diff --git a/Documentation/config/user.txt b/Documentation/config/user.txt
index a1f80e823c497e..59aec7c3aed32a 100644
--- a/Documentation/config/user.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config/user.txt
@@ -13,7 +13,12 @@ committer.email::
 	Also, all of these can be overridden by the `GIT_AUTHOR_NAME`,
 	`GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL`, `GIT_COMMITTER_NAME`,
 	`GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL` and `EMAIL` environment variables.
-	See linkgit:git-commit[1] for more information.
++
+Note that the `name` forms of these variables conventionally refer to
+some form of a personal name.  See linkgit:git-commit[1] and the
+environment variables section of linkgit:git[1] for more information on
+these settings and the `credential.username` option if you're looking
+for authentication credentials instead.
 
 user.useConfigOnly::
 	Instruct Git to avoid trying to guess defaults for `user.email`
diff --git a/Documentation/git-commit.txt b/Documentation/git-commit.txt
index 7b61c9ba79794d..13f653989f32f1 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-commit.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-commit.txt
@@ -475,6 +475,12 @@ variables, if set:
 
 (nb "<", ">" and "\n"s are stripped)
 
+The author and committer names are by convention some form of a personal name
+(that is, the name by which other humans refer to you), although Git does not
+enforce or require any particular form. Arbitrary Unicode may be used, subject
+to the constraints listed above. This name has no effect on authentication; for
+that, see the `credential.username` variable in linkgit:git-config[1].
+
 In case (some of) these environment variables are not set, the information
 is taken from the configuration items `user.name` and `user.email`, or, if not
 present, the environment variable EMAIL, or, if that is not set,