diff --git a/src/wp-includes/fonts/class-wp-font-collection.php b/src/wp-includes/fonts/class-wp-font-collection.php
index 240bba35e94f8..889d1af998a85 100644
--- a/src/wp-includes/fonts/class-wp-font-collection.php
+++ b/src/wp-includes/fonts/class-wp-font-collection.php
@@ -219,8 +219,10 @@ private static function get_sanitization_schema() {
 				array(
 					'font_family_settings' => array(
 						'name'       => 'sanitize_text_field',
-						'slug'       => 'sanitize_title',
-						'fontFamily' => 'sanitize_text_field',
+						'slug'       => static function ( $value ) {
+							return _wp_to_kebab_case( sanitize_title( $value ) );
+						},
+						'fontFamily' => 'WP_Font_Utils::sanitize_font_family',
 						'preview'    => 'sanitize_url',
 						'fontFace'   => array(
 							array(
diff --git a/src/wp-includes/fonts/class-wp-font-utils.php b/src/wp-includes/fonts/class-wp-font-utils.php
index e9155b8e59719..3c2d5057e450e 100644
--- a/src/wp-includes/fonts/class-wp-font-utils.php
+++ b/src/wp-includes/fonts/class-wp-font-utils.php
@@ -18,11 +18,36 @@
  * @access private
  */
 class WP_Font_Utils {
+	/**
+	 * Adds surrounding quotes to font family names that contain special characters.
+	 *
+	 * It follows the recommendations from the CSS Fonts Module Level 4.
+	 * @link https://www.w3.org/TR/css-fonts-4/#font-family-prop
+	 *
+	 * @since 6.5.0
+	 *
+	 * @param string $item A font family name.
+	 * @return string The font family name with surrounding quotes, if necessary.
+	 */
+	private static function maybe_add_quotes( $item ) {
+		// Matches strings that are not exclusively alphabetic characters or hyphens, and do not exactly follow the pattern generic(alphabetic characters or hyphens).
+		$regex = '/^(?!generic\([a-zA-Z\-]+\)$)(?!^[a-zA-Z\-]+$).+/';
+		$item  = trim( $item );
+		if ( preg_match( $regex, $item ) ) {
+			$item = trim( $item, "\"'" );
+			return '"' . $item . '"';
+		}
+		return $item;
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Sanitizes and formats font family names.
 	 *
-	 * - Applies `sanitize_text_field`
-	 * - Adds surrounding quotes to names that contain spaces and are not already quoted
+	 * - Applies `sanitize_text_field`.
+	 * - Adds surrounding quotes to names containing any characters that are not alphabetic or dashes.
+	 *
+	 * It follows the recommendations from the CSS Fonts Module Level 4.
+	 * @link https://www.w3.org/TR/css-fonts-4/#font-family-prop
 	 *
 	 * @since 6.5.0
 	 * @access private
@@ -37,26 +62,19 @@ public static function sanitize_font_family( $font_family ) {
 			return '';
 		}
 
-		$font_family           = sanitize_text_field( $font_family );
-		$font_families         = explode( ',', $font_family );
-		$wrapped_font_families = array_map(
-			function ( $family ) {
-				$trimmed = trim( $family );
-				if ( ! empty( $trimmed ) && str_contains( $trimmed, ' ' ) && ! str_contains( $trimmed, "'" ) && ! str_contains( $trimmed, '"' ) ) {
-						return '"' . $trimmed . '"';
+		$output          = sanitize_text_field( $font_family );
+		$formatted_items = array();
+		if ( str_contains( $output, ',' ) ) {
+			$items = explode( ',', $output );
+			foreach ( $items as $item ) {
+				$formatted_item = self::maybe_add_quotes( $item );
+				if ( ! empty( $formatted_item ) ) {
+					$formatted_items[] = $formatted_item;
 				}
-				return $trimmed;
-			},
-			$font_families
-		);
-
-		if ( count( $wrapped_font_families ) === 1 ) {
-			$font_family = $wrapped_font_families[0];
-		} else {
-			$font_family = implode( ', ', $wrapped_font_families );
+			}
+			return implode( ', ', $formatted_items );
 		}
-
-		return $font_family;
+		return self::maybe_add_quotes( $output );
 	}
 
