diff --git a/storage/google/cloud/storage/blob.py b/storage/google/cloud/storage/blob.py
index 96c46245300a..b8590164bba4 100644
--- a/storage/google/cloud/storage/blob.py
+++ b/storage/google/cloud/storage/blob.py
@@ -58,8 +58,11 @@ class Blob(_PropertyMixin):
     """A wrapper around Cloud Storage's concept of an ``Object``.
 
     :type name: str
-    :param name: The name of the blob.  This corresponds to the
-                 unique path of the object in the bucket.
+    :param name: The name of the blob.  This corresponds to the unique path of
+                 the object in the bucket. If bytes, will be converted to a
+                 unicode object. Blob / object names can contain any sequence
+                 of valid unicode characters, of length 1-1024 bytes when
+                 UTF-8 encoded.
 
     :type bucket: :class:`google.cloud.storage.bucket.Bucket`
     :param bucket: The bucket to which this blob belongs.
@@ -104,6 +107,7 @@ class Blob(_PropertyMixin):
     """
 
     def __init__(self, name, bucket, chunk_size=None, encryption_key=None):
+        name = _bytes_to_unicode(name)
         super(Blob, self).__init__(name=name)
 
         self.chunk_size = chunk_size  # Check that setter accepts value.
@@ -148,7 +152,7 @@ def path_helper(bucket_path, blob_name):
         :rtype: str
         :returns: The relative URL path for ``blob_name``.
         """
-        return bucket_path + '/o/' + quote(blob_name, safe='')
+        return bucket_path + '/o/' + _quote(blob_name)
 
     @property
     def acl(self):
@@ -190,7 +194,7 @@ def public_url(self):
         return '{storage_base_url}/{bucket_name}/{quoted_name}'.format(
             storage_base_url='https://storage.googleapis.com',
             bucket_name=self.bucket.name,
-            quoted_name=quote(self.name, safe=''))
+            quoted_name=_quote(self.name))
 
     def generate_signed_url(self, expiration, method='GET',
                             content_type=None,
@@ -261,7 +265,7 @@ def generate_signed_url(self, expiration, method='GET',
         """
         resource = '/{bucket_name}/{quoted_name}'.format(
             bucket_name=self.bucket.name,
-            quoted_name=quote(self.name, safe=''))
+            quoted_name=_quote(self.name))
 
         if credentials is None:
             client = self._require_client(client)
@@ -1362,3 +1366,21 @@ def _get_encryption_headers(key, source=False):
         prefix + 'Key': _bytes_to_unicode(key),
         prefix + 'Key-Sha256': _bytes_to_unicode(key_hash),
     }
+
+
+def _quote(value):
+    """URL-quote a string.
+
+    If the value is unicode, this method first UTF-8 encodes it as bytes and
+    then quotes the bytes. (In Python 3, ``urllib.parse.quote`` does this
+    encoding automatically, but in Python 2, non-ASCII characters cannot be
+    quoted.)
+
+    :type value: str or bytes
+    :param value: The value to be URL-quoted.
+
+    :rtype: str
+    :returns: The encoded value (bytes in Python 2, unicode in Python 3).
+    """
+    value = _to_bytes(value, encoding='utf-8')
+    return quote(value, safe='')
diff --git a/storage/tests/system.py b/storage/tests/system.py
index 1d4b6e467c88..afab659882bf 100644
--- a/storage/tests/system.py
+++ b/storage/tests/system.py
@@ -246,6 +246,7 @@ def test_copy_existing_file(self):
 
 
 class TestUnicode(unittest.TestCase):
+
     def test_fetch_object_and_check_content(self):
         client = storage.Client()
         bucket = client.bucket('storage-library-test-bucket')
@@ -256,8 +257,8 @@ def test_fetch_object_and_check_content(self):
         # Normalization Form D: an ASCII e followed by U+0301 combining
         # character; URL should end with Caf%C3%A9
         test_data = {
-            u'Caf\u00e9'.encode('utf-8'): b'Normalization Form C',
-            u'Cafe\u0301'.encode('utf-8'): b'Normalization Form D',
+            u'Caf\u00e9': b'Normalization Form C',
+            u'Cafe\u0301': b'Normalization Form D',
         }
         for blob_name, file_contents in test_data.items():
             blob = bucket.blob(blob_name)
diff --git a/storage/tests/unit/test_blob.py b/storage/tests/unit/test_blob.py
index 746552d77c2d..cade3a458160 100644
--- a/storage/tests/unit/test_blob.py
+++ b/storage/tests/unit/test_blob.py
@@ -25,7 +25,8 @@ def _make_credentials():
 
 class Test_Blob(unittest.TestCase):
 
