			expectedValue:         "U___82b1__706b_",
 		},
+		{
+			name:                  "name with spaces and edge-case value",
+			input:                 "label with \u0100",
+			expectedUnderscores:   "label_with__",
+			expectedDots:          "label__with____",
+			expectedUnescapedDots: "label_with__",
+			expectedValue:         "U__label_20_with_20__100_",
+		},
 	}
 
 	for _, scenario := range scenarios {