diff --git a/contributors.sh b/contributors.sh
index de1944d6239eec838de33b1adf3c6ac1f0e963dc..9f0b10b33c979c9b1f18897a94cccb67bf605784 100755
--- a/contributors.sh
+++ b/contributors.sh
@@ -35,9 +35,10 @@ fi
 # filter out Author:, Commit: and *by: lines
 # cut off the email parts
 # split list of names at comma
+# split list of names at " and "
 # cut off spaces first and last on the line
-# only count names with a space (ie more than one word)
 # filter alternatives through THANKS-filter
+# only count names with a space (ie more than one word)
 # sort all unique names
 # awk them into RELEASE-NOTES format
 git log $start..HEAD | \
@@ -45,9 +46,10 @@ egrep -i '(Author|Commit|by):' | \
 cut -d: -f2- | \
 cut '-d<' -f1 | \
 tr , '\012' | \
+sed 's/ and /\n/' | \
 sed -e 's/^ //' -e 's/ $//g' | \
-grep ' ' | \
 sed -f ./docs/THANKS-filter | \
+grep ' ' | \
 sort -fu | \
 awk '{
  num++;