diff --git a/packages/react-devtools-shared/src/__tests__/store-test.js b/packages/react-devtools-shared/src/__tests__/store-test.js
index 02cea3d925d5d..53a531d51bf29 100644
--- a/packages/react-devtools-shared/src/__tests__/store-test.js
+++ b/packages/react-devtools-shared/src/__tests__/store-test.js
@@ -101,6 +101,19 @@ describe('Store', () => {
     `);
   });
 
+  it('should handle multibyte character strings', () => {
+    const Component = () => null;
+    Component.displayName = '🟩💜🔵';
+
+    const container = document.createElement('div');
+
+    act(() => legacyRender(<Component />, container));
+    expect(store).toMatchInlineSnapshot(`
+      [root]
+          <🟩💜🔵>
+    `);
+  });
+
   describe('collapseNodesByDefault:false', () => {
     beforeEach(() => {
       store.collapseNodesByDefault = false;
diff --git a/packages/react-devtools-shared/src/backend/renderer.js b/packages/react-devtools-shared/src/backend/renderer.js
index 24a00583e7e68..a2469577a0a38 100644
--- a/packages/react-devtools-shared/src/backend/renderer.js
+++ b/packages/react-devtools-shared/src/backend/renderer.js
@@ -1514,11 +1514,16 @@ export function attach(
 
   type OperationsArray = Array<number>;
 
+  type StringTableEntry = {|
+    encodedString: Array<number>,
+    id: number,
+  |};
+
   const pendingOperations: OperationsArray = [];
   const pendingRealUnmountedIDs: Array<number> = [];
   const pendingSimulatedUnmountedIDs: Array<number> = [];
   let pendingOperationsQueue: Array<OperationsArray> | null = [];
-  const pendingStringTable: Map<string, number> = new Map();
+  const pendingStringTable: Map<string, StringTableEntry> = new Map();
   let pendingStringTableLength: number = 0;
   let pendingUnmountedRootID: number | null = null;
 
@@ -1736,13 +1741,19 @@ export function attach(
     // Now fill in the string table.
     // [stringTableLength, str1Length, ...str1, str2Length, ...str2, ...]
     operations[i++] = pendingStringTableLength;
-    pendingStringTable.forEach((value, key) => {
-      operations[i++] = key.length;
-      const encodedKey = utfEncodeString(key);
-      for (let j = 0; j < encodedKey.length; j++) {
-        operations[i + j] = encodedKey[j];
+    pendingStringTable.forEach((entry, stringKey) => {
+      const encodedString = entry.encodedString;
+
+      // Don't use the string length.
+      // It won't work for multibyte characters (like emoji).
+      const length = encodedString.length;
+
+      operations[i++] = length;
+      for (let j = 0; j < length; j++) {
+        operations[i + j] = encodedString[j];
       }
-      i += key.length;
+
+      i += length;
     });
 
     if (numUnmountIDs > 0) {
@@ -1789,21 +1800,31 @@ export function attach(
     pendingStringTableLength = 0;
   }
 
-  function getStringID(str: string | null): number {
-    if (str === null) {
+  function getStringID(string: string | null): number {
+    if (string === null) {
       return 0;
     }
-    const existingID = pendingStringTable.get(str);
-    if (existingID !== undefined) {
-      return existingID;
-    }
-    const stringID = pendingStringTable.size + 1;
-    pendingStringTable.set(str, stringID);
-    // The string table total length needs to account
-    // both for the string length, and for the array item
-    // that contains the length itself. Hence + 1.
-    pendingStringTableLength += str.length + 1;
-    return stringID;
+    const existingEntry = pendingStringTable.get(string);
+    if (existingEntry !== undefined) {
+      return existingEntry.id;
+    }
+
+    const id = pendingStringTable.size + 1;
+    const encodedString = utfEncodeString(string);
+
+    pendingStringTable.set(string, {
+      encodedString,
+      id,
+    });
+
+    // The string table total length needs to account both for the string length,
+    // and for the array item that contains the length itself.
+    //
+    // Don't use string length for this table.
+    // It won't work for multibyte characters (like emoji).
+    pendingStringTableLength += encodedString.length + 1;
+
+    return id;
   }
 
   function recordMount(fiber: Fiber, parentFiber: Fiber | null) {
diff --git a/packages/react-devtools-shared/src/utils.js b/packages/react-devtools-shared/src/utils.js
index 9ec19e3afde41..771c18688ab38 100644
--- a/packages/react-devtools-shared/src/utils.js
+++ b/packages/react-devtools-shared/src/utils.js
@@ -138,17 +138,37 @@ export function utfDecodeString(array: Array<number>): string {
   return string;
 }
 
+function surrogatePairToCodePoint(
+  charCode1: number,
+  charCode2: number,
+): number {
+  return ((charCode1 & 0x3ff) << 10) + (charCode2 & 0x3ff) + 0x10000;
+}
+
+// Credit for this encoding approach goes to Tim Down:
+// https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4877326/how-can-i-tell-if-a-string-contains-multibyte-characters-in-javascript
 export function utfEncodeString(string: string): Array<number> {
   const cached = encodedStringCache.get(string);
   if (cached !== undefined) {
     return cached;
   }
 
-  const encoded = new Array(string.length);
-  for (let i = 0; i < string.length; i++) {
-    encoded[i] = string.codePointAt(i);
+  const encoded = [];
+  let i = 0;
+  let charCode;
+  while (i < string.length) {
+    charCode = string.charCodeAt(i);
+    // Handle multibyte unicode characters (like emoji).
+    if ((charCode & 0xf800) === 0xd800) {
+      encoded.push(surrogatePairToCodePoint(charCode, string.charCodeAt(++i)));
+    } else {
+      encoded.push(charCode);
+    }
+    ++i;
   }
+
   encodedStringCache.set(string, encoded);
+
   return encoded;
 }