 	/**
diff --git a/tests/phpunit/tests/fonts/font-library/wpFontCollection/getData.php b/tests/phpunit/tests/fonts/font-library/wpFontCollection/getData.php
index 8a0af0c97d967..0921379b801c3 100644
--- a/tests/phpunit/tests/fonts/font-library/wpFontCollection/getData.php
+++ b/tests/phpunit/tests/fonts/font-library/wpFontCollection/getData.php
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ public function data_create_font_collection() {
 					'font_families' => array(
 						array(
 							'font_family_settings' => array(
-								'fontFamily' => 'Open Sans, sans-serif',
+								'fontFamily' => '"Open Sans", sans-serif',
 								'slug'       => 'open-sans',
 								'name'       => 'Open Sans',
 								'fontFace'   => array(
diff --git a/tests/phpunit/tests/fonts/font-library/wpFontUtils/sanitizeFontFamily.php b/tests/phpunit/tests/fonts/font-library/wpFontUtils/sanitizeFontFamily.php
index 71511331c65dc..ff6b083ecaebd 100644
--- a/tests/phpunit/tests/fonts/font-library/wpFontUtils/sanitizeFontFamily.php
+++ b/tests/phpunit/tests/fonts/font-library/wpFontUtils/sanitizeFontFamily.php
@@ -35,17 +35,13 @@ public function test_should_sanitize_font_family( $font_family, $expected ) {
 	public function data_should_sanitize_font_family() {
 		return array(
 			'data_families_with_spaces_and_numbers' => array(
-				'font_family' => 'Rock 3D , Open Sans,serif',
-				'expected'    => '"Rock 3D", "Open Sans", serif',
+				'font_family' => 'Arial, Rock 3D , Open Sans,serif',
+				'expected'    => 'Arial, "Rock 3D", "Open Sans", serif',
 			),
 			'data_single_font_family'               => array(
 				'font_family' => 'Rock 3D',
 				'expected'    => '"Rock 3D"',
 			),
-			'data_no_spaces'                        => array(
-				'font_family' => 'Rock3D',
-				'expected'    => 'Rock3D',
-			),
 			'data_many_spaces_and_existing_quotes'  => array(
 				'font_family' => 'Rock 3D serif, serif,sans-serif, "Open Sans"',
 				'expected'    => '"Rock 3D serif", serif, sans-serif, "Open Sans"',
@@ -58,6 +54,10 @@ public function data_should_sanitize_font_family() {
 				'font_family' => "   Rock      3D</style><script>alert('XSS');</script>\n    ",
 				'expected'    => '"Rock 3D"',
 			),
+			'data_font_family_with_generic_names'   => array(
+				'font_family' => 'generic(kai), generic(font[name]), generic(fangsong), Rock 3D',
+				'expected'    => 'generic(kai), "generic(font[name])", generic(fangsong), "Rock 3D"',
+			),
 		);
 	}
 }
diff --git a/tests/phpunit/tests/fonts/font-library/wpRestFontFamiliesController.php b/tests/phpunit/tests/fonts/font-library/wpRestFontFamiliesController.php
index 0676c3ce4b88d..c78efdf03e449 100644
--- a/tests/phpunit/tests/fonts/font-library/wpRestFontFamiliesController.php
+++ b/tests/phpunit/tests/fonts/font-library/wpRestFontFamiliesController.php
@@ -681,7 +681,7 @@ public function test_update_item() {
 
 		$settings = array(
 			'name'       => 'Open Sans',
-			'fontFamily' => '"Open Sans, "Noto Sans", sans-serif',
+			'fontFamily' => 'Open Sans, "Noto Sans", sans-serif',
 			'preview'    => 'https://s.w.org/images/fonts/16.9/previews/open-sans/open-sans-400-normal.svg',
 		);
 
@@ -700,7 +700,7 @@ public function test_update_item() {
 		$expected_settings = array(
 			'name'       => $settings['name'],
 			'slug'       => 'open-sans-2',
-			'fontFamily' => $settings['fontFamily'],
+			'fontFamily' => '"Open Sans", "Noto Sans", sans-serif',
 			'preview'    => $settings['preview'],
 		);
 		$this->assertSame( $expected_settings, $data['font_family_settings'], 'The response font_family_settings should match expected settings.' );