Affidavit vs Newspaper vs Gazette for Name Change in Jharkhand
Almost everybody arrives believing these are three strengths of the same thing, and that the gazette is simply the strongest. That belief is wrong, and you can check it against four Government lists in about ten minutes. The Department of Publication's own guidelines list what a gazette file must contain, and a notarised affidavit is not on that list. The passport proforma asks for "Clippings of two local newspapers" and never mentions a gazette. The Aadhaar supporting document list says, in one line, "For change in first name or change in full name: Gazette notification", and never mentions a newspaper. Each office names the paper its own rule names. So the real question is not which one is strongest. It is which office you actually need to satisfy.
Stop asking which one is stronger and start asking which office you have to satisfy, because each one names its own paper and the four lists do not agree with each other. For the Aadhaar, the supporting document list has a single line for this: "For change in first name or change in full name: Gazette notification". It names no newspaper and no affidavit. For a passport, the proforma says "Clippings of two local newspapers required(one English and one Vernacular and content only in English)", and the deed poll note says to insert advertisements in two newspapers and "submit original newspapers at the time of applying for passport". It names no gazette. For a driving licence, item 10 of Form 2 lists an affidavit, a marriage certificate and a copy of a newspaper advertisement, and a gazette is not among them. And for the gazette file itself, the Department of Publication asks for an undertaking signed by the applicant, an original newspaper, the proforma in duplicate with two witnesses, a CD, photographs, an identity proof, a similarity certificate and a request letter with the fee. A notarised affidavit is not on that list. So a newspaper notice is not a weaker gazette. It is an ingredient of one, and for a passport it is the main dish.
Why an Affidavit, a Newspaper Notice and a Gazette Are Not Three Steps of One Ladder
The ladder idea is easy to believe. An affidavit sounds small, a newspaper notice sounds bigger, and a gazette notification sounds final. So people assume that doing the biggest one covers the smaller ones, and that a name change is a climb. Then they meet an office that wants the small one and will not take the big one.
Here is the plain shape of it instead. These are three different kinds of paper doing three different jobs. An affidavit is you, on oath, saying something. A newspaper advertisement is the same statement put where strangers can see it. A gazette notification is the Government of India publishing it in its own record. A bigger paper does not automatically satisfy a rule that names a smaller one, because the rule names a document, not a level of seriousness.
| What people assume | What the Government lists actually show |
|---|---|
| The gazette is the strongest, so it covers everything below it | It does not cover the passport proforma, which asks for newspaper clippings. A rule that names a newspaper is satisfied by a newspaper. Strength is not the test. The named document is the test |
| A newspaper notice is a cheap substitute for a gazette | It is an ingredient of one. The Department of Publication list for a gazette file includes "Original newspaper". You do not choose between them. A gazette file contains a newspaper notice inside it |
| Every gazette file starts with a notarised affidavit | Read the list. The guidelines ask for "An undertaking duly signed by the applicant", not a notarised affidavit. The affidavit belongs to other routes, and this is the single most repeated error on this subject |
| An affidavit is the weakest, so it is never enough on its own | Item 10 of Form 2 for a driving licence names "Affidavit sworn before a First Class Judicial Magistrate or a Notary Public" as the first of the three documents it accepts. For that record it is enough, and a gazette is not listed |
| Do the gazette once and every office will accept it | Many will. But the passport proforma wants original newspapers, and the Aadhaar list wants the gazette. They are different lists written by different departments, and neither one is wrong |
| So there is one correct order for everybody | There is not. There is a correct order for you, and it is decided by which records you actually hold and which office is refusing you today |
What an Affidavit, a Newspaper Advertisement and a Gazette Notification Each Actually Are
Before comparing them it helps to know what each one physically is, because the names get used loosely and half the confusion comes from that.
