superfluous(?) quotes in mail alias expansion

[Gregor Zattler <telegraph@gmx.net>]

Dear Emacs users and developers,

the fine manual has this to say regarding mail aliases:

   If an address contains a space, quote the whole
   address with a pair of double quotes, like this:

        alias jsmith "John Q. Smith <none@example.com>"

   Note that you need not include double quotes around
   individual parts of the address, such as the
   person’s full name.  Emacs puts them in if they are
   needed.  For instance, it inserts the above address
   as ‘"John Q. Smith" <none@example.com>’.

This describes correctly how this mechanism works,
regarding it's outcome, but not why.

I understand it's necessary to somehow mark in the
alias definition where an address starts and ends,
since there can be several.

But I don't know why it's "needed" to put quotes around
the

John Q. Smith

part of the address.  Actually they seem to be
superfluous and aesthetically not pleasing.  To me it
seems as quotes would be only needed if the string
contained `@' or `,'!?

Are the quotes really necessary (for what) and if not:
Is it possible to get rid of the Quotes?

Thanks, Gregor