diff --git a/magicgui/widgets/_bases/button_widget.py b/magicgui/widgets/_bases/button_widget.py
index 27e51096a..f5f752b3d 100644
--- a/magicgui/widgets/_bases/button_widget.py
+++ b/magicgui/widgets/_bases/button_widget.py
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ def __init__(self, text: Optional[str] = None, **kwargs):
             )
         text = text or kwargs.get("label")
         super().__init__(**kwargs)
-        self.text = text or self.name
+        self.text = (text or self.name).replace("_", " ")
 
     @property
     def options(self) -> dict: