diff --git a/src/wp-includes/formatting.php b/src/wp-includes/formatting.php
index ff0b6a4fd9..c2f08028c5 100644
--- a/src/wp-includes/formatting.php
+++ b/src/wp-includes/formatting.php
@@ -3706,6 +3706,10 @@ function sanitize_option( $option, $value ) {
 		case 'blogdescription':
 		case 'blogname':
 			$value = $wpdb->strip_invalid_text_for_column( $wpdb->options, 'option_value', $value );
+			if ( $value !== $original_value ) {
+				$value = $wpdb->strip_invalid_text_for_column( $wpdb->options, 'option_value', wp_encode_emoji( $original_value ) );
+			}
+
 			if ( is_wp_error( $value ) ) {
 				$error = $value->get_error_message();
 			} else {
diff --git a/tests/phpunit/tests/option/sanitize-option.php b/tests/phpunit/tests/option/sanitize-option.php
index 4dd0942344..c4bea4554e 100644
--- a/tests/phpunit/tests/option/sanitize-option.php
+++ b/tests/phpunit/tests/option/sanitize-option.php
@@ -102,4 +102,21 @@ class Tests_Sanitize_Option extends WP_UnitTestCase {
 		$this->assertSame( $expected, sanitize_option( 'upload_path', $provided ) );
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * @ticket #36122
+	 */
+	public function test_emoji_in_blogname_and_description() {
+		global $wpdb;
+
+		$value = "whee\xf0\x9f\x98\x88";
+
+		if ( 'utf8mb4' === $wpdb->get_col_charset( $wpdb->options, 'option_value' ) ) {
+			$expected = $value;
+		} else {
+			$expected = 'whee😈';
+		}
+
+		$this->assertSame( $expected, sanitize_option( 'blogname', $value ) );
+		$this->assertSame( $expected, sanitize_option( 'blogdescription', $value ) );
+	}
 }