diff --git a/spacy/cli/converters/conllu2json.py b/spacy/cli/converters/conllu2json.py
index ecdc2ae66..0b2920802 100644
--- a/spacy/cli/converters/conllu2json.py
+++ b/spacy/cli/converters/conllu2json.py
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ def conllu2json(
     Extract NER tags if available and convert them so that they follow
     BILUO and the Wikipedia scheme
     """
-    MISC_NER_PATTERN = "\|?(?:name=)?(([A-Z_]+)-([A-Z_]+)|O)\|?"
+    MISC_NER_PATTERN = "^((?:name|NE)=)?([BILU])-([A-Z_]+)|O$"
     msg = Printer(no_print=no_print)
     n_sents_info(msg, n_sents)
     docs = []
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ def conllu2json(
         ner_map=ner_map,
         merge_subtokens=merge_subtokens,
     )
-    has_ner_tags = has_ner(input_data, ner_tag_pattern=MISC_NER_PATTERN)
+    has_ner_tags = has_ner(input_data, MISC_NER_PATTERN)
     for i, example in enumerate(conll_data):
         raw += example.text
         sentences.append(
@@ -65,21 +65,20 @@ def conllu2json(
 
 def has_ner(input_data, ner_tag_pattern):
     """
-    Check the 10th column of the first token to determine if the file contains
-    NER tags
+    Check the MISC column for NER tags.
     """
     for sent in input_data.strip().split("\n\n"):
         lines = sent.strip().split("\n")
         if lines:
             while lines[0].startswith("#"):
                 lines.pop(0)
-            if lines:
-                parts = lines[0].split("\t")
+            for line in lines:
+                parts = line.split("\t")
                 id_, word, lemma, pos, tag, morph, head, dep, _1, misc = parts
-                if re.search(ner_tag_pattern, misc):
-                    return True
-                else:
-                    return False
+                for misc_part in misc.split("|"):
+                    if re.match(ner_tag_pattern, misc_part):
+                        return True
+    return False
 
 
 def read_conllx(
@@ -127,19 +126,21 @@ def get_entities(lines, tag_pattern, ner_map=None):
 
     iob = []
     for misc in miscs:
-        tag_match = re.search(tag_pattern, misc)
         iob_tag = "O"
-        if tag_match:
-            prefix = tag_match.group(2)
-            suffix = tag_match.group(3)
-            if prefix and suffix:
-                iob_tag = prefix + "-" + suffix
-                if ner_map:
-                    suffix = ner_map.get(suffix, suffix)
-                    if suffix == "":
-                        iob_tag = "O"
-                    else:
-                        iob_tag = prefix + "-" + suffix
+        for misc_part in misc.split("|"):
+            tag_match = re.match(tag_pattern, misc_part)
+            if tag_match:
+                prefix = tag_match.group(2)
+                suffix = tag_match.group(3)
+                if prefix and suffix:
+                    iob_tag = prefix + "-" + suffix
+                    if ner_map:
+                        suffix = ner_map.get(suffix, suffix)
+                        if suffix == "":
+                            iob_tag = "O"
+                        else:
+                            iob_tag = prefix + "-" + suffix
+                break
         iob.append(iob_tag)
     return iob_to_biluo(iob)
 
diff --git a/spacy/gold.pxd b/spacy/gold.pxd
index c5ab6ebbe..bf724868f 100644
--- a/spacy/gold.pxd
+++ b/spacy/gold.pxd
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ cdef class TokenAnnotation:
     cdef public list deps
     cdef public list entities
     cdef public list sent_starts
-    cdef public list brackets
+    cdef public dict brackets_by_start
 
 
 cdef class DocAnnotation:
diff --git a/spacy/gold.pyx b/spacy/gold.pyx
index 46a6ae583..1864b7a04 100644
--- a/spacy/gold.pyx
+++ b/spacy/gold.pyx
@@ -658,7 +658,18 @@ cdef class TokenAnnotation:
         self.deps = deps if deps else []
         self.entities = entities if entities else []
         self.sent_starts = sent_starts if sent_starts else []
-        self.brackets = brackets if brackets else []
+        self.brackets_by_start = {}
+        if brackets:
+            for b_start, b_end, b_label in brackets:
+                self.brackets_by_start.setdefault(b_start, []).append((b_end, b_label))
+
+    @property
+    def brackets(self):
+        brackets = []
+        for start, ends_labels in self.brackets_by_start.items():
+            for end, label in ends_labels:
+                brackets.append((start, end, label))
+        return brackets
 
