N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 19, § 143-4.1 – General requirements.

(a) The central filing office maintains a searchable index for all records of UCC documents. The index provides for the retrieval of a record by the name of the debtor and by the file number of the initial financing statement to which the record relates, and associates with one another each initial financing statement and each filed UCC document relating to the initial financing statement.
(b) The searchable index maintained by the central filing office consists of an index of names entered prior to July 1, 2001 (the pre-July 1, 2001 index) and an index of names entered on or after July 1, 2001 (the post-July 1, 2001 index). The following rules were followed when the names were entered in the pre-July 1, 2001 index:
1. (1) Debtors were not classified as organizations or individuals. The pre-July 1, 2001 index is a single index that includes all debtors (individual and organization).
2. (2) Debtor names were entered into the pre-July 1, 2001 index exactly as the names appeared in the filed document.
3. (3) In the case of debtors that were (or appeared to be) individuals, no distinction was made between prefixes (if any), first names, middle names or initials (if any), last names, or suffixes (if any). Each name component was entered in the pre-July 1, 2001 index in the order specified in the filed document (e.g., if the document specified the debtor name as "John C. Smith", the name was entered in the pre-July 1, 2001 index as "JOHN C. SMITH", and if the document specified the debtor name as "Smith, John C.," the name was entered in the pre-July 1, 2001 index as "SMITH JOHN C.").
4. (4) The central filing office also maintains an alternative name index (the alternative name index) for certain filings made prior to July 1, 2001. In some cases, one or more variations of the debtor name as specified in a document filed prior to July 1, 2001 may have been entered in the alternative name index. For example, if a document filed prior to July 1, 2001 specified the debtor name as "John and Mary Smith", the name would have been entered in the pre-July 1, 2001 index as "JOHN AND MARY SMITH" and, in some cases, the name may also have been entered in the alternative name index as "JOHN SMITH" and "MARY SMITH", and if a document filed prior to July 1, 2001 specified the debtor name as " John Smith, d/b/a John's Garage", the name would have been entered in the pre-July 1, 2001 index as "JOHN SMITH D/B/A JOHN'S GARAGE" and, in some cases, the name may also have been entered in the alternative name index as "JOHN SMITH" and "JOHN'S GARAGE". Note, however, in some cases (including but not limited to some cases similar to the examples set forth in the preceding sentence), no entry in the alternative name index was made.