diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 0bbe4be..25f79c0 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -14,6 +14,11 @@ Versions follow [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html):
 
 ---
 
+## [1.0.2] — 2026-06-23
+### Fixed
+- `_wrktr_sanitize_branch_name`: Fixed branch naming bug. Previously was adding an arbitrary `%` to the end of the branch and riectory name
+
+
 ## [1.0.1] — 2026-06-05
 
 ### Fixed
diff --git a/tests/wrktr.bats b/tests/wrktr.bats
index b0855a6..f063ef7 100644
--- a/tests/wrktr.bats
+++ b/tests/wrktr.bats
@@ -66,6 +66,21 @@ teardown() {
     [ "$result" = "main" ]
 }
 
+@test "_wrktr_sanitize_branch_name: plain name with dash is unchanged" {
+    result="$(_wrktr_sanitize_branch_name "fix-crash-100")"
+    [ "$result" = "fix-crash-100" ]
+}
+
+@test "_wrktr_sanitize_branch_name: plain name with underscore is unchanged" {
+    result="$(_wrktr_sanitize_branch_name "fix_crash_100")"
+    [ "$result" = "fix_crash_100" ]
+}
+
+@test "_wrktr_sanitize_branch_name: plain name with dot is unchanged" {
+    result="$(_wrktr_sanitize_branch_name "release.2026")"
+    [ "$result" = "release.2026" ]
+}
+
 @test "_wrktr_sanitize_branch_name: single slash encoded as %2F" {
     result="$(_wrktr_sanitize_branch_name "feature/login")"
     [ "$result" = "feature%2Flogin" ]
@@ -76,16 +91,76 @@ teardown() {
     [ "$result" = "a%2Fb%2Fc" ]
 }
 
-@test "_wrktr_sanitize_branch_name: percent encoded before slash to avoid double-encoding" {
-    result="$(_wrktr_sanitize_branch_name "fix/crash-100%")"
-    [ "$result" = "fix%2Fcrash-100%25" ]
-}
-
-@test "_wrktr_sanitize_branch_name: existing percent-sign is escaped first" {
+@test "_wrktr_sanitize_branch_name: existing percent-sign is escaped before slash encoding" {
     result="$(_wrktr_sanitize_branch_name "already%2Fencoded")"
     [ "$result" = "already%252Fencoded" ]
 }
 
+@test "_wrktr_sanitize_branch_name: internal percent-sign is escaped" {
+    result="$(_wrktr_sanitize_branch_name "fix/100%repro")"
+    [ "$result" = "fix%2F100%25repro" ]
+}
+
+@test "_wrktr_sanitize_branch_name: trailing percent is rejected" {
+    run _wrktr_sanitize_branch_name "fix/crash-100%"
+    [ "$status" -eq 1 ]
+    [ "$output" = "" ]
+}
+
+@test "_wrktr_sanitize_branch_name: trailing dash is rejected" {
+    run _wrktr_sanitize_branch_name "fix/crash-100-"
+    [ "$status" -eq 1 ]
+    [ "$output" = "" ]
+}
+
+@test "_wrktr_sanitize_branch_name: trailing underscore is rejected" {
+    run _wrktr_sanitize_branch_name "fix/crash-100_"
+    [ "$status" -eq 1 ]
+    [ "$output" = "" ]
+}
+
+@test "_wrktr_sanitize_branch_name: trailing dot is rejected by git" {
+    run _wrktr_sanitize_branch_name "fix/crash-100."
+    [ "$status" -eq 1 ]
+    [ "$output" = "" ]
+}
+
+@test "_wrktr_sanitize_branch_name: space is rejected" {
+    run _wrktr_sanitize_branch_name "feature/bad name"
+    [ "$status" -eq 1 ]
+    [ "$output" = "" ]
+}
+
+@test "_wrktr_sanitize_branch_name: exclamation mark is rejected" {
+    run _wrktr_sanitize_branch_name "feature/bad!"
+    [ "$status" -eq 1 ]
+    [ "$output" = "" ]
+}
+
+@test "_wrktr_sanitize_branch_name: at sign is rejected by git" {
+    run _wrktr_sanitize_branch_name "@"
+    [ "$status" -eq 1 ]
+    [ "$output" = "" ]
+}
+
+@test "_wrktr_sanitize_branch_name: double dot is rejected by git" {
+    run _wrktr_sanitize_branch_name "feature/foo..bar"
+    [ "$status" -eq 1 ]
+    [ "$output" = "" ]
+}
+
+@test "_wrktr_sanitize_branch_name: lock suffix is rejected by git" {
+    run _wrktr_sanitize_branch_name "feature/foo.lock"
+    [ "$status" -eq 1 ]
+    [ "$output" = "" ]
+}
+
+@test "_wrktr_sanitize_branch_name: empty branch is rejected" {
+    run _wrktr_sanitize_branch_name ""
+    [ "$status" -eq 1 ]
+    [ "$output" = "" ]
+}
+
 # ===========================================================================
 # _wrktr_assert_subpath
 # ===========================================================================
diff --git a/worktree-functions.sh b/worktree-functions.sh
index af58108..3f99e34 100644
--- a/worktree-functions.sh
+++ b/worktree-functions.sh
@@ -917,8 +917,26 @@ function wrktr_git() {
 # -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 function _wrktr_sanitize_branch_name() {
     local branch="$1"
+
+    if ! git check-ref-format --branch "$branch" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+        return 1
+    fi
+
+    # Require the original branch name to end in a letter or number.
+    # This prevents trailing %, -, _, ., etc. from becoming acceptable after encoding.
+    if [[ ! "$branch" =~ [A-Za-z0-9]$ ]]; then
+        return 1
+    fi
+
     branch="${branch//%/%25}"
-    echo "${branch//\//%2F}"
+    branch="${branch//\//%2F}"
+
+    # Allow only safe output characters and known encodings.
+    if [[ ! "$branch" =~ ^([A-Za-z0-9._-]|%2F|%25)+$ ]]; then
+        return 1
+    fi
+
+    printf '%s\n' "$branch"
 }
 
 # -----------------------------------------------------------------------------