diff --git a/avocado/utils/astring.py b/avocado/utils/astring.py
index dfa15a878ba9e02709cabd87a225c9924968e18e..eb18ad5276d6679708def91ca5d788db7361fe70 100644
--- a/avocado/utils/astring.py
+++ b/avocado/utils/astring.py
@@ -217,4 +217,6 @@ def string_to_safe_path(string):
     :param string: String to be converted
     :return: String which is safe to pass as a file/dir name (on recent fs)
     """
+    if string.startswith("."):
+        string = "_" + string[1:]
     return string.replace(os.path.sep, '_')[:255]
diff --git a/selftests/unit/test_test.py b/selftests/unit/test_test.py
index 1a3123fbab9749cdfa407c4a3b438e4e338d907c..b11f847e07b47c02a6b688395e9dceff22880a62 100644
--- a/selftests/unit/test_test.py
+++ b/selftests/unit/test_test.py
@@ -34,6 +34,31 @@ class TestClassTestUnit(unittest.TestCase):
     def tearDown(self):
         shutil.rmtree(self.tmpdir)
 
+    def testUglyName(self):
+        def run(name, path_name):
+            """ Initialize test and check the dirs were created """
+            test = DummyTest("test", name, base_logdir=self.tmpdir)
+            self.assertEqual(os.path.basename(test.logdir), path_name)
+            self.assertTrue(os.path.exists(test.logdir))
+            self.assertEqual(os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(test.logdir)),
+                             self.tmpdir)
+
+        run("/absolute/path", "_absolute_path")
+        run("./relative/path", "__relative_path")
+        run("../../multi_level/relative/path",
+            "_._.._multi_level_relative_path")
+        # Greek word 'kosme'
+        run("\xce\xba\xe1\xbd\xb9\xcf\x83\xce\xbc\xce\xb5",
+            "\xce\xba\xe1\xbd\xb9\xcf\x83\xce\xbc\xce\xb5")
+        # Particularly problematic noncharacters in 16-bit applications
+        name = ("\xb7\x95\xef\xb7\x96\xef\xb7\x97\xef\xb7\x98\xef\xb7\x99"
+                "\xef\xb7\x9a\xef\xb7\x9b\xef\xb7\x9c\xef\xb7\x9d\xef\xb7"
+                "\x9e\xef\xb7\x9f\xef\xb7\xa0\xef\xb7\xa1\xef\xb7\xa2\xef"
+                "\xb7\xa3\xef\xb7\xa4\xef\xb7\xa5\xef\xb7\xa6\xef\xb7\xa7"
+                "\xef\xb7\xa8\xef\xb7\xa9\xef\xb7\xaa\xef\xb7\xab\xef\xb7"
+                "\xac\xef\xb7\xad\xef\xb7\xae\xef\xb7\xaf")
+        run(name, name)
+
     def testLongName(self):
         test = DummyTest("test", "a" * 256, base_logdir=self.tmpdir)
         self.assertEqual(os.path.basename(test.logdir), "a" * 250)