diff --git a/src/features/messages/markdown-preparation.ts b/src/features/messages/markdown-preparation.ts
index 42f185c33f..cccd40ea63 100644
--- a/src/features/messages/markdown-preparation.ts
+++ b/src/features/messages/markdown-preparation.ts
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ export const isLiteralMarkdownContext = (type: string) =>
     "html",
   ].includes(type);
 
-function literalRanges(
+export function literalRanges(
   tree: MarkdownNode,
   includeLinks: boolean,
 ): readonly LiteralRange[] {
diff --git a/src/features/messages/message-edit.test.ts b/src/features/messages/message-edit.test.ts
index 422a57bb82..de6e977770 100644
--- a/src/features/messages/message-edit.test.ts
+++ b/src/features/messages/message-edit.test.ts
@@ -75,6 +75,25 @@ describe("message edit round trips", () => {
     const row = firstRow([{ ...original, tags: [["h", "room"]] }]);
     expect(messageEditText(row, profiles)).toBe(original.content);
   });
+  it.each([
+    "[ref]: <https://example.com/a @Sam>",
+    '[ref]: https://example.com "Ask @Sam"',
+    "<!-- @Sam -->",
+    '<span title="@Sam">Hi</span>',
+    '[[a]](https://example.com "See @Sam")',
+    '[a](https://example.com\n "See @Sam")',
+    "[hello\n@Sam](https://example.com)",
+    ">     @Sam",
+  ])("links a name beside literal Markdown, not inside it: %s", (literal) => {
+    const content = `<b>@Sam</b>\n\n${literal}`;
+    const tags = [
+      ["h", "room"],
+      ["p", person],
+    ];
+    expect(
+      messageEditText(firstRow([{ ...original, content, tags }]), profiles),
+    ).toBe(`<b>[@Sam](${profileTarget(person)})</b>\n\n${literal}`);
+  });
 });
 
 it("rejects changed attachment links while allowing text-only edits", () => {
diff --git a/src/features/messages/message-edit.ts b/src/features/messages/message-edit.ts
index d7b9bf891f..7a21bb3d2e 100644
--- a/src/features/messages/message-edit.ts
+++ b/src/features/messages/message-edit.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,11 @@
-import { projectMarkdownAttachments } from "../relay/message-content";
+import {
+  projectMarkdownAttachments,
+  scanMarkdown,
+} from "../relay/message-content";
 import type { AgentLibrary } from "../agents/library";
 import type { ChannelMessage, Profile } from "../relay/contracts";
 import { npubEncode } from "nostr-tools/nip19";
+import { literalRanges } from "./markdown-preparation";
 import type { MentionRecipient } from "./mention-draft";
 import { profileMentionParts } from "./profile-mentions";
 
@@ -27,14 +31,19 @@ export function messageEditText(
   agents: AgentLibrary["identities"] = [],
 ) {
   const { attachmentSeams: _seams, ...source } = row;
-  return profileMentionParts(
-    { ...source, content: row.sourceContent ?? row.content },
-    profiles,
-    agents,
-  )
-    .map(({ text, target }) =>
-      target ? profileMentionLink(text, target) : text,
-    )
+  const content = row.sourceContent ?? row.content;
+  const ranges = literalRanges(scanMarkdown(content).tree, true);
+  let offset = 0;
+  let next = 0;
+  return profileMentionParts({ ...source, content }, profiles, agents)
+    .map(({ text, target }) => {
+      const start = offset;
+      offset += text.length;
+      while ((ranges[next]?.end ?? Infinity) <= start) next++;
+      return target && (ranges[next]?.start ?? Infinity) >= offset
+        ? profileMentionLink(text, target)
+        : text;
+    })
     .join("");
 }