NEXUS Name Issues
 

I don't have a traditional middle name, but my mother's last name is part of my name. Using a pseudonym for illustration purposes, let's say my name is Steven Jones Smith. Jones in this case is not a middle name, but is frequently conflated with one.

On the Nexus application, there was a separate field for "maternal name". I put "Jones" in that field. However, other travel documents (e.g. passport) do not make this distinction; my passport simply lists "Smith" under last name and "Steven Jones" under given names. Correspondingly, the MR part has SMITH<<STEVEN<JONES.

And to complicate things, the travel system at work concatenates the two names, issuing tickets to "Mr Smith, Stevenjones". This has, somewhat to my surprise, never caused an issue at normal checkpoints. However, am I going to have a problem with Nexus?

I have an ordinary three-part name. I left the "maternal name" field blank when I first applied to Nexus via GOES. The CBP officer asked for my mother's maiden name during the interview, and I noticed later that he had added it to GOES as my maternal name. The instructions are not very clear.

Good luck... I don't know the answer to your main question about how reasonable they can be in interpreting unusual names.

I'd stick your equivalent of 'Jones' in the middle name field which is where it sounds like it is on your passport as it's listed as another given name. Put your m:other's name (presumably 'Jones' as well in this case) in the Maternal name field.

Name on NEXUS card
 

My NEXUS card shows my first and middle names in the "Given names" field, but they omitted the middle name from the MRZ. My green card did almost the opposite -- middle name is in the MRZ but only the middle initial is printed under "Given Name".

Is this normal, or should I attempt to have the NEXUS card corrected? And is this going to cause problems with getting TSA Pre?

I'm pretty sure it's normal for the NEXUS card. Mine also omits my middle name from the MRZ, though my US passport card includes it.

I've never had issues getting TSA Pre using my NEXUS KTN and my middle name on the PNR.

They all do that.

Even if your name is John Jay Lee and there's tons of extra space, the NEXUS/GE/SENTRI card doesn't have your middle name in the MRZ.

Won't be an issue, ever.

Thanks for the info!

NEXUS Application - Middle Name Question
 

I was filling out the application for NEXUS and was on the page to fill in information for my permanent residence card/passport.

On the Permanent Resident Card section it says to enter the information "EXACTLY" as it appears on the card. In the instructions it says "Enter your Given name as it appears on your Permanent Residency Card Document's machine readable zone. This can be found on the back of the card."

If my name is, Given name (first): John....Middle: Doe....Surname (Last): Smith....On the front of my green card it says: Surname: Smith....Given name: John D....With no field for middle name, just the initial D under given names.

But, on the back of the card, it's listed as: SMITH<<JOHN<DOE<<<<<

So, I just wanted to confirm how to put this in on my application - should I be putting "John" under given name and "Doe" under middle name. Or leaving the middle name blank and putting "John Doe" under given name?

I also had the same question for my passport (Canadian), as there is no field for middle name and the given name is listed as "John Doe". The machine readable section of the passport lists it as <SMITH<<JOHN<DOE

Thank you for any help!