diff --git a/pkgs/data/fonts/nerd-fonts/manifests/fonts.json b/pkgs/data/fonts/nerd-fonts/manifests/fonts.json
index 3d201fd4cf07..ac13c29be107 100644
--- a/pkgs/data/fonts/nerd-fonts/manifests/fonts.json
+++ b/pkgs/data/fonts/nerd-fonts/manifests/fonts.json
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@
   },
   {
     "caskName": "comic-shanns-mono",
-    "description": "The very typeface you\u2019ve been trained to recognize since childhood",
+    "description": "The very typeface you’ve been trained to recognize since childhood",
     "folderName": "ComicShannsMono",
     "licenseId": "MIT",
     "patchedName": "ComicShannsMono",
@@ -217,7 +217,7 @@
   },
   {
     "caskName": "hack",
-    "description": "Dotted zero, short descenders, expands upon work done for Bitstream Vera & DejaVu, legible at common sizes",
+    "description": "Dotted zero, short descenders, expands upon work done for Bitstream Vera & DejaVu, legible at common sizes",
     "folderName": "Hack",
     "licenseId": "Bitstream-Vera AND MIT",
     "patchedName": "Hack",
@@ -281,7 +281,7 @@
   },
   {
     "caskName": "intone-mono",
-    "description": "Expressive monospaced font family that\u2019s built with clarity, legibility, and the needs of developers in mind",
+    "description": "Expressive monospaced font family that’s built with clarity, legibility, and the needs of developers in mind",
     "folderName": "IntelOneMono",
     "licenseId": "OFL-1.1-RFN",
     "patchedName": "IntoneMono",
@@ -377,7 +377,7 @@
   },
   {
     "caskName": "monoid",
-    "description": "Ligatures, distinguishable glyphs with short ascenders & descenders, large operators & punctuation",
+    "description": "Ligatures, distinguishable glyphs with short ascenders & descenders, large operators & punctuation",
     "folderName": "Monoid",
     "licenseId": "MIT OR OFL-1.1-no-RFN",
     "patchedName": "Monoid",
@@ -513,7 +513,7 @@
   },
   {
     "caskName": "ubuntu-mono",
-    "description": "Dotted zeros, used the `n`, `o`, `H` & `O` Latin characters as a base for design",
+    "description": "Dotted zeros, used the `n`, `o`, `H` & `O` Latin characters as a base for design",
     "folderName": "UbuntuMono",
     "licenseId": "LicenseRef-UbuntuFont",
     "patchedName": "UbuntuMono",
diff --git a/pkgs/data/fonts/nerd-fonts/update.py b/pkgs/data/fonts/nerd-fonts/update.py
index 315609da9bf8..026e293c0569 100755
--- a/pkgs/data/fonts/nerd-fonts/update.py
+++ b/pkgs/data/fonts/nerd-fonts/update.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 import os
 import urllib.request as ureq
 import json
+import html
 
 if not all(
     f"UPDATE_NIX_{v}" in os.environ
@@ -28,12 +29,12 @@ def fetchjson(url):
 
 def storejson(path, obj):
     with open(path, "w", encoding="utf-8") as f:
-        json.dump(obj, f, indent=2)
+        json.dump(obj, f, indent=2, ensure_ascii=False)
         # Needed to satisfy EditorConfig's rules
         f.write('\n')
 
 def slicedict(d, ks):
-    return {k: d[k] for k in ks}
+    return {k: html.unescape(d[k]) for k in ks}
 
 os.chdir(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)), "manifests"))