-    def _make_one(self, *args, **kw):
+    @staticmethod
+    def _make_one(*args, **kw):
         from google.cloud.storage.blob import Blob
 
         properties = kw.pop('properties', None)
@@ -45,6 +46,13 @@ def test_ctor_wo_encryption_key(self):
         self.assertIs(blob._acl.blob, blob)
         self.assertEqual(blob._encryption_key, None)
 
+    def test_ctor_with_encoded_unicode(self):
+        blob_name = b'wet \xe2\x9b\xb5'
+        blob = self._make_one(blob_name, bucket=None)
+        unicode_name = u'wet \N{sailboat}'
+        self.assertNotEqual(blob.name, blob_name)
+        self.assertEqual(blob.name, unicode_name)
+
     def test_ctor_w_encryption_key(self):
         KEY = b'01234567890123456789012345678901'  # 32 bytes
         BLOB_NAME = 'blob-name'
@@ -91,21 +99,21 @@ def test_chunk_size_setter_bad_value(self):
     def test_acl_property(self):
         from google.cloud.storage.acl import ObjectACL
 
-        FAKE_BUCKET = _Bucket()
-        blob = self._make_one(None, bucket=FAKE_BUCKET)
+        fake_bucket = _Bucket()
+        blob = self._make_one(u'name', bucket=fake_bucket)
         acl = blob.acl
         self.assertIsInstance(acl, ObjectACL)
         self.assertIs(acl, blob._acl)
 
-    def test_path_no_bucket(self):
-        FAKE_BUCKET = object()
-        NAME = 'blob-name'
-        blob = self._make_one(NAME, bucket=FAKE_BUCKET)
+    def test_path_bad_bucket(self):
+        fake_bucket = object()
+        name = u'blob-name'
+        blob = self._make_one(name, bucket=fake_bucket)
         self.assertRaises(AttributeError, getattr, blob, 'path')
 
     def test_path_no_name(self):
         bucket = _Bucket()
-        blob = self._make_one(None, bucket=bucket)
+        blob = self._make_one(u'', bucket=bucket)
         self.assertRaises(ValueError, getattr, blob, 'path')
 
     def test_path_normal(self):
@@ -120,6 +128,12 @@ def test_path_w_slash_in_name(self):
         blob = self._make_one(BLOB_NAME, bucket=bucket)
         self.assertEqual(blob.path, '/b/name/o/parent%2Fchild')
 
+    def test_path_with_non_ascii(self):
+        blob_name = u'Caf\xe9'
+        bucket = _Bucket()
+        blob = self._make_one(blob_name, bucket=bucket)
+        self.assertEqual(blob.path, '/b/name/o/Caf%C3%A9')
+
     def test_public_url(self):
         BLOB_NAME = 'blob-name'
         bucket = _Bucket()
@@ -136,6 +150,13 @@ def test_public_url_w_slash_in_name(self):
             blob.public_url,
             'https://storage.googleapis.com/name/parent%2Fchild')
 
+    def test_public_url_with_non_ascii(self):
+        blob_name = u'winter \N{snowman}'
+        bucket = _Bucket()
+        blob = self._make_one(blob_name, bucket=bucket)
+        expected_url = 'https://storage.googleapis.com/name/winter%20%E2%98%83'
+        self.assertEqual(blob.public_url, expected_url)
+
     def _basic_generate_signed_url_helper(self, credentials=None):
         BLOB_NAME = 'blob-name'
         EXPIRATION = '2014-10-16T20:34:37.000Z'
@@ -2227,6 +2248,28 @@ def test_updated_unset(self):
         self.assertIsNone(blob.updated)
 
 
+class Test__quote(unittest.TestCase):
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def _call_fut(value):
+        from google.cloud.storage.blob import _quote
+
+        return _quote(value)
+
+    def test_bytes(self):
+        quoted = self._call_fut(b'\xDE\xAD\xBE\xEF')
+        self.assertEqual(quoted, '%DE%AD%BE%EF')
+
+    def test_unicode(self):
+        helicopter = u'\U0001f681'
+        quoted = self._call_fut(helicopter)
+        self.assertEqual(quoted, '%F0%9F%9A%81')
+
+    def test_bad_type(self):
+        with self.assertRaises(TypeError):
+            self._call_fut(None)
+
+
 class _Responder(object):
 
     def __init__(self, *responses):