My experience with ID and name on the GRE

[scientific]

Hello all! I looked for this on the forum and online before my test and found no real suitable answer, so I wanted to help anyone with the same situation/fear in the future.

I am an American, so I was able to use a driver's license.

I signed up for the GRE using my first and last name (popular American name and "American-ized" simple last name). In total my name has six letters in the first name and four in the last. However, I did not input a middle initial, since I don't use it for anything--not even when I applied to undergrad, or even health insurance! The problem is, on my legal documents, it included my middle name, which is a long, hyphenated foreign name. I'm not sure about other states, but on American passports and (new) California IDs, the middle name is on the same line as the first name/given name section. Everything I searched came up short. 

Now whenever I scoured the ETS site, it said that I had to sign up with a name that was identical to my ID, and I have heard horror stories of people who were not let into the test due to signing up with a somewhat different name, or differently ordered name, etc. Even the most random problems like signing up the first/last name in reverse order (first and last names are such different concepts in many cultures). 

I called ETS three times, and e-mailed them three times with unsatisfactory answers. Two of the phone calls were helpful, but I worried because there seems to be a huge difference between ETS and their hired phone staff. 

Anyway, the day of my test, I brought my driver's license and student ID (can be supplementary and I only used my first and last name NO MIDDLE NAME on it). At first, the receptionist at the front desk seemed hesitant to allow me because of my name/ID difference. However, I explained it was my middle name and was allowed in.

Hopefully this helps someone. I don't assume that all testing centers are the same, but I DO recommend calling instead of emailing; I don't think they even read the emails.