diff --git a/doc/ref/gappkg.xml b/doc/ref/gappkg.xml
index cd0d284cac..9602a2ce92 100644
--- a/doc/ref/gappkg.xml
+++ b/doc/ref/gappkg.xml
@@ -300,10 +300,6 @@ The following components of the record are <E>optional</E>.
   <Item>
     a string,
   </Item>
-  <Mark><C>FirstNames</C></Mark>
-  <Item>
-    a string,
-  </Item>
   <Mark>at least one of <C>IsAuthor</C> or <C>IsMaintainer</C></Mark>
   <Item>
     <K>true</K> or <K>false</K>,
@@ -311,6 +307,10 @@ The following components of the record are <E>optional</E>.
   </List>
   and optional components
   <List>
+  <Mark><C>FirstNames</C></Mark>
+  <Item>
+    a string (was mandatory before &GAP; 4.14),
+  </Item>
   <Mark><C>PostalAddress</C></Mark>
   <Item>
     a string,
diff --git a/lib/package.gi b/lib/package.gi
index 7e1084a434..9776ec0ecd 100644
--- a/lib/package.gi
+++ b/lib/package.gi
@@ -1234,8 +1234,10 @@ InstallGlobalFunction( DefaultPackageBannerString,
           Append( str, role );
           for i in [ 1 .. Length( persons ) ] do
             person:= persons[i];
-            Append( str, person.FirstNames );
-            Append( str, " " );
+            if IsBound( person.FirstNames ) then
+              Append( str, person.FirstNames );
+              Append( str, " " );
+            fi;
             Append( str, person.LastName );
             if   IsBound( person.WWWHome ) then
               Append( str, Concatenation( " (", person.WWWHome, ")" ) );
@@ -2402,7 +2404,7 @@ InstallGlobalFunction( ValidatePackageInfo, function( info )
        and IsBound( record.Persons ) then
       for subrec in record.Persons do
         TestMandat( subrec, "LastName", IsString, "a string" );
-        TestMandat( subrec, "FirstNames", IsString, "a string" );
+        TestOption( subrec, "FirstNames", IsString, "a string" );
         if not (    IsBound( subrec.IsAuthor )
                  or IsBound( subrec.IsMaintainer ) ) then
           if ValueOption( "quiet" ) <> true then
@@ -2899,8 +2901,11 @@ InstallGlobalFunction( BibEntry, function( arg )
       author:= List( Filtered( pkginfo.Persons,
         person -> person.IsAuthor or person.IsMaintainer ),
           person -> Concatenation(
-            "    <name><first>", person.FirstNames,
-            "</first><last>", person.LastName, "</last></name>\n" ) );
+            "    <name>",
+            CallFuncList( function(x) if IsBound( x.FirstNames ) then
+              return Concatenation( "<first>", person.FirstNames, "</first>" );
+              else return ""; fi; end, [ person ] ),
+            "<last>", person.LastName, "</last></name>\n" ) );
       if not IsEmpty( author ) then
         Append( entry, Concatenation(
           "  <author>\n",
@@ -2911,7 +2916,7 @@ InstallGlobalFunction( BibEntry, function( arg )
         "  <title><C>", pkginfo.PackageName, "</C>" ) );
       if IsBound( pkginfo.Subtitle ) then
         Append( entry, Concatenation(
-          ", ", ps( pkginfo.Subtitle ) ) );
+          ", <C>", ps( pkginfo.Subtitle ), "</C>" ) );
       fi;
       if IsBound( pkginfo.Version ) then
         Append( entry, Concatenation(
@@ -2982,6 +2987,10 @@ InstallGlobalFunction( Cite, function(arg)
     Print("WARNING: No working version of package ", name, " is available!\n");
     return;
   fi;
+  # special handling for "The GAP Team"
+  bib:= ReplacedString( bib,
+            "<name><first>The</first><last>GAP Team</last></name>",
+            "<name><last>The GAP Team</last></name>" );
   parse:= ParseBibXMLextString( bib );
   # use encoding of terminal for printing
   en := function(str)
diff --git a/tst/testinstall/package.tst b/tst/testinstall/package.tst
index 8621b8e3f2..78a641b50c 100644
--- a/tst/testinstall/package.tst
+++ b/tst/testinstall/package.tst
@@ -566,7 +566,7 @@ BibXML:
     <name><first>Retired</first><last>Author</last></name>
     <name><first>Only</first><last>Maintainer</last></name>
   </author>
-  <title><C>mockpkg</C>, A mock package for use by the GAP test suite,
+  <title><C>mockpkg</C>, <C>A mock package for use by the GAP test suite</C>,
          <C>V</C>ersion 0.1</title>
   <howpublished><URL>https://mockpkg.gap-system.org/</URL></howpublished>
   <month>Mar</month>
@@ -578,8 +578,8 @@ BibTeX:
 
 @misc{ mockpkg,
   author =           {Author, A. and Author, R. and Maintainer, O.},
-  title =            {{mockpkg},  A  mock  package  for  use by the GAP test
-                      suite, {V}ersion 0.1},
+  title =            {{mockpkg},  {A  mock  package  for use by the GAP test
+                      suite}, {V}ersion 0.1},
   month =            {Mar},
   year =             {2018},
   note =             {GAP package},