diff --git a/common/speculative.cpp b/common/speculative.cpp
index 73830fda6c9..aa0d0ed86b2 100644
--- a/common/speculative.cpp
+++ b/common/speculative.cpp
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 #include "common.h"
 #include "ggml.h"
 #include "llama.h"
-#include "../src/llama-ext.h" // staging API: llama_set_embeddings_pre_norm / llama_get_embeddings_pre_norm_ith (used by MTP)
+#include "../src/llama-ext.h" // staging API: llama_set_embeddings_nextn / llama_get_embeddings_nextn_ith (used by MTP)
 #include "log.h"
 #include "ngram-cache.h"
 #include "ngram-map.h"
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ struct common_speculative_impl {
     virtual bool need_embd() const = 0;
 
     // true if this implementation requires the target context to extract pre-norm embeddings
-    virtual bool need_embd_pre_norm() const { return false; }
+    virtual bool need_embd_nextn() const { return false; }
 };
 
 struct common_speculative_impl_draft_simple : public common_speculative_impl {
@@ -487,8 +487,8 @@ struct common_speculative_impl_draft_mtp : public common_speculative_impl {
             }
         }
 
-        llama_set_embeddings_pre_norm(ctx_tgt, true, /*masked*/ false);
-        llama_set_embeddings_pre_norm(ctx_dft, true, /*masked*/ true);
+        llama_set_embeddings_nextn(ctx_tgt, true, /*masked*/ false);
+        llama_set_embeddings_nextn(ctx_dft, true, /*masked*/ true);
 
         pending_h.assign(n_seq, std::vector<float>(n_embd, 0.0f));
 
@@ -583,7 +583,7 @@ struct common_speculative_impl_draft_mtp : public common_speculative_impl {
         //                                                       ^--- this is a problem
         // TODO:this is generally true, but would be nice to assert it
         {
-            const float * h_tgt = llama_get_embeddings_pre_norm(ctx_tgt);
+            const float * h_tgt = llama_get_embeddings_nextn(ctx_tgt);
             std::memcpy(batch.embd + (size_t) 1 * n_embd, h_tgt, row_bytes * (n_tokens-1));
 
             //{
@@ -625,7 +625,7 @@ struct common_speculative_impl_draft_mtp : public common_speculative_impl {
             verify_h[seq_id].resize((size_t) n_rows * n_embd);
 
             for (int32_t i = 0; i < n_rows; ++i) {
-                const float * h = llama_get_embeddings_pre_norm_ith(ctx_tgt, i_batch_beg[seq_id] + i);
+                const float * h = llama_get_embeddings_nextn_ith(ctx_tgt, i_batch_beg[seq_id] + i);
                 std::memcpy(verify_h[seq_id].data() + (size_t) i * n_embd, h, row_bytes);
             }
 
@@ -686,7 +686,7 @@ struct common_speculative_impl_draft_mtp : public common_speculative_impl {
                 auto * smpl = smpls[seq_id].get();
 
                 common_sampler_sample(smpl, ctx_dft, i_batch, true);
-                h_row = llama_get_embeddings_pre_norm_ith(ctx_dft, i_batch);
+                h_row = llama_get_embeddings_nextn_ith(ctx_dft, i_batch);
                 ++i_batch;
 
                 const auto * cur_p = common_sampler_get_candidates(smpl, true);
@@ -772,7 +772,7 @@ struct common_speculative_impl_draft_mtp : public common_speculative_impl {
         return false;
     }
 
-    bool need_embd_pre_norm() const override {
+    bool need_embd_nextn() const override {
         return true;
     }
 };
@@ -1539,13 +1539,13 @@ bool common_speculative_need_embd(common_speculative * spec) {
     return false;
 }
 
-bool common_speculative_need_embd_pre_norm(common_speculative * spec) {
+bool common_speculative_need_embd_nextn(common_speculative * spec) {
     if (spec == nullptr) {
         return false;
     }
 
     for (auto & impl : spec->impls) {
-        if (impl->need_embd_pre_norm()) {
+        if (impl->need_embd_nextn()) {
             return true;
         }
     }
diff --git a/common/speculative.h b/common/speculative.h
index deba7dac720..bf76ad709e2 100644
--- a/common/speculative.h
+++ b/common/speculative.h
@@ -59,8 +59,8 @@ bool common_speculative_process(common_speculative * spec, const llama_batch & b
 // true if any implementation requires target post-norm embeddings to be extracted
 bool common_speculative_need_embd(common_speculative * spec);
 
-// true if any implementation requires target pre-norm embeddings to be extracted
-bool common_speculative_need_embd_pre_norm(common_speculative * spec);
+// true if any implementation requires target nextn embeddings to be extracted
+bool common_speculative_need_embd_nextn(common_speculative * spec);
 
