diff --git a/.changelog/461d165a25e346669f076407175b6bd5.json b/.changelog/461d165a25e346669f076407175b6bd5.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3722d21a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changelog/461d165a25e346669f076407175b6bd5.json
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+{
+    "id": "461d165a-25e3-4666-9f07-6407175b6bd5",
+    "type": "bugfix",
+    "description": "Fixes a bug where JSON object keys were not escaped.",
+    "modules": [
+        "."
+    ]
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/encoding/json/escape_test.go b/encoding/json/escape_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c3a07a126
--- /dev/null
+++ b/encoding/json/escape_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+package json
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestEscapeStringBytes(t *testing.T) {
+	cases := map[string]struct {
+		expected string
+		input    []byte
+	}{
+		"safeSet only": {
+			expected: `"mountainPotato"`,
+			input:    []byte("mountainPotato"),
+		},
+		"parenthesis": {
+			expected: `"foo\""`,
+			input:    []byte(`foo"`),
+		},
+		"double escape": {
+			expected: `"hello\\\\world"`,
+			input:    []byte(`hello\\world`),
+		},
+		"new line": {
+			expected: `"foo\nbar"`,
+			input:    []byte("foo\nbar"),
+		},
+		"carriage return": {
+			expected: `"foo\rbar"`,
+			input:    []byte("foo\rbar"),
+		},
+		"tab": {
+			expected: `"foo\tbar"`,
+			input:    []byte("foo\tbar"),
+		},
+	}
+	for name, c := range cases {
+		t.Run(name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			var buffer bytes.Buffer
+			escapeStringBytes(&buffer, c.input)
+			expected := c.expected
+			actual := buffer.String()
+			if expected != actual {
+				t.Errorf("\nexpected %v \nactual %v", expected, actual)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
diff --git a/encoding/json/object.go b/encoding/json/object.go
index 15fb6478c..722346d03 100644
--- a/encoding/json/object.go
+++ b/encoding/json/object.go
@@ -17,9 +17,7 @@ func newObject(w *bytes.Buffer, scratch *[]byte) *Object {
 }
 
 func (o *Object) writeKey(key string) {
-	o.w.WriteRune(quote)
-	o.w.Write([]byte(key))
-	o.w.WriteRune(quote)
+	escapeStringBytes(o.w, []byte(key))
 	o.w.WriteRune(colon)
 }
 
diff --git a/encoding/json/object_test.go b/encoding/json/object_test.go
index 5f09fb1ae..1e0830e05 100644
--- a/encoding/json/object_test.go
+++ b/encoding/json/object_test.go
@@ -7,9 +7,9 @@ import (
 
 func TestObject(t *testing.T) {
 	buffer := bytes.NewBuffer(nil)
-	scatch := make([]byte, 64)
+	scratch := make([]byte, 64)
 
-	object := newObject(buffer, &scatch)
+	object := newObject(buffer, &scratch)
 	object.Key("foo").String("bar")
 	object.Key("faz").String("baz")
 	object.Close()
@@ -19,3 +19,16 @@ func TestObject(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("expected %+q, but got %+q", e, a)
 	}
 }
+
+func TestObjectKey_escaped(t *testing.T) {
+	jsonEncoder := NewEncoder()
+	object := jsonEncoder.Object()
+	object.Key("foo\"").String("bar")
+	object.Key("faz").String("baz")
+	object.Close()
+
+	e := []byte(`{"foo\"":"bar","faz":"baz"}`)
+	if a := object.w.Bytes(); bytes.Compare(e, a) != 0 {
+		t.Errorf("expected %+q, but got %+q", e, a)
+	}
+}