diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 30a8adc2524ff..113386f9aa9ed 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -5575,6 +5575,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "uv-platform-tags",
  "uv-pypi-types",
  "uv-python",
+ "uv-shell",
  "uv-version",
 ]
 
diff --git a/crates/uv-virtualenv/Cargo.toml b/crates/uv-virtualenv/Cargo.toml
index 959a17e203615..cf51a1c592c81 100644
--- a/crates/uv-virtualenv/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/uv-virtualenv/Cargo.toml
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ uv-platform-tags = { workspace = true }
 uv-pypi-types = { workspace = true }
 uv-python = { workspace = true }
 uv-version = { workspace = true }
+uv-shell = { workspace = true }
 
 fs-err = { workspace = true }
 itertools = { workspace = true }
diff --git a/crates/uv-virtualenv/src/virtualenv.rs b/crates/uv-virtualenv/src/virtualenv.rs
index d11ecc1fb134e..d56f4576594a5 100644
--- a/crates/uv-virtualenv/src/virtualenv.rs
+++ b/crates/uv-virtualenv/src/virtualenv.rs
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ use tracing::debug;
 use uv_fs::{cachedir, Simplified, CWD};
 use uv_pypi_types::Scheme;
 use uv_python::{Interpreter, VirtualEnvironment};
+use uv_shell::escape_posix_for_single_quotes;
 use uv_version::version;
 
 use crate::{Error, Prompt};
@@ -287,23 +288,20 @@ pub(crate) fn create(
 
         let virtual_env_dir = match (relocatable, name.to_owned()) {
             (true, "activate") => {
-                r#"'"$(dirname -- "$(dirname -- "$(realpath -- "$SCRIPT_PATH")")")"'"#
+                r#"'"$(dirname -- "$(dirname -- "$(realpath -- "$SCRIPT_PATH")")")"'"#.to_string()
             }
-            (true, "activate.bat") => r"%~dp0..",
+            (true, "activate.bat") => r"%~dp0..".to_string(),
             (true, "activate.fish") => {
-                r#"'"$(dirname -- "$(cd "$(dirname -- "$(status -f)")"; and pwd)")"'"#
+                r#"'"$(dirname -- "$(cd "$(dirname -- "$(status -f)")"; and pwd)")"'"#.to_string()
             }
             // Note:
             // * relocatable activate scripts appear not to be possible in csh and nu shell
             // * `activate.ps1` is already relocatable by default.
-            _ => {
-                // SAFETY: `unwrap` is guaranteed to succeed because `location` is an `Utf8PathBuf`.
-                location.simplified().to_str().unwrap()
-            }
+            _ => escape_posix_for_single_quotes(location.simplified().to_str().unwrap()),
         };
 
         let activator = template
-            .replace("{{ VIRTUAL_ENV_DIR }}", virtual_env_dir)
+            .replace("{{ VIRTUAL_ENV_DIR }}", &virtual_env_dir)
             .replace("{{ BIN_NAME }}", bin_name)
             .replace(
                 "{{ VIRTUAL_PROMPT }}",
diff --git a/crates/uv/tests/it/venv.rs b/crates/uv/tests/it/venv.rs
index 5cd54a971290f..7938d84a584d7 100644
--- a/crates/uv/tests/it/venv.rs
+++ b/crates/uv/tests/it/venv.rs
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ use assert_cmd::prelude::*;
 use assert_fs::prelude::*;
 use indoc::indoc;
 use predicates::prelude::*;
-
 use uv_python::{PYTHON_VERSIONS_FILENAME, PYTHON_VERSION_FILENAME};
 use uv_static::EnvVars;
 
@@ -1087,3 +1086,57 @@ fn path_with_trailing_space_gives_proper_error() {
     );
     // Note the extra trailing `/` in the snapshot is due to the filters, not the actual output.
 }
+
+/// Check that the activate script still works with the path contains an apostrophe.
+#[test]
+#[cfg(target_os = "linux")]
+fn create_venv_apostrophe() {
+    use std::env;
+    use std::ffi::OsString;
+    use std::io::Write;
+    use std::process::Command;
+    use std::process::Stdio;
+
+    let context = TestContext::new_with_versions(&["3.12"]);
+
+    let venv_dir = context.temp_dir.join("Testing's");
+
+    uv_snapshot!(context.filters(), context.venv()
+        .arg(&venv_dir)
+        .arg("--python")
+        .arg("3.12"), @r###"
+    success: true
+    exit_code: 0
+    ----- stdout -----
+
+    ----- stderr -----
+    Using CPython 3.12.[X] interpreter at: [PYTHON-3.12]
+    Creating virtual environment at: Testing's
+    Activate with: source Testing's/[BIN]/activate
+    "###
+    );
+
+    // One of them should be commonly available on a linux developer machine, if not, we have to
+    // extend the fallbacks.
+    let shell = env::var_os("SHELL").unwrap_or(OsString::from("bash"));
+    let mut child = Command::new(shell)
+        .stdin(Stdio::piped())
+        .stdout(Stdio::piped())
+        .current_dir(&venv_dir)
+        .spawn()
+        .expect("Failed to spawn shell script");
+
+    let mut stdin = child.stdin.take().expect("Failed to open stdin");
+    std::thread::spawn(move || {
+        stdin
+            .write_all(". bin/activate && python -c 'import sys; print(sys.prefix)'".as_bytes())
+            .expect("Failed to write to stdin");
+    });
+
+    let output = child.wait_with_output().expect("Failed to read stdout");
+
+    assert!(output.status.success(), "{output:?}");
+
+    let stdout = String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stdout);
+    assert_eq!(stdout.trim(), venv_dir.to_string_lossy());
+}