diff --git a/src/JetStream/JetStreamContext.php b/src/JetStream/JetStreamContext.php
index 7c083d4..0d1222c 100644
--- a/src/JetStream/JetStreamContext.php
+++ b/src/JetStream/JetStreamContext.php
@@ -42,20 +42,24 @@ public function connection(): Connection
     // --- Stream Management ---
 
     /**
+     * @throws \InvalidArgumentException If the stream name is invalid
      * @throws JetStreamException If the stream cannot be created
      */
     public function createStream(StreamConfig $config): StreamInterface
     {
+        $this->validateStreamName($config->name);
         $data = $this->apiRequest('STREAM.CREATE.' . $config->name, $config->toArray());
         $info = StreamInfo::fromArray($data);
         return new Stream($this, $config->name, $info);
     }
 
     /**
+     * @throws \InvalidArgumentException If the stream name is invalid
      * @throws JetStreamException If the stream cannot be updated
      */
     public function updateStream(StreamConfig $config): StreamInterface
     {
+        $this->validateStreamName($config->name);
         $data = $this->apiRequest('STREAM.UPDATE.' . $config->name, $config->toArray());
         $info = StreamInfo::fromArray($data);
         return new Stream($this, $config->name, $info);
@@ -561,6 +565,25 @@ public function apiRequest(string $operation, ?array $payload = null): array
 
     // --- Private helpers ---
 
+    /**
+     * Validates a JetStream stream name per NATS server rules. Stream names become tokens
+     * in `$JS.API.STREAM.*.<name>` subjects, so they cannot contain anything that would
+     * split a subject token or fail server-side name validation. Sending an invalid name
+     * otherwise surfaces as a request timeout, which is hard to diagnose.
+     */
+    private function validateStreamName(string $name): void
+    {
+        if ($name === '') {
+            throw new \InvalidArgumentException('Stream name cannot be empty');
+        }
+
+        if (preg_match('/[\s.*>\/\\\\\x00-\x1f\x7f]/', $name)) {
+            throw new \InvalidArgumentException(
+                "Invalid stream name '{$name}': cannot contain whitespace, '.', '*', '>', '/', '\\', or control characters",
+            );
+        }
+    }
+
     private function buildKvStreamConfig(\Sofascore\Nats\KeyValue\KeyValueConfig $config): StreamConfig
     {
         $streamName = "KV_{$config->bucket}";
diff --git a/tests/Unit/JetStream/JetStreamContextStreamNameValidationTest.php b/tests/Unit/JetStream/JetStreamContextStreamNameValidationTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f8ae644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/Unit/JetStream/JetStreamContextStreamNameValidationTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,93 @@
+<?php
+
+declare(strict_types=1);
+
+namespace Sofascore\Nats\Tests\Unit\JetStream;
+
+use PHPUnit\Framework\Attributes\DataProvider;
+use PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase;
+use Sofascore\Nats\JetStream\JetStreamContext;
+
+final class JetStreamContextStreamNameValidationTest extends TestCase
+{
+    private static function invokeValidate(string $name): void
+    {
+        $method = new \ReflectionMethod(JetStreamContext::class, 'validateStreamName');
+        $context = (new \ReflectionClass(JetStreamContext::class))->newInstanceWithoutConstructor();
+        $method->invoke($context, $name);
+    }
+
+    #[DataProvider('validNames')]
+    public function testAcceptsValidStreamName(string $name): void
+    {
+        self::invokeValidate($name);
+        $this->addToAssertionCount(1);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @return iterable<string, array{string}>
+     */
+    public static function validNames(): iterable
+    {
+        yield 'simple' => ['orders'];
+        yield 'with-dash' => ['my-stream'];
+        yield 'with-underscore' => ['KV_cache'];
+        yield 'alphanumeric' => ['events123'];
+        yield 'mixed-case' => ['MyStream'];
+        yield 'object-store-prefix' => ['OBJ_media'];
+    }
+
+    #[DataProvider('invalidNames')]
+    public function testRejectsInvalidStreamName(string $name): void
+    {
+        $this->expectException(\InvalidArgumentException::class);
+        self::invokeValidate($name);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @return iterable<string, array{string}>
+     */
+    public static function invalidNames(): iterable
+    {
+        yield 'empty' => [''];
+        yield 'with-space' => ['my stream'];
+        yield 'with-tab' => ["my\tstream"];
+        yield 'with-cr' => ["my\rstream"];
+        yield 'with-lf' => ["my\nstream"];
+        yield 'with-dot' => ['my.stream'];
+        yield 'with-star' => ['my*stream'];
+        yield 'with-gt' => ['my>stream'];
+        yield 'with-slash' => ['my/stream'];
+        yield 'with-backslash' => ['my\\stream'];
+        yield 'with-null-byte' => ["my\x00stream"];
+        yield 'with-del' => ["my\x7fstream"];
+        yield 'only-space' => [' '];
+    }
+
+    public function testInvalidNameProducesDescriptiveMessage(): void
+    {
+        try {
+            self::invokeValidate('bad.name');
+            self::fail('Expected InvalidArgumentException');
+        } catch (\InvalidArgumentException $e) {
+            self::assertSame(
+                "Invalid stream name 'bad.name': cannot contain whitespace, '.', '*', '>', '/', '\\', or control characters",
+                $e->getMessage(),
+            );
+            self::assertSame(0, $e->getCode());
+            self::assertNull($e->getPrevious());
+        }
+    }
+
+    public function testEmptyNameProducesDescriptiveMessage(): void
+    {
+        try {
+            self::invokeValidate('');
+            self::fail('Expected InvalidArgumentException');
+        } catch (\InvalidArgumentException $e) {
+            self::assertSame('Stream name cannot be empty', $e->getMessage());
+            self::assertSame(0, $e->getCode());
+            self::assertNull($e->getPrevious());
+        }
+    }
+}