diff --git a/guide/src/format/configuration/renderers.md b/guide/src/format/configuration/renderers.md
index f1d5ee15aa..8c7046cdf9 100644
--- a/guide/src/format/configuration/renderers.md
+++ b/guide/src/format/configuration/renderers.md
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ additional-css = ["custom.css", "custom2.css"]
 additional-js = ["custom.js"]
 no-section-label = false
 git-repository-url = "https://github.com/rust-lang/mdBook"
-git-repository-icon = "fa-github"
+git-repository-icon = "fab-github"
 edit-url-template = "https://github.com/rust-lang/mdBook/edit/master/guide/{path}"
 site-url = "/example-book/"
 cname = "myproject.rs"
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ The following configuration options are available:
 - **git-repository-url:**  A url to the git repository for the book. If provided
   an icon link will be output in the menu bar of the book.
 - **git-repository-icon:** The FontAwesome icon class to use for the git
-  repository link. Defaults to `fa-github` which looks like <i class="fa fa-github"></i>.
+  repository link. Defaults to `fab-github` which looks like <i class="fa fab-github"></i>.
   If you are not using GitHub, another option to consider is `fa-code-fork` which looks like <i class="fa fa-code-fork"></i>.
 - **edit-url-template:** Edit url template, when provided shows a
   "Suggest an edit" button (which looks like <i class="fa fa-edit"></i>) for directly jumping to editing the currently
diff --git a/guide/src/format/mdbook.md b/guide/src/format/mdbook.md
index f653f9dde7..cdd3d9bd5f 100644
--- a/guide/src/format/mdbook.md
+++ b/guide/src/format/mdbook.md
@@ -278,9 +278,9 @@ contents (sidebar) by including a `\{{#title ...}}` near the top of the page.
 ## Font-Awesome icons
 
 mdBook includes a copy of [Font Awesome Free's](https://fontawesome.com)
-MIT-licensed SVG files. It emulates the `<i class="fa">` syntax, but converts
-the results to inline SVG. Only the regular, solid, and brands icons are
-included; paid features like the light icons are not.
+MIT-licensed SVG files. It emulates the `<i>` syntax, but converts the results
+to inline SVG. Only the regular, solid, and brands icons are included; paid
+features like the light icons are not.
 
 For example, given this HTML syntax:
 
diff --git a/guide/src/format/theme/index-hbs.md b/guide/src/format/theme/index-hbs.md
index d85ff59b2e..fae38ecfb0 100644
--- a/guide/src/format/theme/index-hbs.md
+++ b/guide/src/format/theme/index-hbs.md
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ They are used like this
 ```handlebars
 {{#previous}}
     <a href="{{link}}" class="nav-chapters previous">
-        <i class="fa fa-angle-left"></i>
+        {{fa "solid" "angle-left"}}
     </a>
 {{/previous}}
 ```
diff --git a/src/renderer/html_handlebars/hbs_renderer.rs b/src/renderer/html_handlebars/hbs_renderer.rs
index ceaeeda944..2988b3fae4 100644
--- a/src/renderer/html_handlebars/hbs_renderer.rs
+++ b/src/renderer/html_handlebars/hbs_renderer.rs
@@ -681,9 +681,19 @@ fn make_data(
 
     let git_repository_icon = match html_config.git_repository_icon {
         Some(ref git_repository_icon) => git_repository_icon,
-        None => "fa-github",
+        None => "fab-github",
+    };
+    let git_repository_icon_class = match git_repository_icon.split('-').next() {
+        Some("fa") => "regular",
+        Some("fas") => "solid",
+        Some("fab") => "brands",
+        _ => "regular",
     };
     data.insert("git_repository_icon".to_owned(), json!(git_repository_icon));
+    data.insert(
+        "git_repository_icon_class".to_owned(),
+        json!(git_repository_icon_class),
+    );
 
     let mut chapters = vec![];
 
diff --git a/src/renderer/html_handlebars/helpers/fontawesome.rs b/src/renderer/html_handlebars/helpers/fontawesome.rs
index f0eb00c72c..46967cb0ac 100644
--- a/src/renderer/html_handlebars/helpers/fontawesome.rs
+++ b/src/renderer/html_handlebars/helpers/fontawesome.rs
@@ -27,6 +27,10 @@ pub fn fa_helper(
 
     let name = if name.starts_with("fa-") {
         &name[3..]
+    } else if name.starts_with("fab-") {
+        &name[4..]
+    } else if name.starts_with("fas-") {
+        &name[4..]
     } else {
         &name[..]
     };
diff --git a/src/theme/index.hbs b/src/theme/index.hbs
index 002bf3ace3..f870bda454 100644
--- a/src/theme/index.hbs
+++ b/src/theme/index.hbs
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@
                         {{/if}}
                         {{#if git_repository_url}}
                         <a href="{{git_repository_url}}" title="Git repository" aria-label="Git repository">
-                            {{fa "solid" git_repository_icon}}
+                            {{fa git_repository_icon_class git_repository_icon}}
                         </a>
                         {{/if}}
                         {{#if git_repository_edit_url}}