diff --git a/esphome/components/esp32_ble/ble.cpp b/esphome/components/esp32_ble/ble.cpp
index d0bfb6f843..787b01295b 100644
--- a/esphome/components/esp32_ble/ble.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/esp32_ble/ble.cpp
@@ -257,8 +257,8 @@ bool ESP32BLE::ble_setup_() {
 #endif
 
   std::string name;
-  if (this->name_.has_value()) {
-    name = this->name_.value();
+  if (this->name_ != nullptr) {
+    name = this->name_;
     if (App.is_name_add_mac_suffix_enabled()) {
       // MAC address suffix length (last 6 characters of 12-char MAC address string)
       constexpr size_t mac_address_suffix_len = 6;
diff --git a/esphome/components/esp32_ble/ble.h b/esphome/components/esp32_ble/ble.h
index 2fb60bb822..55aec3dc0c 100644
--- a/esphome/components/esp32_ble/ble.h
+++ b/esphome/components/esp32_ble/ble.h
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ class ESP32BLE : public Component {
   void loop() override;
   void dump_config() override;
   float get_setup_priority() const override;
-  void set_name(const std::string &name) { this->name_ = name; }
+  void set_name(const char *name) { this->name_ = name; }
 
 #ifdef USE_ESP32_BLE_ADVERTISING
   void advertising_start();
@@ -191,8 +191,7 @@ class ESP32BLE : public Component {
   esphome::LockFreeQueue<BLEEvent, MAX_BLE_QUEUE_SIZE> ble_events_;
   esphome::EventPool<BLEEvent, MAX_BLE_QUEUE_SIZE> ble_event_pool_;
 
-  // optional<string> (typically 16+ bytes on 32-bit, aligned to 4 bytes)
-  optional<std::string> name_;
+  const char *name_{nullptr};
 
   // 4-byte aligned members
 #ifdef USE_ESP32_BLE_ADVERTISING