 // generate drafts for the sequences specified with `common_speculative_get_draft_params`
 void common_speculative_draft(common_speculative * spec);
diff --git a/src/llama-context.cpp b/src/llama-context.cpp
index 946c2d0ef3e..f59381a4d75 100644
--- a/src/llama-context.cpp
+++ b/src/llama-context.cpp
@@ -58,19 +58,20 @@ llama_context::llama_context(
         cparams.n_rs_seq = 0;
     }
 
-    cparams.n_threads        = params.n_threads;
-    cparams.n_threads_batch  = params.n_threads_batch;
-    cparams.yarn_ext_factor  = params.yarn_ext_factor  >= 0.0f ? params.yarn_ext_factor  : hparams.yarn_ext_factor;
-    cparams.yarn_attn_factor = params.yarn_attn_factor >= 0.0f ? params.yarn_attn_factor : hparams.yarn_attn_factor;
-    cparams.yarn_beta_fast   = params.yarn_beta_fast   >= 0.0f ? params.yarn_beta_fast   : hparams.yarn_beta_fast;
-    cparams.yarn_beta_slow   = params.yarn_beta_slow   >= 0.0f ? params.yarn_beta_slow   : hparams.yarn_beta_slow;
-    cparams.embeddings                  = params.embeddings;
-    cparams.embeddings_pre_norm         = false;
-    cparams.embeddings_pre_norm_masked  = false;
-    cparams.offload_kqv      = params.offload_kqv;
-    cparams.no_perf          = params.no_perf;
-    cparams.pooling_type     = params.pooling_type;
-    cparams.warmup           = false;
+    cparams.n_threads               = params.n_threads;
+    cparams.n_threads_batch         = params.n_threads_batch;
+    cparams.yarn_ext_factor         = params.yarn_ext_factor  >= 0.0f ? params.yarn_ext_factor  : hparams.yarn_ext_factor;
+    cparams.yarn_attn_factor        = params.yarn_attn_factor >= 0.0f ? params.yarn_attn_factor : hparams.yarn_attn_factor;
+    cparams.yarn_beta_fast          = params.yarn_beta_fast   >= 0.0f ? params.yarn_beta_fast   : hparams.yarn_beta_fast;
+    cparams.yarn_beta_slow          = params.yarn_beta_slow   >= 0.0f ? params.yarn_beta_slow   : hparams.yarn_beta_slow;
+    cparams.embeddings              = params.embeddings;
+    cparams.embeddings_nextn        = false;
+    cparams.embeddings_nextn_masked = false;
+    cparams.offload_kqv             = params.offload_kqv;
+    cparams.no_perf                 = params.no_perf;
+    cparams.pooling_type            = params.pooling_type;
+    cparams.warmup                  = false;
+
 
     cparams.n_ctx            = params.n_ctx           == 0    ? hparams.n_ctx_train           : params.n_ctx;
     cparams.rope_freq_base   = params.rope_freq_base  == 0.0f ? hparams.rope_freq_base_train  : params.rope_freq_base;
@@ -889,34 +890,34 @@ float * llama_context::get_embeddings_seq(llama_seq_id seq_id) {
     return it->second.data();
 }
 
-float * llama_context::get_embeddings_pre_norm() {
+float * llama_context::get_embeddings_nextn() {
     output_reorder();
 
-    return embd_pre_norm.data;
+    return embd_nextn.data;
 }
 
-float * llama_context::get_embeddings_pre_norm_ith(int32_t i) {
+float * llama_context::get_embeddings_nextn_ith(int32_t i) {
     output_reorder();
 
     try {
-        if (embd_pre_norm.data == nullptr) {
-            throw std::runtime_error("no pre-norm embeddings");
+        if (embd_nextn.data == nullptr) {
+            throw std::runtime_error("no nextn embeddings");
         }
 
         const uint32_t n_embd = model.hparams.n_embd;
 
-        if (!cparams.embeddings_pre_norm_masked) {
-            // unmasked: pre-norm rows are stored densely, indexed by raw token position.
-            if (i < 0 || (size_t)(i + 1) * n_embd > embd_pre_norm.size) {
-                throw std::runtime_error(format("out of range [0, %zu)", embd_pre_norm.size / n_embd));
+        if (!cparams.embeddings_nextn_masked) {
+            // unmasked: nextn rows are stored densely, indexed by raw token position.
+            if (i < 0 || (size_t)(i + 1) * n_embd > embd_nextn.size) {
+                throw std::runtime_error(format("out of range [0, %zu)", embd_nextn.size / n_embd));
             }
-            return embd_pre_norm.data + (size_t) i * n_embd;
+            return embd_nextn.data + (size_t) i * n_embd;
         }
 
         const int64_t j = output_resolve_row(i);
-        return embd_pre_norm.data + j*n_embd;
+        return embd_nextn.data + j*n_embd;
     } catch (const std::exception & err) {
-        LLAMA_LOG_ERROR("%s: invalid pre-norm embeddings id %d, reason: %s\n", __func__, i, err.what());
+        LLAMA_LOG_ERROR("%s: invalid nextn embeddings id %d, reason: %s\n", __func__, i, err.what());
 #ifndef NDEBUG
         GGML_ABORT("fatal error");
 #else
@@ -1105,11 +1106,11 @@ void llama_context::set_embeddings(bool value) {
     //sched_need_reserve = true;
 }
 