     @classmethod
     def from_dict(cls, token_dict):
@@ -811,8 +822,10 @@ cdef class Example:
         s_lemmas, s_heads, s_deps, s_ents, s_sent_starts = [], [], [], [], []
         s_brackets = []
         sent_start_i = 0
-        t = self.token_annotation
+        cdef TokenAnnotation t = self.token_annotation
         split_examples = []
+        cdef int b_start, b_end
+        cdef unicode b_label
         for i in range(len(t.words)):
             if i > 0 and t.sent_starts[i] == 1:
                 s_example.set_token_annotation(ids=s_ids,
@@ -836,9 +849,10 @@ cdef class Example:
             s_deps.append(t.get_dep(i))
             s_ents.append(t.get_entity(i))
             s_sent_starts.append(t.get_sent_start(i))
-            s_brackets.extend((b[0] - sent_start_i,
-                               b[1] - sent_start_i, b[2])
-                               for b in t.brackets if b[0] == i)
+            for b_end, b_label in t.brackets_by_start.get(i, []):
+                s_brackets.append(
+                    (i - sent_start_i, b_end - sent_start_i, b_label)
+                )
             i += 1
         s_example.set_token_annotation(ids=s_ids, words=s_words, tags=s_tags,
                 pos=s_pos, morphs=s_morphs, lemmas=s_lemmas, heads=s_heads,
@@ -904,8 +918,10 @@ cdef class Example:
             examples = [examples]
         converted_examples = []
         for ex in examples:
+            if isinstance(ex, Example):
+                converted_examples.append(ex)
             # convert string to Doc to Example
-            if isinstance(ex, str):
+            elif isinstance(ex, str):
                 if keep_raw_text:
                     converted_examples.append(Example(doc=ex))
                 else:
diff --git a/spacy/tests/test_cli.py b/spacy/tests/test_cli.py
index 306adc881..132f7ac9f 100644
--- a/spacy/tests/test_cli.py
+++ b/spacy/tests/test_cli.py
@@ -29,14 +29,26 @@ def test_cli_converters_conllu2json():
     assert [t["ner"] for t in tokens] == ["O", "B-PER", "L-PER", "O"]
 
 
-def test_cli_converters_conllu2json_name_ner_map():
-    lines = [
-        "1\tDommer\tdommer\tNOUN\t_\tDefinite=Ind|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing\t2\tappos\t_\tname=O",
-        "2\tFinn\tFinn\tPROPN\t_\tGender=Masc\t4\tnsubj\t_\tSpaceAfter=No|name=B-PER",
-        "3\tEilertsen\tEilertsen\tPROPN\t_\t_\t2\tname\t_\tname=I-PER",
-        "4\tavstår\tavstå\tVERB\t_\tMood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin\t0\troot\t_\tSpaceAfter=No|name=O",
-        "5\t.\t$.\tPUNCT\t_\t_\t4\tpunct\t_\tname=B-BAD",
-    ]
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "lines",
+    [
+        (
+            "1\tDommer\tdommer\tNOUN\t_\tDefinite=Ind|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing\t2\tappos\t_\tname=O",
+            "2\tFinn\tFinn\tPROPN\t_\tGender=Masc\t4\tnsubj\t_\tSpaceAfter=No|name=B-PER",
+            "3\tEilertsen\tEilertsen\tPROPN\t_\t_\t2\tname\t_\tname=I-PER",
+            "4\tavstår\tavstå\tVERB\t_\tMood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin\t0\troot\t_\tSpaceAfter=No|name=O",
+            "5\t.\t$.\tPUNCT\t_\t_\t4\tpunct\t_\tname=B-BAD",
+        ),
+        (
+            "1\tDommer\tdommer\tNOUN\t_\tDefinite=Ind|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing\t2\tappos\t_\t_",
+            "2\tFinn\tFinn\tPROPN\t_\tGender=Masc\t4\tnsubj\t_\tSpaceAfter=No|NE=B-PER",
+            "3\tEilertsen\tEilertsen\tPROPN\t_\t_\t2\tname\t_\tNE=L-PER",
+            "4\tavstår\tavstå\tVERB\t_\tMood=Ind|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin\t0\troot\t_\tSpaceAfter=No",
+            "5\t.\t$.\tPUNCT\t_\t_\t4\tpunct\t_\tNE=B-BAD",
+        ),
+    ],
+)
+def test_cli_converters_conllu2json_name_ner_map(lines):
     input_data = "\n".join(lines)
     converted = conllu2json(input_data, n_sents=1, ner_map={"PER": "PERSON", "BAD": ""})
     assert len(converted) == 1