diff --git a/src/vs/workbench/browser/positronDataGrid/components/dataGridColumnHeader.css b/src/vs/workbench/browser/positronDataGrid/components/dataGridColumnHeader.css
index d3169511241..4709afa9e85 100644
--- a/src/vs/workbench/browser/positronDataGrid/components/dataGridColumnHeader.css
+++ b/src/vs/workbench/browser/positronDataGrid/components/dataGridColumnHeader.css
@@ -84,6 +84,14 @@
 	font-weight: var(--positron-data-grid-column-header-title-font-weight);
 }
 
+.data-grid-column-header
+.content
+.title-description
+.title
+.whitespace {
+	opacity: 50%;
+}
+
 .data-grid-column-header
 .content
 .title-description
diff --git a/src/vs/workbench/browser/positronDataGrid/components/dataGridColumnHeader.tsx b/src/vs/workbench/browser/positronDataGrid/components/dataGridColumnHeader.tsx
index d74e6aad8e3..ea013a7aeb0 100644
--- a/src/vs/workbench/browser/positronDataGrid/components/dataGridColumnHeader.tsx
+++ b/src/vs/workbench/browser/positronDataGrid/components/dataGridColumnHeader.tsx
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ import { selectionType } from '../utilities/mouseUtilities.js';
 import { VerticalSplitter } from '../../../../base/browser/ui/positronComponents/splitters/verticalSplitter.js';
 import { ColumnSelectionState } from '../classes/dataGridInstance.js';
 import { usePositronDataGridContext } from '../positronDataGridContext.js';
-import { getDisplayedColumnName } from '../../../services/positronDataExplorer/common/utils.js';
+import { renderLeadingTrailingWhitespace } from '../../../services/positronDataExplorer/browser/components/tableDataCell.js';
 
 /**
  * Constants.
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ export const DataGridColumnHeader = (props: DataGridColumnHeaderProps) => {
 	// Determine whether the column is selected.
 	const selected = (columnSelectionState & ColumnSelectionState.Selected) !== 0;
 
-	const displayedColumnName = getDisplayedColumnName(props.column?.name);
+	const renderedColumn = renderLeadingTrailingWhitespace(props.column?.name);
 
 	// Render.
 	return (
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ export const DataGridColumnHeader = (props: DataGridColumnHeaderProps) => {
 				}}
 			>
 				<div className='title-description'>
-					<div className='title'>{displayedColumnName}</div>
+					<div className='title'>{renderedColumn}</div>
 					{props.column?.description &&
 						<div className='description'>{props.column.description}</div>
 					}
diff --git a/src/vs/workbench/services/positronDataExplorer/browser/components/columnSummaryCell.css b/src/vs/workbench/services/positronDataExplorer/browser/components/columnSummaryCell.css
index 58a5fcddb2f..c48d06d350a 100644
--- a/src/vs/workbench/services/positronDataExplorer/browser/components/columnSummaryCell.css
+++ b/src/vs/workbench/services/positronDataExplorer/browser/components/columnSummaryCell.css
@@ -91,6 +91,10 @@
 	grid-column: title / sparkline;
 }
 
+.data-grid-row-cell .content .column-summary .basic-info .column-name .whitespace {
+	opacity: 50%;
+}
+
 /* column-sparkline */
 
 .data-grid-row-cell .content .column-summary .basic-info .column-sparkline {
diff --git a/src/vs/workbench/services/positronDataExplorer/browser/components/columnSummaryCell.tsx b/src/vs/workbench/services/positronDataExplorer/browser/components/columnSummaryCell.tsx
index 0a4103f8b10..c7f4783cc96 100644
--- a/src/vs/workbench/services/positronDataExplorer/browser/components/columnSummaryCell.tsx
+++ b/src/vs/workbench/services/positronDataExplorer/browser/components/columnSummaryCell.tsx
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ import { ColumnProfileDatetime } from './columnProfileDatetime.js';
 import { TableSummaryDataGridInstance } from '../tableSummaryDataGridInstance.js';
 import { ColumnDisplayType, ColumnProfileType, ColumnSchema } from '../../../languageRuntime/common/positronDataExplorerComm.js';
 import { dataExplorerExperimentalFeatureEnabled } from '../../common/positronDataExplorerExperimentalConfig.js';
-import { getDisplayedColumnName } from '../../common/utils.js';
+import { renderLeadingTrailingWhitespace } from './tableDataCell.js';
 
 /**
  * Constants.
@@ -355,6 +355,8 @@ export const ColumnSummaryCell = (props: ColumnSummaryCellProps) => {
 			break;
 	}
 
+	const renderedColumn = renderLeadingTrailingWhitespace(props.columnSchema.column_name);
+
 	// Determine whether this is the cursor.
 	const cursor = props.columnIndex === props.instance.cursorRowIndex;
 
