I admit, I only realised it was Rand in TMP on my second viewing; I must not have heard Kirk properly when he says her name, but in STIII, I clapped in the cinema because it was so obviously meant to be her.When we saw the film first-run in 1984, my father, an ardent Trek viewer in the ‘60s, noticed it was Rand right away.
Full disclosure, I also clapped at Wedge Antilles appearance in the latest Star Wars. I'm a clapper.