diff --git a/lib/types.nix b/lib/types.nix
index 772716897725..5aa09d33e9b3 100644
--- a/lib/types.nix
+++ b/lib/types.nix
@@ -372,7 +372,13 @@ rec {
             # This is mandatory as some option declaration might use the
             # "name" attribute given as argument of the submodule and use it
             # as the default of option declarations.
-            args.name = "<name>";
+            #
+            # Using lookalike unicode single angle quotation marks because
+            # of the docbook transformation the options receive. In all uses
+            # > and < wouldn't be encoded correctly so the encoded values
+            # would be used, and use of `<` and `>` would break the XML document.
+            # It shouldn't cause an issue since this is cosmetic for the manual.
+            args.name = "‹name›";
           }).options;
         getSubModules = opts';
         substSubModules = m: submodule m;