-void llama_context::set_embeddings_pre_norm(bool value, bool masked) {
+void llama_context::set_embeddings_nextn(bool value, bool masked) {
     LLAMA_LOG_DEBUG("%s: value = %d, masked = %d\n", __func__, value, masked);
 
-    cparams.embeddings_pre_norm        = value;
-    cparams.embeddings_pre_norm_masked = masked;
+    cparams.embeddings_nextn        = value;
+    cparams.embeddings_nextn_masked = masked;
 }
 
 void llama_context::set_causal_attn(bool value) {
@@ -1326,7 +1327,7 @@ llm_graph_result * llama_context::process_ubatch(const llama_ubatch & ubatch, ll
 }
 
 int llama_context::encode(const llama_batch & batch_inp) {
-    // MTP hook batches carry both token (next-token id) and embd (h_pre_norm row),
+    // MTP hook batches carry both token (next-token id) and embd (h_nextn row),
     // so accept either present rather than requiring exactly one.
     GGML_ASSERT(batch_inp.token || batch_inp.embd);
 
@@ -1399,9 +1400,9 @@ int llama_context::encode(const llama_batch & batch_inp) {
         }
     }
 
-    auto * t_logits        = res->get_logits();
-    auto * t_embd          = res->get_embd_pooled() ? res->get_embd_pooled() : res->get_embd();
-    auto * t_h_pre_norm    = cparams.embeddings_pre_norm ? res->get_h_pre_norm() : nullptr;
+    auto * t_logits  = res->get_logits();
+    auto * t_embd    = res->get_embd_pooled() ? res->get_embd_pooled() : res->get_embd();
+    auto * t_h_nextn = cparams.embeddings_nextn ? res->get_h_nextn() : nullptr;
 
     // extract logits
     if (logits.data && t_logits) {
@@ -1467,14 +1468,14 @@ int llama_context::encode(const llama_batch & batch_inp) {
         }
     }
 
-    // extract pre-norm embeddings (hidden state before the final output norm)
-    if (embd_pre_norm.data && t_h_pre_norm && cparams.pooling_type == LLAMA_POOLING_TYPE_NONE) {
-        ggml_backend_t backend_h = ggml_backend_sched_get_tensor_backend(sched.get(), t_h_pre_norm);
+    // extract nextn embeddings (hidden state before the final output norm)
+    if (embd_nextn.data && t_h_nextn && cparams.pooling_type == LLAMA_POOLING_TYPE_NONE) {
+        ggml_backend_t backend_h = ggml_backend_sched_get_tensor_backend(sched.get(), t_h_nextn);
         GGML_ASSERT(backend_h != nullptr);
 
         const uint32_t n_embd = hparams.n_embd;
-        GGML_ASSERT(n_tokens*n_embd <= (int64_t) embd_pre_norm.size);
-        ggml_backend_tensor_get_async(backend_h, t_h_pre_norm, embd_pre_norm.data, 0, n_tokens*n_embd*sizeof(float));
+        GGML_ASSERT(n_tokens*n_embd <= (int64_t) embd_nextn.size);
+        ggml_backend_tensor_get_async(backend_h, t_h_nextn, embd_nextn.data, 0, n_tokens*n_embd*sizeof(float));
     }
 
     // TODO: hacky solution
@@ -1629,7 +1630,7 @@ static bool needs_raw_logits(const llama_ubatch & ubatch, const std::map<llama_s
 }
 
 int llama_context::decode(const llama_batch & batch_inp) {
-    // MTP hook batches carry both token (next-token id) and embd (h_pre_norm row),
+    // MTP hook batches carry both token (next-token id) and embd (h_nextn row),
     // so accept either present rather than requiring exactly one.
     GGML_ASSERT(batch_inp.token || batch_inp.embd);
 
@@ -1829,9 +1830,9 @@ int llama_context::decode(const llama_batch & batch_inp) {
         //    ggml_graph_dump_dot(gf, NULL, "llama.dot");
         //}
 