@@ -414,7 +416,7 @@ export const ColumnSummaryCell = (props: ColumnSummaryCellProps) => {
 					onMouseLeave={() => props.hoverService.hideHover()}
 				/>
 				<div className='column-name'>
-					{getDisplayedColumnName(props.columnSchema.column_name)}
+					{renderedColumn}
 				</div>
 				{!expanded && <ColumnSparkline />}
 				<ColumnNullPercent />
diff --git a/src/vs/workbench/services/positronDataExplorer/browser/components/tableDataCell.tsx b/src/vs/workbench/services/positronDataExplorer/browser/components/tableDataCell.tsx
index 809ae0e94f1..76c046cde43 100644
--- a/src/vs/workbench/services/positronDataExplorer/browser/components/tableDataCell.tsx
+++ b/src/vs/workbench/services/positronDataExplorer/browser/components/tableDataCell.tsx
@@ -23,33 +23,28 @@ interface TableDataCellProps {
 	dataCell: DataCell;
 }
 
-/**
- * TableDataCell component.
- * @param props A TableDataCellProps that contains the component properties.
- * @returns The rendered component.
- */
-export const TableDataCell = (props: TableDataCellProps) => {
-	const EMPTY_SPACE_SYMBOL = '\u00B7';
+export function renderLeadingTrailingWhitespace(text: string | undefined) {
+	const parts: (string | JSX.Element)[] = [];
 
-	let isSpecialValue = props.dataCell.kind !== DataCellKind.NON_NULL;
+	text = text ?? '';
 
-	// Render empty strings as special value
-	// Initialize rendered output parts
-	const parts: (string | JSX.Element)[] = [];
-	const formattedText = props.dataCell.formatted
-		.replace(/\r/g, '\\r')
-		.replace(/\n/g, '\\n');
+	if (text === '') {
+		// TODO: is this what we want?
+		return [<span className='whitespace'>{'<empty>'}</span>];
+	}
+
+	const EMPTY_SPACE_SYMBOL = '\u00B7';
 
 	// Handle text that is only whitespace
-	if (formattedText.trim() === '') {
+	if (text.trim() === '') {
 		parts.push(
 			<span className='whitespace'>
-				{EMPTY_SPACE_SYMBOL.repeat(formattedText.length)}
+				{EMPTY_SPACE_SYMBOL.repeat(text.length)}
 			</span>
 		);
 	} else {
 		// Handle leading whitespace
-		const leadingMatch = formattedText.match(/^\s+/);
+		const leadingMatch = text.match(/^\s+/);
 		if (leadingMatch) {
 			parts.push(
 				<span className='whitespace'>
@@ -59,11 +54,11 @@ export const TableDataCell = (props: TableDataCellProps) => {
 		}
 
 		// Add the main content
-		const mainContent = formattedText.trim();
+		const mainContent = text.trim();
 		parts.push(mainContent);
 
 		// Handle trailing whitespace
-		const trailingMatch = formattedText.match(/\s+$/);
+		const trailingMatch = text.match(/\s+$/);
 		if (trailingMatch) {
 			parts.push(
 				<span className='whitespace'>
@@ -72,6 +67,26 @@ export const TableDataCell = (props: TableDataCellProps) => {
 			);
 		}
 	}
+
+	return parts;
+}
+
+/**
+ * TableDataCell component.
+ * @param props A TableDataCellProps that contains the component properties.
+ * @returns The rendered component.
+ */
+export const TableDataCell = (props: TableDataCellProps) => {
+	// Render empty strings as special value
+	// Initialize rendered output parts
+	const formattedText = props.dataCell.formatted
+		.replace(/\r/g, '\\r')
+		.replace(/\n/g, '\\n');
+
+	const parts = renderLeadingTrailingWhitespace(formattedText);
+
+	let isSpecialValue = props.dataCell.kind !== DataCellKind.NON_NULL;
+
 	let renderedOutput = parts;
 	if (props.dataCell.kind === DataCellKind.NON_NULL && formattedText === '') {
 		isSpecialValue = true;
diff --git a/src/vs/workbench/services/positronDataExplorer/common/utils.ts b/src/vs/workbench/services/positronDataExplorer/common/utils.ts
index 1f35b5d9844..db92c73ea0a 100644
--- a/src/vs/workbench/services/positronDataExplorer/common/utils.ts
+++ b/src/vs/workbench/services/positronDataExplorer/common/utils.ts
@@ -30,20 +30,3 @@ export const arrayFromIndexRange = (startIndex: number, endIndex: number) =>
 export const linearConversion = (value: number, from: Range, to: Range) =>
 	((value - from.min) / (from.max - from.min)) * (to.max - to.min) + to.min;
 
-
-/**
- * Add quoting to column name in case it is an empty string or contains leading whitespace.
- * @param name The column name from the backend
- * @returns A modified column name that helps distinguish whitespace
- */
-export function getDisplayedColumnName(name: string | undefined) {
-	let result = name ?? '';
-
-	const EMPTY_SPACE_SYMBOL = '\u2423';
-	// If a column name is an empty string (allowed by pandas, at least) or contains
-	// leading whitespace, then we surround the column name with quotations.
-	if (result === '' || result.match(/^\s/)) {
-		result = `"${result}"`.replace(/ /g, EMPTY_SPACE_SYMBOL);
-	}
-	return result;
-}