diff --git a/perl/Git/SVN.pm b/perl/Git/SVN.pm
index 76b2965905..4b28b87784 100644
--- a/perl/Git/SVN.pm
+++ b/perl/Git/SVN.pm
@@ -1491,6 +1491,10 @@ sub call_authors_prog {
 
 sub check_author {
 	my ($author) = @_;
+	if (defined $author) {
+		$author =~ s/^\s+//g;
+		$author =~ s/\s+$//g;
+	}
 	if (!defined $author || length $author == 0) {
 		$author = '(no author)';
 	}