diff --git a/builtin/commit.c b/builtin/commit.c
index feb43f49dc02608f9a2a6b95297edc4aabfe99ee..778cf16fde64ab81bbe75ec0949a77e6fd9ee702 100644
--- a/builtin/commit.c
+++ b/builtin/commit.c
@@ -478,6 +478,20 @@ static void export_one(const char *var, const char *s, const char *e, int hack)
 	strbuf_release(&buf);
 }
 
+static int sane_ident_split(struct ident_split *person)
+{
+	if (!person->name_begin || !person->name_end ||
+	    person->name_begin == person->name_end)
+		return 0; /* no human readable name */
+	if (!person->mail_begin || !person->mail_end ||
+	    person->mail_begin == person->mail_end)
+		return 0; /* no usable mail */
+	if (!person->date_begin || !person->date_end ||
+	    !person->tz_begin || !person->tz_end)
+		return 0;
+	return 1;
+}
+
 static void determine_author_info(struct strbuf *author_ident)
 {
 	char *name, *email, *date;
@@ -530,7 +544,8 @@ static void determine_author_info(struct strbuf *author_ident)
 	if (force_date)
 		date = force_date;
 	strbuf_addstr(author_ident, fmt_ident(name, email, date, IDENT_STRICT));
-	if (!split_ident_line(&author, author_ident->buf, author_ident->len)) {
+	if (!split_ident_line(&author, author_ident->buf, author_ident->len) &&
+	    sane_ident_split(&author)) {
 		export_one("GIT_AUTHOR_NAME", author.name_begin, author.name_end, 0);
 		export_one("GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL", author.mail_begin, author.mail_end, 0);
 		export_one("GIT_AUTHOR_DATE", author.date_begin, author.tz_end, '@');
diff --git a/ident.c b/ident.c
index 443c0751bd1f63c059649f9f7f9174349cc1d270..484e0a980308fd2201bf443815a58c41bea17073 100644
--- a/ident.c
+++ b/ident.c
@@ -210,8 +210,10 @@ int split_ident_line(struct ident_split *split, const char *line, int len)
 			split->name_end = cp + 1;
 			break;
 		}
-	if (!split->name_end)
-		return status;
+	if (!split->name_end) {
+		/* no human readable name */
+		split->name_end = split->name_begin;
+	}
 
 	for (cp = split->mail_begin; cp < line + len; cp++)
 		if (*cp == '>') {