diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/app/helpers/category-link.js b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/app/helpers/category-link.js
index 9b65a52e38b..4181f9ee938 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/app/helpers/category-link.js
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/app/helpers/category-link.js
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { get } from "@ember/object";
 import { htmlSafe } from "@ember/template";
 import categoryVariables from "discourse/helpers/category-variables";
+import { applyValueTransformer } from "discourse/lib/transformer";
 import { escapeExpression } from "discourse/lib/utilities";
 import Category from "discourse/models/category";
 import getURL from "discourse-common/lib/get-url";
@@ -112,7 +113,13 @@ function buildTopicCount(count) {
 }
 
 export function defaultCategoryLinkRenderer(category, opts) {
-  let descriptionText = escapeExpression(get(category, "descriptionText"));
+  // not ideal as we have to call it manually and we pass a fake category object
+  // but there's not way around it for now
+  let descriptionText = applyValueTransformer(
+    "category-description-text",
+    escapeExpression(get(category, "description_text")),
+    { category }
+  );
   let restricted = get(category, "read_restricted");
   let url = opts.url
     ? opts.url
@@ -156,7 +163,13 @@ export function defaultCategoryLinkRenderer(category, opts) {
     ${descriptionText ? 'title="' + descriptionText + '" ' : ""}
   >`;
 
-  let categoryName = escapeExpression(get(category, "displayName"));
+  // not ideal as we have to call it manually and we pass a fake category object
+  // but there's not way around it for now
+  let categoryName = applyValueTransformer(
+    "category-display-name",
+    escapeExpression(get(category, "name")),
+    { category }
+  );
 
   if (siteSettings.support_mixed_text_direction) {
     categoryDir = 'dir="auto"';
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/tests/integration/helpers/category-link-test.js b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/tests/integration/helpers/category-link-test.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..8188d2d4d03
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/tests/integration/helpers/category-link-test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+import { render } from "@ember/test-helpers";
+import { hbs } from "ember-cli-htmlbars";
+import { assert, module, test } from "qunit";
+import { setupRenderingTest } from "discourse/tests/helpers/component-test";
+
+module("Integration | Helper | category-link", function (hooks) {
+  setupRenderingTest(hooks);
+
+  test("name", async function () {
+    await render(hbs`{{category-link (hash name="foo")}}`);
+
+    assert.dom(".badge-category__name").hasText("foo");
+  });
+
+  test("description_text", async function () {
+    await render(
+      hbs`{{category-link (hash name="foo" description_text="bar")}}`
+    );
+
+    assert.dom(".badge-category").hasAttribute("title", "bar");
+  });
+});