-        auto * t_logits        = res->get_logits();
-        auto * t_embd          = cparams.embeddings          ? res->get_embd()        : nullptr;
-        auto * t_h_pre_norm    = cparams.embeddings_pre_norm ? res->get_h_pre_norm()  : nullptr;
+        auto * t_logits  = res->get_logits();
+        auto * t_embd    = cparams.embeddings       ? res->get_embd()     : nullptr;
+        auto * t_h_nextn = cparams.embeddings_nextn ? res->get_h_nextn()  : nullptr;
 
         if (t_embd && res->get_embd_pooled()) {
             t_embd = res->get_embd_pooled();
@@ -1912,22 +1913,22 @@ int llama_context::decode(const llama_batch & batch_inp) {
             }
         }
 
-        // extract pre-norm embeddings (hidden state before the final output norm)
+        // extract nextn embeddings before
         // only meaningful in LLAMA_POOLING_TYPE_NONE (per-token); other pooling modes are ignored.
         {
-            const bool masked    = cparams.embeddings_pre_norm_masked;
+            const bool masked    = cparams.embeddings_nextn_masked;
             const int64_t n_rows = masked ? n_outputs       : (int64_t) ubatch.n_tokens;
             const int64_t offset = masked ? n_outputs_prev  : n_tokens_prev;
 
-            if (embd_pre_norm.data && t_h_pre_norm && n_rows > 0 && cparams.pooling_type == LLAMA_POOLING_TYPE_NONE) {
-                ggml_backend_t backend_h = ggml_backend_sched_get_tensor_backend(sched.get(), t_h_pre_norm);
+            if (embd_nextn.data && t_h_nextn && n_rows > 0 && cparams.pooling_type == LLAMA_POOLING_TYPE_NONE) {
+                ggml_backend_t backend_h = ggml_backend_sched_get_tensor_backend(sched.get(), t_h_nextn);
                 GGML_ASSERT(backend_h != nullptr);
 
-                const uint32_t n_embd = hparams.n_embd;
-                float * embd_pre_norm_out = embd_pre_norm.data + offset*n_embd;
+                const uint32_t n_embd  = hparams.n_embd;
+                float * embd_nextn_out = embd_nextn.data + offset*n_embd;
 
-                GGML_ASSERT((offset + n_rows)*n_embd <= (int64_t) embd_pre_norm.size);
-                ggml_backend_tensor_get_async(backend_h, t_h_pre_norm, embd_pre_norm_out, 0, n_rows*n_embd*sizeof(float));
+                GGML_ASSERT((offset + n_rows)*n_embd <= (int64_t) embd_nextn.size);
+                ggml_backend_tensor_get_async(backend_h, t_h_nextn, embd_nextn_out, 0, n_rows*n_embd*sizeof(float));
             }
         }
 
@@ -2019,9 +2020,9 @@ uint32_t llama_context::output_reserve(int32_t n_outputs) {
     const auto n_embd     = hparams.n_embd;
     const auto n_embd_out = hparams.n_embd_out();
 
-    bool has_logits        = true;
-    bool has_embd          = cparams.embeddings;
-    bool has_embd_pre_norm = cparams.embeddings_pre_norm;
+    bool has_logits     = true;
+    bool has_embd       = cparams.embeddings;
+    bool has_embd_nextn = cparams.embeddings_nextn;
 
     // TODO: hacky enc-dec support
     if (model.arch == LLM_ARCH_T5) {
@@ -2033,14 +2034,14 @@ uint32_t llama_context::output_reserve(int32_t n_outputs) {
     size_t backend_float_count = 0;
     size_t backend_token_count = 0;
 
-    logits.size        = has_logits        ? n_vocab*n_outputs_max     : 0;
-    embd.size          = has_embd          ? n_embd_out*n_outputs_max  : 0;
-    embd_pre_norm.size = has_embd_pre_norm ? n_embd*n_outputs_max      : 0;
+    logits.size     = has_logits     ? n_vocab*n_outputs_max     : 0;
+    embd.size       = has_embd       ? n_embd_out*n_outputs_max  : 0;
+    embd_nextn.size = has_embd_nextn ? n_embd*n_outputs_max      : 0;
 
-    if (has_embd_pre_norm && !cparams.embeddings_pre_norm_masked) {
-        // unmasked: pre-norm row exists for every token in the batch, not just
+    if (has_embd_nextn && !cparams.embeddings_nextn_masked) {
+        // unmasked: nextn row exists for every token in the batch, not just
         // those flagged via batch.logits[i] -> size by token count instead.
-        embd_pre_norm.size = (size_t) n_embd * n_batch;
+        embd_nextn.size = (size_t) n_embd * n_batch;
     }
 
     // Allocate backend sampling output buffers if there are backend samplers configured.
@@ -2057,7 +2058,7 @@ uint32_t llama_context::output_reserve(int32_t n_outputs) {
 
     const size_t prev_size = buf_output ? ggml_backend_buffer_get_size(buf_output.get()) : 0;
     const size_t new_size  =
-        (logits.size + embd.size + embd_pre_norm.size + backend_float_count) * sizeof(float) +
+        (logits.size + embd.size + embd_nextn.size + backend_float_count) * sizeof(float) +
         (                                               backend_token_count) * sizeof(llama_token);
 
     // alloc only when more than the current capacity is required
@@ -2074,7 +2075,7 @@ uint32_t llama_context::output_reserve(int32_t n_outputs) {
             buf_output = nullptr;
             logits.data = nullptr;
             embd.data = nullptr;
-            embd_pre_norm.data = nullptr;
+            embd_nextn.data = nullptr;
         }
 
         auto * buft = ggml_backend_cpu_buffer_type();
@@ -2103,8 +2104,8 @@ uint32_t llama_context::output_reserve(int32_t n_outputs) {
     embd = has_embd ? buffer_view<float>{(float *) (base + offset), embd.size} : buffer_view<float>{nullptr, 0};
     offset += embd.size * sizeof(float);
 
-    embd_pre_norm = has_embd_pre_norm ? buffer_view<float>{(float *) (base + offset), embd_pre_norm.size} : buffer_view<float>{nullptr, 0};
-    offset += embd_pre_norm.size * sizeof(float);
+    embd_nextn = has_embd_nextn ? buffer_view<float>{(float *) (base + offset), embd_nextn.size} : buffer_view<float>{nullptr, 0};
+    offset += embd_nextn.size * sizeof(float);
 
     if (has_sampling) {
         sampling.logits = {(float *) (base + offset), (size_t)(n_vocab*n_outputs_max)};
@@ -2172,9 +2173,9 @@ void llama_context::output_reorder() {
             }
         }
 
-        if (embd_pre_norm.size > 0) {
+        if (embd_nextn.size > 0) {
             for (uint64_t k = 0; k < n_embd; k++) {
-                std::swap(embd_pre_norm.data[i0*n_embd + k], embd_pre_norm.data[i1*n_embd + k]);
+                std::swap(embd_nextn.data[i0*n_embd + k], embd_nextn.data[i1*n_embd + k]);
             }
         }
 
@@ -3588,20 +3589,20 @@ float * llama_get_embeddings_seq(llama_context * ctx, llama_seq_id seq_id) {
     return ctx->get_embeddings_seq(seq_id);
 }
 
-void llama_set_embeddings_pre_norm(llama_context * ctx, bool value, bool masked) {
-    ctx->set_embeddings_pre_norm(value, masked);
+void llama_set_embeddings_nextn(llama_context * ctx, bool value, bool masked) {
+    ctx->set_embeddings_nextn(value, masked);
 }
 
-float * llama_get_embeddings_pre_norm(llama_context * ctx) {
+float * llama_get_embeddings_nextn(llama_context * ctx) {
     ctx->synchronize();
 
-    return ctx->get_embeddings_pre_norm();
+    return ctx->get_embeddings_nextn();
 }
 
-float * llama_get_embeddings_pre_norm_ith(llama_context * ctx, int32_t i) {
+float * llama_get_embeddings_nextn_ith(llama_context * ctx, int32_t i) {
     ctx->synchronize();
 
-    return ctx->get_embeddings_pre_norm_ith(i);
+    return ctx->get_embeddings_nextn_ith(i);
 }
 
 bool llama_set_sampler(llama_context * ctx, llama_seq_id seq_id, llama_sampler * smpl) {
diff --git a/src/llama-context.h b/src/llama-context.h
index d03f681d4a1..2af92b0f096 100644
--- a/src/llama-context.h
+++ b/src/llama-context.h
@@ -84,8 +84,8 @@ struct llama_context {
     float * get_embeddings_ith(int32_t i);
     float * get_embeddings_seq(llama_seq_id seq_id);
 
-    float * get_embeddings_pre_norm();
-    float * get_embeddings_pre_norm_ith(int32_t i);
+    float * get_embeddings_nextn();
+    float * get_embeddings_nextn_ith(int32_t i);
 
     llama_token * get_sampled_tokens() const;
     llama_token   get_sampled_token_ith(int32_t idx);
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ struct llama_context {
     void set_abort_callback(bool (*abort_callback)(void * data), void * abort_callback_data);
 
     void set_embeddings (bool value);
-    void set_embeddings_pre_norm(bool value, bool masked);
+    void set_embeddings_nextn(bool value, bool masked);
     void set_causal_attn(bool value);
     void set_warmup(bool value);
 
@@ -282,10 +282,10 @@ struct llama_context {
     // populated only when pooling_type == LLAMA_POOLING_TYPE_NONE
     buffer_view<float> embd = {nullptr, 0};
 
-    // hidden state before the final output norm (2-dimensional array: [n_outputs][n_embd])
-    // populated only when cparams.embeddings_pre_norm is enabled and the model graph
-    // sets llm_graph_result::t_h_pre_norm
-    buffer_view<float> embd_pre_norm = {nullptr, 0};
+    // hidden state required by the nextn layers (2-dimensional array: [n_outputs][n_embd])
+    // populated only when cparams.embeddings_nextn is enabled and the model graph
+    // sets llm_graph_result::t_h_nextn
+    buffer_view<float> embd_nextn = {nullptr, 0};
 
     struct sampling_info {
         // !samplers.empty() to check if any samplers are active
diff --git a/src/llama-cparams.h b/src/llama-cparams.h
index 52e1c4f54ab..fd227ee5a23 100644
--- a/src/llama-cparams.h
+++ b/src/llama-cparams.h
@@ -29,8 +29,8 @@ struct llama_cparams {
     float yarn_beta_slow;
 
     bool embeddings;
-    bool embeddings_pre_norm;        // also extract the hidden state before the final output norm
-    bool embeddings_pre_norm_masked; // extract for only rows where batch.logits != 0
+    bool embeddings_nextn;        // also extract the hidden state before the final output norm
+    bool embeddings_nextn_masked; // extract for only rows where batch.logits != 0
     bool causal_attn;
     bool offload_kqv;
     bool flash_attn;
diff --git a/src/llama-ext.h b/src/llama-ext.h
index edfa71c207c..7ad6125fad3 100644
--- a/src/llama-ext.h
+++ b/src/llama-ext.h
@@ -89,18 +89,14 @@ LLAMA_API ggml_backend_dev_t llama_model_get_device(const struct llama_model * m
 
 LLAMA_API llama_memory_breakdown llama_get_memory_breakdown(const struct llama_context * ctx);
 
-//
-// pre-norm embeddings (hidden state before the final output norm)
-//
-
-// Set whether the context outputs pre-norm embeddings or not
+// Set whether the context outputs nextn embeddings or not
 // If masked == true,  output the embeddings only for the tokens with batch.logits != 0
 // If masked == false, output the embeddings for all tokens in the batch regardless of batch.logits
-LLAMA_API void llama_set_embeddings_pre_norm(struct llama_context * ctx, bool value, bool masked);
+LLAMA_API void llama_set_embeddings_nextn(struct llama_context * ctx, bool value, bool masked);
 
 // mirrors:
 // LLAMA_API float * llama_get_embeddings(struct llama_context * ctx);
-LLAMA_API float * llama_get_embeddings_pre_norm    (struct llama_context * ctx);
+LLAMA_API float * llama_get_embeddings_nextn(struct llama_context * ctx);
 
 // LLAMA_API float * llama_get_embeddings_ith(struct llama_context * ctx, int32_t i);
-LLAMA_API float * llama_get_embeddings_pre_norm_ith(struct llama_context * ctx, int32_t i);
+LLAMA_API float * llama_get_embeddings_nextn_ith(struct llama_context * ctx, int32_t i);
diff --git a/src/llama-graph.cpp b/src/llama-graph.cpp
index e6ec3054daf..f910528d21b 100644
--- a/src/llama-graph.cpp
+++ b/src/llama-graph.cpp
@@ -929,8 +929,8 @@ void llm_graph_result::set_outputs() {
     if (t_embd_pooled != nullptr) {
         ggml_set_output(t_embd_pooled);
     }
-    if (t_h_pre_norm != nullptr) {
-        ggml_set_output(t_h_pre_norm);
+    if (t_h_nextn != nullptr) {
+        ggml_set_output(t_h_nextn);
     }
     for (auto & [seq_id, t] : t_sampled) {
         if (t != nullptr) {
diff --git a/src/llama-graph.h b/src/llama-graph.h
index f2b952b2c3f..bf5be09ac7f 100644
--- a/src/llama-graph.h
+++ b/src/llama-graph.h
@@ -703,7 +703,7 @@ class llm_graph_result {
     ggml_tensor * get_logits()      const { return t_logits; }
     ggml_tensor * get_embd()        const { return t_embd; }
     ggml_tensor * get_embd_pooled() const { return t_embd_pooled; }
-    ggml_tensor * get_h_pre_norm()  const { return t_h_pre_norm; }
+    ggml_tensor * get_h_nextn()     const { return t_h_nextn; }
 
     ggml_cgraph  * get_gf()  const { return gf; }
     ggml_context * get_ctx() const { return ctx_compute.get(); }
@@ -732,7 +732,7 @@ class llm_graph_result {
     ggml_tensor * t_logits      = nullptr;
     ggml_tensor * t_embd        = nullptr;
     ggml_tensor * t_embd_pooled = nullptr;
-    ggml_tensor * t_h_pre_norm  = nullptr; // [n_embd, n_outputs] hidden state before final output norm
+    ggml_tensor * t_h_nextn     = nullptr; // [n_embd, n_outputs] hidden state before final output norm
 
     std::map<llama_seq_id, ggml_tensor*> t_sampled_logits;
     std::map<llama_seq_id, ggml_tensor*> t_candidates;
diff --git a/src/models/qwen35.cpp b/src/models/qwen35.cpp
index f8fd5369623..348650b3796 100644
--- a/src/models/qwen35.cpp
+++ b/src/models/qwen35.cpp
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@ llama_model_qwen35::graph::graph(const llama_model & model, const llm_graph_para
             cur = build_layer_attn(inp->get_attn(), cur, inp_pos, sections, il);
         }
 
-        if (il == n_transformer_layers - 1 && inp_out_ids && cparams.embeddings_pre_norm_masked) {
+        if (il == n_transformer_layers - 1 && inp_out_ids && cparams.embeddings_nextn_masked) {
             cur   = ggml_get_rows(ctx0, cur, inp_out_ids);
             inpSA = ggml_get_rows(ctx0, inpSA, inp_out_ids);
         }
@@ -209,16 +209,15 @@ llama_model_qwen35::graph::graph(const llama_model & model, const llm_graph_para
     }
     cur = inpL;
 
-    cb(cur, "h_pre_norm", -1);
-    res->t_h_pre_norm = cur;
+    cur = build_norm(cur, model.output_norm, nullptr, LLM_NORM_RMS, -1);
+
+    cb(cur, "h_nextn", -1);
+    res->t_h_nextn = cur;
 
-    if (!cparams.embeddings_pre_norm_masked && inp_out_ids) {
+    if (!cparams.embeddings_nextn_masked && inp_out_ids) {
         cur = ggml_get_rows(ctx0, cur, inp_out_ids);
     }
 
-    // Final norm
-    cur = build_norm(cur, model.output_norm, nullptr, LLM_NORM_RMS, -1);
-
     cb(cur, "result_norm", -1);
     res->t_embd = cur;
 
@@ -625,18 +624,16 @@ llama_model_qwen35::graph_mtp::graph_mtp(const llama_model & model, const llm_gr
     cur = ggml_add(ctx0, cur, ffn_residual);
     cb(cur, "mtp_post_ffn", il);
 
-    // Pre-norm hidden state: used by the AR draft loop to seed the next MTP step.
-    // (In the trunk graph this is `t_h_pre_norm`; the MTP head reuses the same slot.)
-    cb(cur, "h_pre_norm", -1);
-    res->t_h_pre_norm = cur;
-
-    cur   = ggml_get_rows(ctx0, cur, inp_out_ids);
-
     ggml_tensor * head_norm_w = layer.nextn.shared_head_norm
             ? layer.nextn.shared_head_norm
             : model.output_norm;
     GGML_ASSERT(head_norm_w && "QWEN35 MTP: missing both nextn.shared_head_norm and output_norm");
     cur = build_norm(cur, head_norm_w, nullptr, LLM_NORM_RMS, -1);
+
+    cb(cur, "h_nextn", -1);
+    res->t_h_nextn = cur;
+
+    cur = ggml_get_rows(ctx0, cur, inp_out_ids);
     cb(cur, "mtp_shared_head_norm", -1);
 
     ggml_tensor * head_w = layer.nextn.shared_head_head ? layer.nextn.shared_head_head : model.output;
diff --git a/src/models/qwen35moe.cpp b/src/models/qwen35moe.cpp
index 8db0b4717d9..7d906191cbb 100644
--- a/src/models/qwen35moe.cpp
+++ b/src/models/qwen35moe.cpp
@@ -200,7 +200,7 @@ llama_model_qwen35moe::graph::graph(const llama_model & model, const llm_graph_p
             cur = build_layer_attn(inp->get_attn(), cur, inp_pos, sections, il);
         }
 
-        if (il == n_transformer_layers - 1 && inp_out_ids && cparams.embeddings_pre_norm_masked) {
+        if (il == n_transformer_layers - 1 && inp_out_ids && cparams.embeddings_nextn_masked) {
             cur   = ggml_get_rows(ctx0, cur, inp_out_ids);
             inpSA = ggml_get_rows(ctx0, inpSA, inp_out_ids);
         }
@@ -232,16 +232,16 @@ llama_model_qwen35moe::graph::graph(const llama_model & model, const llm_graph_p
     }
     cur = inpL;
 
-    cb(cur, "h_pre_norm", -1);
-    res->t_h_pre_norm = cur;
+    // post-norm hidden state feeds both the LM head and the MTP seed below
+    cur = build_norm(cur, model.output_norm, nullptr, LLM_NORM_RMS, -1);
+
+    cb(cur, "h_nextn", -1);
+    res->t_h_nextn = cur;
 