| The paper | What it is and what it proves |
|---|---|
| An affidavit | A statement you make on oath, on stamp paper, before somebody authorised to take it. Form 2 for a driving licence describes the person as "a First Class Judicial Magistrate or a Notary Public". The passport deed poll note allows it before a Judicial Magistrate, an Executive Magistrate, a Notary Public or a Consular Officer. It proves that you said this, under oath, on that date. It does not prove anybody else agreed |
| A newspaper advertisement | The same statement printed in a paper that strangers read. It proves you told the public, so nobody can later say the change was hidden. Its whole value is that it was public, which is why offices want the original paper rather than a cutting or a screenshot. Our newspaper advertisement page covers wording and the papers read in this State |
| A gazette notification | The Government of India publishing your change in its own official record. Personal notices go in Part IV, the record is digital only since 1 October 2015, and the copy is free from egazette.gov.in. It proves the Government itself published it, which is what makes it hard for any office to argue with |
| A deed, where the route has one | A short instrument in which you renounce the old name. The passport deed poll and the Central Government employee deed use near identical words: "wholly renounce/relinquish and abandon the use of my former name/surname". A deed is a promise about the future, where an affidavit is a statement about a fact |
| And the thing none of them is | None of these four changes a record by itself. Every one of them is evidence you hand to an office that then amends its own register. The paper is the key, not the door |
| Which is why the question people ask is the wrong one | Asking which paper is strongest is like asking which key is strongest. You want the key that fits the lock in front of you, and the lock is whichever office will not move |
Which Office Asks for an Affidavit, a Newspaper or a Gazette, in Its Own Words
This is the section to read twice. Everything in it is a quotation from a published Government list, and the lists do not agree with each other, which is exactly why the ladder idea fails.
| Where you are stuck | What that route's own list names |
|---|---|
| Aadhaar | The supporting document list carries one entry for this: "For change in first name or change in full name: Gazette notification". No newspaper and no affidavit appear against it. A "Marriage Certificate with or without photograph issued by Central Government/State Government" is separately listed. See our Aadhaar name change page |
| Passport | The proforma states "Clippings of two local newspapers required(one English and one Vernacular and content only in English)" and asks for "two government issued photo ID proofs containing the new name". It names no gazette. Our passport name change page deals with the reissue itself |
| Driving licence | Item 10 of Form 2, headed "For change of name", lists "Affidavit sworn before a First Class Judicial Magistrate or a Notary Public", "Marriage certificate" and "Copy of newspaper advertisement". A gazette notification is not among the three. Our Parivahan Sarathi page walks through it |
| Bank and insurance records | The Reserve Bank's Master Direction provides that a document "shall be deemed to be an officially valid document even if there is a change in the name subsequent to its issuance provided it is supported by a marriage certificate issued by the State Government or Gazette notification". Either one, and no newspaper. Our KYC mismatch page sets out the rest |
| A Central Government service record | The only route that clearly demands two of them. The instructions with the deed require "publication of the change in a prominent local newspaper as well as in the Gazette of India at the Govt. employee's own expense". As well as, not instead of. See our Government employees page |
| The gazette file itself | The Department of Publication guidelines ask for an undertaking, an "Original newspaper", the proforma in duplicate with two witnesses, a CD, photographs, an identity proof, a similarity certificate and a request letter with the fee. A notarised affidavit is not on that list, and the next section deals with that properly |
| A school board certificate | A separate world with its own rule and its own timing, and we keep it on its own page rather than summarising it badly here. Read our CBSE and ICSE marksheet page and our JAC certificate page |
What a Gazette Name Change File Actually Contains, and Why It Is Not an Affidavit
Ask ten people what a gazette file needs and nine will start with a notarised affidavit. The Department of Publication's own guidelines do not ask for one. Here is the list as published.
| What the guidelines list | What it means when you are making the file |
|---|---|
| "An undertaking duly signed by the applicant" | An undertaking, not an affidavit. You sign it yourself. This one line is where most of the confusion on this subject begins and ends |
| "Original newspaper" | The whole original paper, not a cutting. This is the proof that the newspaper notice is not an alternative to the gazette but a part of it |
| "Prescribed proforma in duplicate duly typed with signature of applicant and two witnesses" | Two typed copies, signed in the old name, with two witnesses giving full addresses. Our proforma format page has the wording |
| "C.D. containing the print matter without witness portion in MS Word" | A soft copy on a CD, and the witness portion is left out of it. The old name is typed in place of a signature in the soft copy |
| "Two self attested passport size photographs and photocopy of ID proof (self attested)" | Self attested throughout. Nothing here asks for a notary |
| "A certificate duly signed by the applicant declaring therein that the contents of the hard copy and the soft copy are similar" | The similarity certificate. A file is returned when the CD and the paper differ even slightly, so this one is not a formality |
| "Request letter along with requisite fee" | Addressed to the Controller of Publications, with the fee paid through BharatKosh. Our BharatKosh payment page covers that step |
| And the sentence about the newspaper itself | The guidelines say "Change of name should be advertised in one of the daily local leading newspapers". One, in the published text. We still recommend two, and we say why in the next paragraph rather than hiding it |
So why do we and most honest desks still recommend two newspapers? Because a returned file costs six weeks and the fee is not refunded, and because in practice a Hindi daily and an English daily circulating in Jharkhand carrying identical wording has been the safer file for years. But we will not pretend the guideline text says two when it says one. You are entitled to file with one and you may well be fine. We are telling you what the extra paper buys, which is a smaller chance of a return, and letting you decide. Our documents required page lists the whole file, and our public notice page covers the different file used when a name was wrongly written rather than changed.
Two Government Routes That Ask for Exactly Opposite Papers for a Name Change
If you only remember one comparison from this page, make it this one. The passport route and the Aadhaar route are both Central Government routes, both deal with the same change of name, and each names the paper the other one leaves out.
| The passport route | The Aadhaar route |
|---|---|
| The proforma asks for "Clippings of two local newspapers required(one English and one Vernacular and content only in English)" | The supporting document list names no newspaper at all for a change of name |
| No gazette notification is named anywhere on the proforma | The entry reads "For change in first name or change in full name: Gazette notification" |
| The deed poll note says to advertise in two newspapers, one of the area you live in and one of the area of your permanent address, and to "submit original newspapers at the time of applying for passport in his/her new name" | Nothing in the list turns on where the newspaper circulated, because no newspaper is asked for |
| The deed poll may be signed before a Judicial Magistrate, an Executive Magistrate, a Notary Public or a Consular Officer | A notarised affidavit is not listed as a supporting document |
| It also asks for "two government issued photo ID proofs containing the new name", which is the part people are not ready for | A "Marriage Certificate with or without photograph issued by Central Government/State Government" is listed and is often the whole answer |
| What this means for a Jharkhand reader with both problems | You need both papers, and not because anybody is being difficult. Two offices, two lists, two different documents named. Buy the newspaper notice and the gazette, in that order, because the gazette file needs the newspaper anyway |
The Fourth Paper Nobody Counts in the Affidavit, Newspaper and Gazette Debate
There is a fourth document that quietly replaces all three for a very large group of readers in this State, and almost nobody puts it in the comparison because it does not sound like a name change paper at all. It is the marriage certificate.
| The route | What it says about a marriage certificate |
|---|---|
| Aadhaar | The supporting list names a "Marriage Certificate with or without photograph issued by Central Government/State Government". It is a listed document in its own right |
| Bank and insurance KYC | The Reserve Bank rule reads "supported by a marriage certificate issued by the State Government or Gazette notification". The word is or. One of the two, not both |
| Driving licence | Item 10 of Form 2 lists "Marriage certificate" as one of its three acceptable documents, beside the affidavit and the newspaper advertisement |
| So what does that add up to | A woman in Jharkhand who took her husband's surname and holds a State Government marriage certificate may need no affidavit, no newspaper and no gazette for three of the biggest records she owns. That is not our opinion. It is three published lists |
| Where it still runs out | It answers a surname change on marriage. It does nothing for a changed first name, a corrected spelling, a changed father's name or any change that has no marriage behind it. The certificate explains one specific event and only that event |
| And the honest warning | An office may still ask for more than its own published list names. You are entitled to show the list and ask, politely and in writing, which provision adds the requirement. Sometimes the answer is a real internal circular, and then you comply |
Our pages on surname change after marriage and documents required after marriage go through this in full, including the case where there is no marriage certificate because the marriage was never registered, which is the situation that actually does send a reader back to the gazette.
How to Decide Between an Affidavit, a Newspaper Notice and a Gazette
This is a decision, not a process, so the steps below are about working out what to buy rather than how to file it. The filing pages are linked at each point.
Write Down Every Record That Carries the Wrong Name
Aadhaar, PAN, bank, passport, driving licence, school certificates, service record, ration card, property papers, insurance. Write the name exactly as each one prints it, letter by letter, including initials and spacing. Most readers discover at this point that two or three records are already right and were never the problem.
Separate a Name Correction From a Real Name Change
If nobody ever changed anything and a clerk simply typed it wrong, that is a correction against the office's own original entry, and it often needs none of the three papers. A written request with your consistent documents is frequently the whole job. Our correction against change page is the test.
Check Whether a Marriage Certificate Already Answers It
If the change is a surname taken on marriage and you hold a State Government marriage certificate, read the section above again before spending anything. Three major routes name that certificate by itself.
Read the Published List of the Office That Is Refusing You
Not a consultant's page and not ours. The office's own list. The links in the table above go to the routes we have verified, and the sources at the foot of this page go to the documents themselves.
Buy the Newspaper Advertisement First Where a Gazette Is Coming
Because the gazette file needs an original newspaper inside it, the advertisement is never wasted money when a gazette is on the list. Publish once, keep the whole papers, and use them twice.
Get an Affidavit Only Where a Counter or a Form Names One
Form 2 for a driving licence names one. Many counters in this State want one. The Department of Publication list does not. An affidavit is cheap enough that having one is sensible, but buy it knowing why.
File the Gazette Where the Aadhaar or a Service Record Is in the List
The Aadhaar entry names it, the Reserve Bank rule names it as one of two options, and a Central Government service record needs it alongside the newspaper. Those are the places it is genuinely required. Our gazette name change page covers the filing.
Update the Records in the Order That Does Not Send You Backwards
Aadhaar first, then PAN, then banks, then the passport, then the licence and the vehicle papers, then employment and pension records, then property and business registrations. Going out of order makes you repeat visits, because later offices read the earlier documents.
Keep Every Original Together and Scan the Lot
The whole newspapers, the gazette copy, the affidavit and the marriage certificate. You will be asked for them again years later, at a re-verification, a claim or a pension check, long after you have forgotten where you put them.
The Full Central Gazette Name Change Process for a Reader From Jharkhand
No district in Jharkhand has a gazette counter, so a genuine file goes from Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Dhanbad, Bokaro, Hazaribagh, Deoghar or anywhere else in the state to the Department of Publication, Civil Lines, Delhi 110054, and the notice publishes in Part IV of the Gazette of India. As reported in July 2025 the Finance Department stopped personal name change notifications from the Jharkhand Government Press with immediate effect, so there is no state alternative to fall back on.
The Eight Steps of a Name File Sent From Jharkhand
Settle the final name first
Letter by letter, with the spacing you want, and then use exactly that everywhere, Aadhaar included. A corrigendum after publication is a second fee and a second wait.
Pick the category, then its proforma
A genuine change of name is change of Name Adult or Major. A wrongly typed spelling is the public notice for a wrongly written name. Twelve categories exist and only one is yours.
Type the proforma in duplicate
Two originals with two witnesses giving signature, full name, address and mobile number on both copies. A change of name is signed in the old name; a public notice is signed in your own name.
Fill the employment field if it is a change of name
The adult proforma asks for the post of the applicant and the office or company name. A student or a homemaker should still complete it rather than leaving it blank, because a blank field brings the file back.
Publish and keep the original paper
One of the daily local leading newspapers, carrying both names in full, the father or husband name and the residential address. The whole original paper goes in the file, not a cutting.
Pay only through BharatKosh
The Non Tax Receipt Portal and nowhere else since October 2018. Select the Department of Publication by name, read the amount the portal shows on the day, pay in your own name and print the e-receipt.
Check every date, then post it yourself
Nothing in the file older than one year. Personally or by post or courier only, never through an agent or advocate. Photocopy everything first, because nothing sent in comes back.
Read the notice, then update in the right order
Check every word the day it publishes, download the e-Gazette copy, and then start with the Aadhaar, because its supporting document list names the gazette notification by itself and almost every later office reads the Aadhaar. Then the PAN, then the bank, then the passport, then the licence and the vehicle papers, and keep the whole original newspapers, because the passport counter asks for those rather than for the gazette.
The Five Papers in the File, and What Is Checked in Each
| The paper | What is checked in it, clause by clause |
|---|---|
| 1. The proforma, in duplicate | That it is the right category format; the existing full name exactly as your documents carry it; the new full name exactly as settled; the father or husband name; the full address with pin code; the post and office or company name where it is a change of name; the signature in the right name for the category; two witnesses complete with signature, full name, address and mobile number |
| 2. The affidavit or undertaking | The same names and address as the proforma, word for word, with wording matching the category. On Rs 100 non-judicial stamp paper as our safe default |
| 3. The original newspaper | The original paper, not a cutting; the paper name and date of publication visible; both names carried; the father or husband name and residential address; dated within the last year |
| 4. Photographs, identity proof and any category paper | Two self attested passport photographs; self attested identity and address proof matching the proforma address; both witnesses proofs; and, in a public notice file, the attested photocopy of the connected document carrying the error |
| 5. The CD, its certificate and the BharatKosh receipt | MS Word, without the witness portion, with the name typed in place of the signature; the certificate that the hard copy and the soft copy are the same; the forwarding letter to the Controller of Publication with a telephone number and email; the e-receipt |
The posting detail is on the sending the file to Delhi page, the change of name wording on the proforma format page and the public notice wording on the public notice proforma page, the charge by category on the fee and undertaking page, the reasons files come back on the rejection reasons page, and the download on the download page.
What an Affidavit, a Newspaper Advertisement and a Gazette Each Cost in Jharkhand
The reason people get this comparison wrong is usually price. The three papers cost very different amounts, and the instinct is to buy the expensive one and assume it covers the cheap ones. It does not, and this is where that instinct costs money in both directions.
| The paper | What we can and cannot tell you about its cost |
|---|---|
| The affidavit | The cheapest of the three by a wide margin. Stamp paper plus the notary's charge. We print no figure, because the stamp value and the notary's rate are not fixed by any list we can quote to you. Ask at the civil court complex in your own district and you will be told on the spot |
| The newspaper advertisement | A real cost, and it varies by paper, by edition and by the number of lines. Keep the wording short, because you pay by the space. Two papers cost roughly twice one paper, which is the honest trade against a returned gazette file. Our newspaper advertisement page covers the papers read in this State |
| The Gazette of India charge | Paid only through BharatKosh, revised each financial year and non refundable, so read the amount on the portal on the day you pay. Our name change cost page keeps the working figures with that caveat attached |
| The gazette copy itself | Free. Personal notices have been digital only since 1 October 2015 and the PDF downloads from egazette.gov.in at no charge. Anybody selling you the copy is selling you a free file |
| The marriage certificate route | You either already hold it or you register the marriage. Where you hold it, three major routes name it and the cost of this whole page drops to nothing, which is the first thing to check |
| Our charge | Quoted on the call, after we have seen your list of records, and never before we have told you which of the papers you actually need. Where the answer is a marriage certificate you already hold, we will say so and charge you nothing |
Myths About Choosing Between an Affidavit, a Newspaper and a Gazette
| What people are told | What is actually so |
|---|---|
| A gazette file starts with a notarised affidavit | The Department of Publication list does not name one. It asks for "An undertaking duly signed by the applicant". Plenty of counters still want an affidavit, and having one is sensible, but it is not the gazette's own requirement |
| The gazette replaces the newspaper advertisement | The opposite. The same list includes "Original newspaper" among the enclosures. The advertisement goes inside the file, and without it there is nothing to submit |
| Every office accepts the gazette, so one paper does everything | The passport proforma asks for "Clippings of two local newspapers" and never mentions a gazette. A rule that names a newspaper is satisfied by a newspaper |
| An affidavit is never enough by itself | Item 10 of Form 2 for a driving licence names "Affidavit sworn before a First Class Judicial Magistrate or a Notary Public" as one of three acceptable documents. For that record it is enough |
| The gazette guidelines require two newspapers | They say one. The published text reads "Change of name should be advertised in one of the daily local leading newspapers". We still recommend two, and we have told you above exactly what that extra paper buys and why we say it |
| A married woman must do the gazette to change her surname | Three published lists say otherwise. The Aadhaar list, the Reserve Bank rule and item 10 of Form 2 each name a marriage certificate. Check that before buying anything |
| The gazette copy has to be bought from somebody | It is free. Personal notices have been digital only since 1 October 2015 and the PDF downloads from the Government portal at no cost |
| Do the biggest paper first and sort the rest out later | Order matters more than size. The newspaper comes before the gazette because the file contains it, and the Aadhaar comes early because later offices read it |
| A newspaper cutting is as good as the paper | It is not, and this catches people twice. Both the gazette file and the passport route ask for the original. Keep the whole paper, flat, in a folder |
| My records differ, so I need one of these three | Often none of them. A mistyped letter where nothing was ever changed is a correction against the office's own entry, and a written request with consistent documents is frequently the whole job |
Key Terms in the Affidavit, Newspaper and Gazette Comparison
| Term | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| Affidavit | A statement on oath, on stamp paper, sworn before a magistrate or a notary. It proves you said it, not that anybody agreed |
| Undertaking | What the gazette guidelines actually name: "An undertaking duly signed by the applicant". Signed by you, not sworn before anybody, and this is the word most pages get wrong |
| Deed poll | An instrument in which you renounce the old name. Both the passport specimen and the Central Government employee deed use the phrase "wholly renounce, relinquish and abandon". A promise about the future rather than a statement of fact |
| Newspaper advertisement | The change printed where the public can read it. Its value is that it was public, which is why offices want the whole original paper |
| Original newspaper | The guidelines' own phrase for what goes in the gazette file. Not a cutting and not a photograph of one |
| Gazette notification | Publication in the Government of India's own record. Personal notices appear in Part IV. The Aadhaar list names it in a single line |
| Part IV | The part of the Gazette of India where personal name notices publish. Digital only since 1 October 2015, and the copy is free |
| Officially valid document | The Reserve Bank's term for the documents a bank may accept. The rule that keeps an old one valid names a marriage certificate or a gazette notification |
| Proforma | The prescribed form the gazette notice is typed on, in duplicate, signed in the old name, with two witnesses. Choosing the wrong one is how files are lost |
| Correction against change | A name nobody ever changed but somebody typed wrongly is a correction. A name genuinely changed is a change. They need completely different papers |
| BharatKosh | The Government payment portal, and the only route for the gazette charge. Non refundable, and revised each financial year |
| Marriage certificate issued by the State Government | The exact phrasing several rules use. A certificate from a temple, a church committee or a wedding hall is not this |
Help Choosing the Right Name Change Paper Across Jharkhand
This decision is the same in every district of this State, because every rule quoted on this page is a Central one, and the offices reading them sit in Ranchi, Dhanbad, Jamshedpur and every block headquarters in between. What we do begins before any paper is bought. We read your records against each other, tell you whether this is a correction or a genuine change of name, tell you which offices are actually blocking you, check whether a marriage certificate you already hold settles most of it, and only then name the papers worth paying for. Where the answer is one written request and no paper at all, we will say so and charge you nothing. We work across Ranchi, Dhanbad, Jamshedpur, Bokaro and every other district, on scans over WhatsApp.
District pages are linked from the services page.
Send your list of records and we will name the papers
Send scans of the documents that disagree with each other, and tell us in one line which office is actually refusing you, because that is the question this whole page turns on. Start with your Aadhaar, your school certificate, your bank passbook page and whichever record carries the name you want. If there is a marriage in the story, send the marriage certificate too, because three published lists name it and it may end the matter. Then say what you have already bought, if anything, so we do not sell you a second copy of it. Our first reply tells you whether this is a correction or a real change of name, which of the papers your particular offices name, and the order to do them in. If the answer is a written request and no paper at all, we will tell you that and charge nothing. Details on the contact page.
- 📞Call 9540005002
Monday to Saturday, 9 AM to 6 PM - WhatsApp 9540005064
Send your scans here, it is the fastest way - ✉️info@jharkhandnamechange.com
- 📍Ranchi office: Main Building, Near Shaheed Chowk, Ranchi, Jharkhand 834001
- 🏛️Head office (Gazette filing desk): Metro Pillar No. 377, Near Burari Metro Station, Shop No. B-1, Ground Floor, Gali No. 1, Khasra No. 31/12, Hardev Nagar, Jharoda Majra, Burari, Delhi 110084
Affidavit, Newspaper or Gazette: Frequently Asked Questions
Which one is strongest, an affidavit, a newspaper advertisement or a gazette notification?
Do I need a notarised affidavit to file a gazette name change?
Can a newspaper advertisement replace the gazette notification?
Does the gazette require one newspaper or two?
I took my husband's surname. Do I need any of these three papers?
What if my marriage was never registered?
Which should I buy first if I need more than one?
Is a newspaper cutting acceptable instead of the whole paper?
My documents differ but nobody ever changed my name. Which paper do I need?
Does one gazette notification cover every record I own?
Is the gazette copy something I have to pay somebody for?
How much of this can you actually do for us?
Official Sources on Affidavits, Newspaper Notices and Gazette Notifications
| Source | What it is used for on this page |
|---|---|
| Department of Publication, guidelines for change of name | The enclosure list for a gazette file, the undertaking rather than an affidavit, the original newspaper, and the sentence naming one daily newspaper |
| Unique Identification Authority of India, list of supporting documents for enrolment and update | The name update entry naming a gazette notification, and the marriage certificate as a listed document |
| passportindia.gov.in, name change proforma | The two newspaper clippings, the language requirement and the two photo identity proofs in the new name |
| Specimen deed poll for change of name, passport route | The renunciation clauses, the officers before whom it may be signed, and the requirement to submit original newspapers |
| Form 2, Central Motor Vehicles Rules | Item 10 headed for change of name and the three documents it lists |
| Reserve Bank of India, Master Direction on Know Your Customer | The provision keeping an officially valid document valid where a marriage certificate or a gazette notification supports the change |
| egazette.gov.in | Part IV publication of personal notices, digital only since 1 October 2015, and the free copy |
| bharatkosh.gov.in | The only route for the Government charge, revised each financial year and non refundable |
| Instructions printed with the deed for Central Government employees | The one route that expressly requires a newspaper and the Gazette of India together |
| What we could not read | The Central Board of Secondary Education examination bye-laws document is published as a scanned image and could not be machine read, so no board rule is quoted here |
Our filing pages go into each paper on its own: the affidavit page, the newspaper advertisement page and the gazette name change page. The whole route from start to finish is on the name change process page.
Affidavit, Newspaper or Gazette in Nine Lines
| The short version | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| They are not three strengths of one thing | They are three documents, and each office names its own |
| The Aadhaar list names a gazette notification | For a change in first name or full name, in one line |
| The passport proforma names two newspapers | And never mentions a gazette at all |
| Form 2 names an affidavit, a marriage certificate or a newspaper | A gazette is not among the three for a driving licence |
| The gazette file asks for an undertaking, not an affidavit | The most repeated error on this whole subject |
| The gazette file contains the newspaper | So the advertisement is an ingredient, not an alternative |
| A State Government marriage certificate answers three routes | Aadhaar, bank and insurance KYC, and the driving licence |
| Buy the newspaper first where a gazette is coming | One advertisement, two uses, if you keep the whole papers |
| A mistyped letter is a correction, not a change | And it usually needs none of the three |
Not Sure Which Paper Your Office Actually Wants?
Send us the records that disagree and tell us which office is refusing you. Our first reply names the paper you need, the ones you do not, and the order to do them in.