As far as I can tell, the "Nickname" and "Other names" fields are only displayed in the profile; there's no way to say "this should be the name displayed by my posts/in the Circles view/whatever"
Send a suggestion using the feedback button to Google. They have been really open to hearing from people and listening to feedback about various bugs and usability.
G+ profiles have nicknames. Wouldn't that be suitable for this scenario?