diff --git a/src/node/handler/PadMessageHandler.js b/src/node/handler/PadMessageHandler.js
index 71cafd0b0..fa8e45124 100644
--- a/src/node/handler/PadMessageHandler.js
+++ b/src/node/handler/PadMessageHandler.js
@@ -814,6 +814,7 @@ const handleClientReady = async (socket, message) => {
   const sessionInfo = sessioninfos[socket.id];
   // Check if the user has already disconnected.
   if (sessionInfo == null) return;
+  assert(sessionInfo.author);
 
   const padIds = await readOnlyManager.getIds(sessionInfo.auth.padID);
   sessionInfo.padId = padIds.padId;
@@ -823,10 +824,16 @@ const handleClientReady = async (socket, message) => {
 
   await hooks.aCallAll('clientReady', message); // Deprecated due to awkward context.
 
-  // get all authordata of this new user
-  assert(sessionInfo.author);
-  const {colorId: authorColorId, name: authorName} =
-      await authorManager.getAuthor(sessionInfo.author);
+  let {colorId: authorColorId, name: authorName} = message.userInfo || {};
+  if (authorColorId && !/^#(?:[0-9A-F]{3}){1,2}$/i.test(authorColorId)) {
+    messageLogger.warn(`Ignoring invalid colorId in CLIENT_READY message: ${authorColorId}`);
+    authorColorId = null;
+  }
+  await Promise.all([
+    authorName && authorManager.setAuthorName(sessionInfo.author, authorName),
+    authorColorId && authorManager.setAuthorColorId(sessionInfo.author, authorColorId),
+  ]);
+  ({colorId: authorColorId, name: authorName} = await authorManager.getAuthor(sessionInfo.author));
 
   // load the pad-object from the database
   const pad = await padManager.getPad(sessionInfo.padId);
diff --git a/src/static/js/collab_client.js b/src/static/js/collab_client.js
index 837fc3ba0..849fff5fc 100644
--- a/src/static/js/collab_client.js
+++ b/src/static/js/collab_client.js
@@ -245,14 +245,6 @@ const getCollabClient = (ace2editor, serverVars, initialUserInfo, options, _pad)
     } else if (msg.type === 'USER_NEWINFO') {
       const userInfo = msg.userInfo;
       const id = userInfo.userId;
-
-      // Avoid a race condition when setting colors.  If our color was set by a
-      // query param, ignore our own "new user" message's color value.
-      if (id === initialUserInfo.userId && initialUserInfo.globalUserColor) {
-        msg.userInfo.colorId = initialUserInfo.globalUserColor;
-      }
-
-
       if (userSet[id]) {
         userSet[id] = userInfo;
         callbacks.onUpdateUserInfo(userInfo);
diff --git a/src/static/js/pad.js b/src/static/js/pad.js
index d2d75f7c7..306c2b191 100644
--- a/src/static/js/pad.js
+++ b/src/static/js/pad.js
@@ -184,12 +184,23 @@ const sendClientReady = (isReconnect) => {
     Cookies.set('token', token, {expires: 60});
   }
 
+  // If known, propagate the display name and color to the server in the CLIENT_READY message. This
+  // allows the server to include the values in its reply CLIENT_VARS message (which avoids
+  // initialization race conditions) and in the USER_NEWINFO messages sent to the other users on the
+  // pad (which enables them to display a user join notification with the correct name).
+  const params = getUrlVars();
+  const userInfo = {
+    colorId: params.get('userColor'),
+    name: params.get('userName'),
+  };
+
   const msg = {
     component: 'pad',
     type: 'CLIENT_READY',
     padId,
     sessionID: Cookies.get('sessionID'),
     token,
+    userInfo,
   };
 
   // this is a reconnect, lets tell the server our revisionnumber