diff --git a/swh/loader/package/debian/loader.py b/swh/loader/package/debian/loader.py
--- a/swh/loader/package/debian/loader.py
+++ b/swh/loader/package/debian/loader.py
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@
 # License: GNU General Public License version 3, or any later version
 # See top-level LICENSE file for more information
 
-import email.utils
 import logging
 from os import path
 import re
@@ -265,20 +264,8 @@
         - fullname: the actual uid input
 
     """
-    logger.debug("uid: %s", uid)
-    ret = {
-        "name": "",
-        "email": "",
-        "fullname": uid,
-    }
-
-    name, mail = email.utils.parseaddr(uid)
-    if name and email:
-        ret["name"] = name
-        ret["email"] = mail
-    else:
-        ret["name"] = uid
-    return ret
+    person = Person.from_fullname(uid.encode("utf-8"))
+    return {k: v.decode("utf-8") for k, v in person.to_dict().items() if v is not None}
 
 
 def prepare_person(person: Mapping[str, str]) -> Person:
diff --git a/swh/loader/package/npm/loader.py b/swh/loader/package/npm/loader.py
--- a/swh/loader/package/npm/loader.py
+++ b/swh/loader/package/npm/loader.py
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
-EMPTY_PERSON = Person(fullname=b"", name=None, email=None)
+EMPTY_PERSON = Person.from_fullname(b"")
 
 
 EXTID_TYPE = "npm-archive-sha1"
diff --git a/swh/loader/package/npm/tests/test_npm.py b/swh/loader/package/npm/tests/test_npm.py
--- a/swh/loader/package/npm/tests/test_npm.py
+++ b/swh/loader/package/npm/tests/test_npm.py
@@ -212,8 +212,8 @@
     }"""
     )
 
-    assert extract_npm_package_author(package_json_no_authors) == Person(
-        fullname=b"", name=None, email=None
+    assert extract_npm_package_author(package_json_no_authors) == Person.from_fullname(
+        b""
     )
 
 
diff --git a/swh/loader/package/opam/loader.py b/swh/loader/package/opam/loader.py
--- a/swh/loader/package/opam/loader.py
+++ b/swh/loader/package/opam/loader.py
@@ -217,11 +217,11 @@
 
         authors_field = self.get_enclosed_single_line_field("authors:", version)
         fullname = b"" if authors_field is None else str.encode(authors_field)
-        author = Person(fullname=fullname, name=None, email=None)
+        author = Person.from_fullname(fullname)
 
         maintainer_field = self.get_enclosed_single_line_field("maintainer:", version)
         fullname = b"" if maintainer_field is None else str.encode(maintainer_field)
-        committer = Person(fullname=fullname, name=None, email=None)
+        committer = Person.from_fullname(fullname)
 
         with Popen(self._opam_show_args(version) + ["--raw"], stdout=PIPE) as proc:
             assert proc.stdout is not None
diff --git a/swh/loader/package/opam/tests/test_opam.py b/swh/loader/package/opam/tests/test_opam.py
--- a/swh/loader/package/opam/tests/test_opam.py
+++ b/swh/loader/package/opam/tests/test_opam.py
@@ -140,9 +140,7 @@
         target=hash_to_bytes("00412ee5bc601deb462e55addd1004715116785e"),
         target_type=ModelObjectType.DIRECTORY,
         synthetic=True,
-        author=Person(
-            fullname=b"OCamlPro <contact@ocamlpro.com>", name=None, email=None
-        ),
+        author=Person.from_fullname(b"OCamlPro <contact@ocamlpro.com>"),
         date=None,
         id=release_id,
     )
@@ -248,12 +246,8 @@
     expected_package_info = OpamPackageInfo(
         url="https://github.com/OCamlPro/ocb/archive/0.1.tar.gz",
         filename=None,
-        author=Person(
-            fullname=b"OCamlPro <contact@ocamlpro.com>", name=None, email=None
-        ),
-        committer=Person(
-            fullname=b"OCamlPro <contact@ocamlpro.com>", name=None, email=None
-        ),
+        author=Person.from_fullname(b"OCamlPro <contact@ocamlpro.com>"),
+        committer=Person.from_fullname(b"OCamlPro <contact@ocamlpro.com>"),
         version="0.1",
         directory_extrinsic_metadata=[
             RawExtrinsicMetadataCore(
diff --git a/swh/loader/package/utils.py b/swh/loader/package/utils.py
--- a/swh/loader/package/utils.py
+++ b/swh/loader/package/utils.py
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
 DOWNLOAD_HASHES = set(["sha1", "sha256", "length"])
 
 
-EMPTY_AUTHOR = Person(fullname=b"", name=None, email=None,)
+EMPTY_AUTHOR = Person.from_fullname(b"")
 
 
 def api_info(url: str, **extra_params) -> bytes: