I doubt that the lens would identify itself as a Canon 85mm f/1.2 to a Nikon body
No, I wasn't implying that - only that it identified as an "larger than f2.8" aperture Nikon lens, so the af might show the same behavior as on Canon bodies. But since we cannot tell the lens to change its id, this doesn't matter anyway - the Tamron af is as it is, it's a little slower than Canon but still very capable in a sub-€1000 package.