diff --git a/alias.c b/alias.c
index ec9833dd30..e737c49edd 100644
--- a/alias.c
+++ b/alias.c
@@ -34,8 +34,20 @@ static int config_alias_cb(const char *var, const char *value,
 	if (subsection && !subsection_len)
 		subsection = NULL;
 
-	if (subsection && strcmp(key, "command"))
-		return 0;
+	if (subsection && strcmp(key, "command")) {
+		/*
+		 * We have historically supported the "alias.name" form when
+		 * "name" happens to contain dots (e.g., alias.foo.bar to allow
+		 * "git foo.bar". But our parsing above would split that into
+		 * subsection "foo".
+		 *
+		 * If we do not understand the final key in a subsection-style
+		 * variable, fall back to treating it as a two-level alias.
+		 */
+		key = var + strlen("alias.");
+		subsection = NULL;
+		subsection_len = 0;
+	}
 
 	if (data->alias) {
 		int match;
diff --git a/help.c b/help.c
index 725e92a195..79150bf7a2 100644
--- a/help.c
+++ b/help.c
@@ -593,14 +593,21 @@ static int git_unknown_cmd_config(const char *var, const char *value,
 	/* Also use aliases for command lookup */
 	if (!parse_config_key(var, "alias", &subsection, &subsection_len,
 			      &key)) {
+		size_t key_len = strlen(key);
+
 		if (subsection) {
 			/* [alias "name"] command = value */
 			if (!strcmp(key, "command"))
 				add_cmdname(&cfg->aliases, subsection,
 					    subsection_len);
+			else {
+				key = var + strlen("alias.");
+				key_len = strlen(key);
+				add_cmdname(&cfg->aliases, key, key_len);
+			}
 		} else {
 			/* alias.name = value */
-			add_cmdname(&cfg->aliases, key, strlen(key));
+			add_cmdname(&cfg->aliases, key, key_len);
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/t/t0014-alias.sh b/t/t0014-alias.sh
index 68b4903cbf..5144b0effd 100755
--- a/t/t0014-alias.sh
+++ b/t/t0014-alias.sh
@@ -128,6 +128,12 @@ test_expect_success 'subsection syntax works' '
 	test_grep "ran-subsection" output
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'simple dotted alias syntax still works' '
+	test_config alias.simple.dotted "!echo ran-simple-dotted" &&
+	git simple.dotted >output &&
+	test_grep "ran-simple-dotted" output
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'subsection syntax only accepts command key' '
 	test_config alias.invalid.notcommand value &&
 	test_must_fail git invalid 2>error &&
@@ -183,6 +189,12 @@ test_expect_success 'subsection aliases listed in help -a' '
 	test_grep "förgrena" output
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'simple dotted aliases listed in help -a' '
+	test_config alias.simple.listed "!echo test" &&
+	git help -a >output &&
+	test_grep "simple.listed" output
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'empty subsection treated as no subsection' '
 	test_config "alias..something" "!echo foobar" &&
 	git something >actual &&