List of steps to reproduce (step by step, including full links if applicable):

• I do not use ve so I cannot reproduce

What happens?:
ve has always produced marginally acceptable citations that it derives from worldcat; no doubt, part of that is because worldcat is poorly curated. Recently, I have noticed an increase in malformed author-name parameters: |last= getting the author's given name(s) and |first= getting the author's surname. See this diff at en.wiki (search for ' worldcat'; there are three in that particular edit):
*|last=Phillip. |first=Berryman, – author's name is 'Phillip Berryman'; also note that these parameters have extraneous punctuation
*|last=C. |first=Turner, Frederick – author's name is 'Frederick C. Turner'
*|last=Christian |first=Smith – author's name is 'Christian Smith'
What should have happened instead?:
author surname goes in |last=; given names go in |first=