diff --git a/common/src/app/common/media.cljc b/common/src/app/common/media.cljc
index 05b072047d..a1d699cdc7 100644
--- a/common/src/app/common/media.cljc
+++ b/common/src/app/common/media.cljc
@@ -136,6 +136,11 @@
       "italic"
       "normal")))
 
+(defn first-nonblank-string
+  "Return the first nonblank string from the candidates, or nil."
+  [& candidates]
+  (first (filter #(and (string? %) (not (str/blank? %))) candidates)))
+
 (defn font-weight->name
   [weight]
   (case (long weight)
diff --git a/common/test/common_tests/media_test.cljc b/common/test/common_tests/media_test.cljc
index 8b02d87318..874dd67ca1 100644
--- a/common/test/common_tests/media_test.cljc
+++ b/common/test/common_tests/media_test.cljc
@@ -89,6 +89,18 @@
   (t/testing "falls back to the base name when everything is stripped"
     (t/is (= "BoldItalic" (media/parse-font-family "BoldItalic")))))
 
+(t/deftest test-first-nonblank-string
+  (t/testing "returns the first nonblank string"
+    (t/is (= "Bold" (media/first-nonblank-string "  " "Bold")))
+    (t/is (= "Bold" (media/first-nonblank-string "Bold" "Light")))
+    (t/is (= "Bold" (media/first-nonblank-string nil "Bold")))
+    (t/is (= "Inter" (media/first-nonblank-string "" "Inter"))))
+
+  (t/testing "returns nil when every candidate is blank or not a string"
+    (t/is (nil? (media/first-nonblank-string nil "  ")))
+    (t/is (nil? (media/first-nonblank-string)))
+    (t/is (nil? (media/first-nonblank-string 42 "  ")))))
+
 (t/deftest test-strip-image-extension
   (t/testing "removes extension from supported image files"
     (t/is (= (media/strip-image-extension "foo.png") "foo"))
diff --git a/frontend/src/app/main/data/fonts.cljs b/frontend/src/app/main/data/fonts.cljs
index ac1d34897e..7df874626e 100644
--- a/frontend/src/app/main/data/fonts.cljs
+++ b/frontend/src/app/main/data/fonts.cljs
@@ -144,10 +144,15 @@
   [{:keys [font type name data] :as _params}]
   (if font
     ;; Font was parsed with opentype.js (ttf, otf, woff)
-    (let [family          (or (.getEnglishName ^js font "preferredFamily")
-                              (.getEnglishName ^js font "fontFamily"))
-          variant         (or (.getEnglishName ^js font "preferredSubfamily")
-                              (.getEnglishName ^js font "fontSubfamily"))
+    (let [;; Select the first nonblank name candidate: a blank
+          ;; preferredFamily/preferredSubfamily must not shadow a valid
+          ;; fontFamily/fontSubfamily.
+          family          (cm/first-nonblank-string
+                           (.getEnglishName ^js font "preferredFamily")
+                           (.getEnglishName ^js font "fontFamily"))
+          variant         (cm/first-nonblank-string
+                           (.getEnglishName ^js font "preferredSubfamily")
+                           (.getEnglishName ^js font "fontSubfamily"))
 
           ;; Vertical metrics determine the baseline in a text and the space between lines of
           ;; text. For historical reasons, there are three pairs of ascender/descender
diff --git a/frontend/test/frontend_tests/data/fonts_test.cljs b/frontend/test/frontend_tests/data/fonts_test.cljs
index d8ae34e57b..0bbd806bff 100644
--- a/frontend/test/frontend_tests/data/fonts_test.cljs
+++ b/frontend/test/frontend_tests/data/fonts_test.cljs
@@ -142,4 +142,17 @@
       (t/is (= "Pretendard" (:font-family result)))
       (t/is (= 600 (:font-weight result)))
       (t/is (= "normal" (:font-style result)))
-      (t/is (false? (:height-warning? result))))))
+      (t/is (false? (:height-warning? result)))))
+
+  (t/testing "a blank first candidate does not shadow a valid second one"
+    (let [result (df/prepare-font-entry
+                  {:font (fake-font {"preferredFamily" "   "
+                                     "preferredSubfamily" "  "
+                                     "fontSubfamily" "Bold"})
+                   :type "font/ttf"
+                   :name "Roboto-Light.ttf"
+                   :data (js/Uint8Array. 4)})]
+      (t/is (= "Roboto" (:font-family result)))
+      (t/is (= 700 (:font-weight result)))
+      (t/is (= "normal" (:font-style result)))
+      (t/is (= "Bold" (:variant-name result))))))