-    if (!cparams.embeddings_pre_norm_masked && inp_out_ids) {
+    if (!cparams.embeddings_nextn_masked && inp_out_ids) {
         cur = ggml_get_rows(ctx0, cur, inp_out_ids);
     }
 
-    // Final norm
-    cur = build_norm(cur, model.output_norm, nullptr, LLM_NORM_RMS, -1);
-
     cb(cur, "result_norm", -1);
     res->t_embd = cur;
 
@@ -721,17 +721,16 @@ llama_model_qwen35moe::graph_mtp::graph_mtp(const llama_model & model, const llm
     cur = ggml_add(ctx0, cur, ffn_residual);
     cb(cur, "mtp_post_ffn", il);
 
-    // Pre-norm hidden state: used by the AR draft loop to seed the next MTP step.
-    cb(cur, "h_pre_norm", -1);
-    res->t_h_pre_norm = cur;
-
-    cur   = ggml_get_rows(ctx0, cur, inp_out_ids);
-
     ggml_tensor * head_norm_w = layer.nextn.shared_head_norm
             ? layer.nextn.shared_head_norm
             : model.output_norm;
     GGML_ASSERT(head_norm_w && "QWEN35MOE MTP: missing both nextn.shared_head_norm and output_norm");
     cur = build_norm(cur, head_norm_w, nullptr, LLM_NORM_RMS, -1);
+
+    cb(cur, "h_nextn", -1);
+    res->t_h_nextn= cur;
+
+    cur = ggml_get_rows(ctx0, cur, inp_out_ids);
     cb(cur, "mtp_shared_head_norm", -1);
 
     ggml_tensor * head_w = layer.nextn.shared_head_head ? layer.nextn.shared_head_head : model.output;
diff --git a/src/models/step35.cpp b/src/models/step35.cpp
index 49e7b3b2a03..cf9942b200f 100644
--- a/src/models/step35.cpp
+++ b/src/models/step35.cpp
@@ -294,7 +294,7 @@ llama_model_step35::graph::graph(const llama_model & model, const llm_graph_para
             cb(cur, "attn_proj", il);
         }
 
-        if (il == n_transformer_layers - 1 && inp_out_ids && cparams.embeddings_pre_norm_masked) {
+        if (il == n_transformer_layers - 1 && inp_out_ids && cparams.embeddings_nextn_masked) {
             cur   = ggml_get_rows(ctx0, cur, inp_out_ids);
             inpSA = ggml_get_rows(ctx0, inpSA, inp_out_ids);
         }
@@ -353,10 +353,10 @@ llama_model_step35::graph::graph(const llama_model & model, const llm_graph_para
 
     cur = inpL;
 
-    cb(cur, "h_pre_norm", -1);
-    res->t_h_pre_norm = cur;
+    cb(cur, "h_nextn", -1);
+    res->t_h_nextn = cur;
 
-    if (!cparams.embeddings_pre_norm_masked && inp_out_ids) {
+    if (!cparams.embeddings_nextn_masked && inp_out_ids) {
         cur = ggml_get_rows(ctx0, cur, inp_out_ids);
     }
 
@@ -541,8 +541,8 @@ llama_model_step35::graph_mtp::graph_mtp(const llama_model & model, const llm_gr
     cb(cur, "mtp_post_ffn", il);
 
     // Pre-norm hidden state: used by the AR draft loop to seed the next MTP step.
-    cb(cur, "h_pre_norm", -1);
-    res->t_h_pre_norm = cur;
+    cb(cur, "h_nextn", -1);
+    res->t_h_nextn = cur;
 
     ggml_tensor * head_norm_w = layer.nextn.shared_head_norm
             ? layer.nextn.shared_head_norm
diff --git a/tools/server/server-context.cpp b/tools/server/server-context.cpp
index c5d973cd20c..28b1158c776 100644
--- a/tools/server/server-context.cpp
+++ b/tools/server/server-context.cpp
@@ -259,9 +259,9 @@ struct server_slot {
         return task->need_embd() || (spec && common_speculative_need_embd(spec));
     }
 
-    bool need_embd_pre_norm() const {
+    bool need_embd_nextn() const {
         GGML_ASSERT(task);
-        return spec && common_speculative_need_embd_pre_norm(spec);
+        return spec && common_speculative_need_embd_nextn(spec);
     }
 
     // if the context does not have a memory module then all embeddings have to be computed within a single ubatch
@@ -3013,7 +3013,7 @@ struct server_context_impl {
 
                         // embedding requires all tokens in the batch to be output;
                         // MTP also wants logits at every prompt position so the
-                        // streaming hook can mirror t_h_pre_norm into ctx_dft.
+                        // streaming hook can mirror t_h_nextn into ctx_dft.
                         common_batch_add(batch,
                             cur_tok,
                             slot.prompt.tokens.pos_next(),