diff --git a/src/encode.js b/src/encode.js
index a7a6a66..c548d70 100644
--- a/src/encode.js
+++ b/src/encode.js
@@ -10,6 +10,12 @@ const { isNonEmptyString } = require('./strings')
 
 const { encodeURIComponent } = globalThis
 
+function encodeName(name) {
+    return isNonEmptyString(name)
+        ? encodeURIComponent(name).replace(/%3A/g, ':')
+        : ''
+}
+
 function encodeNamespace(namespace) {
     return isNonEmptyString(namespace)
         ? encodeURIComponent(namespace)
@@ -63,6 +69,7 @@ function replacePlusSignWithPercentEncodedSpace(str) {
 }
 
 module.exports = {
+    encodeName,
     encodeNamespace,
     encodeVersion,
     encodeQualifiers,
diff --git a/src/purl-component.js b/src/purl-component.js
index 4a03aa2..20828dc 100644
--- a/src/purl-component.js
+++ b/src/purl-component.js
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 'use strict'
 
 const {
+    encodeName,
     encodeNamespace,
     encodeVersion,
     encodeQualifiers,
@@ -66,6 +67,7 @@ module.exports = {
     PurlComponent: createHelpersNamespaceObject(
         {
             encode: {
+                name: encodeName,
                 namespace: encodeNamespace,
                 version: encodeVersion,
                 qualifiers: encodeQualifiers,
diff --git a/test/data/contrib-tests.json b/test/data/contrib-tests.json
index 4f689f7..7a414b6 100644
--- a/test/data/contrib-tests.json
+++ b/test/data/contrib-tests.json
@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
 [
   {
-    "description": "scheme is lowercased",
-    "purl": "PkG:type/foo/bar@1.0.0",
-    "canonical_purl": "pkg:type/foo/bar@1.0.0",
-    "type": "type",
-    "namespace": "foo",
-    "name": "bar",
-    "version": "1.0.0",
-    "qualifiers": null,
+    "description": "debian can have debian versions as part of version with plus sign",
+    "purl": "pkg:deb/debian/libssl1.1@1.1.1n-0+deb10u3?arch=amd64&distro=debian-10",
+    "canonical_purl": "pkg:deb/debian/libssl1.1@1.1.1n-0+deb10u3?arch=amd64&distro=debian-10",
+    "type": "deb",
+    "namespace": "debian",
+    "name": "libssl1.1",
+    "version": "1.1.1n-0+deb10u3",
+    "qualifiers": {"arch": "amd64", "distro": "debian-10"},
     "subpath": null,
     "is_invalid": false
   },
@@ -23,18 +23,6 @@
     "subpath": null,
     "is_invalid": false
   },
-  {
-    "description": "debian can have debian versions as part of version with plus sign",
-    "purl": "pkg:deb/debian/libssl1.1@1.1.1n-0+deb10u3?arch=amd64&distro=debian-10",
-    "canonical_purl": "pkg:deb/debian/libssl1.1@1.1.1n-0+deb10u3?arch=amd64&distro=debian-10",
-    "type": "deb",
-    "namespace": "debian",
-    "name": "libssl1.1",
-    "version": "1.1.1n-0+deb10u3",
-    "qualifiers": {"arch": "amd64", "distro": "debian-10"},
-    "subpath": null,
-    "is_invalid": false
-  },
   {
     "description": "valid go purl with namespace that has more than one forward slash",
     "purl": "pkg:golang/github.com/cncf/xds/go@v0.0.0-20210922020428-25de7278fc84",
@@ -47,6 +35,18 @@
     "subpath": null,
     "is_invalid": false
   },
+  {
+    "description": "maven requires a namespace",
+    "purl": "pkg:maven/io@1.3.4",
+    "canonical_purl": "pkg:maven/io@1.3.4",
+    "type": "maven",
+    "namespace": null,
+    "name": null,
+    "version": null,
+    "qualifiers": null,
+    "subpath": null,
+    "is_invalid": true
+  },
   {
     "description": "validates pub name (valid)",
     "purl": "pkg:pub/flutter_downloader@1.0.0",
@@ -59,6 +59,18 @@
     "subpath": null,
     "is_invalid": false
   },
+  {
+    "description": "scheme is lowercased",
+    "purl": "PkG:type/foo/bar@1.0.0",
+    "canonical_purl": "pkg:type/foo/bar@1.0.0",
+    "type": "type",
+    "namespace": "foo",
+    "name": "bar",
+    "version": "1.0.0",
+    "qualifiers": null,
+    "subpath": null,
+    "is_invalid": false
+  },
   {
     "description": "namespace can contain special characters",
     "purl": "pkg:type/%40namespace%40%3F%23/name@1.0.0",
@@ -108,25 +120,25 @@
     "is_invalid": false
   },
   {
-    "description": "maven requires a namespace",
-    "purl": "pkg:maven/io@1.3.4",
-    "canonical_purl": "pkg:maven/io@1.3.4",
-    "type": "maven",
-    "namespace": null,
-    "name": null,
-    "version": null,
+    "description": "leading and trailing slashes '/' are not significant and should be stripped in the canonical form",
+    "purl": "pkg:type//github.com///ll////xlog@v1.0.0",
+    "canonical_purl": "pkg:type/github.com/ll/xlog@v1.0.0",
+    "type": "type",
+    "namespace": "github.com/ll",
+    "name": "xlog",
+    "version": "v1.0.0",
     "qualifiers": null,
     "subpath": null,
-    "is_invalid": true
+    "is_invalid": false
   },
   {
-    "description": "leading and trailing slashes '/' are not significant and should be stripped in the canonical form",
-    "purl": "pkg:golang//github.com///ll////xlog@v2.0.0",
-    "canonical_purl": "pkg:golang/github.com/ll/xlog@v2.0.0",
-    "type": "golang",
-    "namespace": "github.com/ll",
-    "name": "xlog",
-    "version": "v2.0.0",
+    "description": "the colon ':' does not need to be encoded as '%3A'",
+    "purl": "pkg:type/fo:o/ba:r@v1.0.0",
+    "canonical_purl": "pkg:type/fo:o/ba:r@v1.0.0",
+    "type": "type",
+    "namespace": "fo:o",
+    "name": "ba:r",
+    "version": "v1.0.0",
     "qualifiers": null,
     "subpath": null,
     "is_invalid": false