Name Change for Railway and Army Candidates From Jharkhand
Two of the largest recruiters this State sends its young people to have both written down the same rule, in their own words, and almost no candidate has read either. The Railways say a candidate "should enter their name, father name, mother name and Date of birth as recorded in SSC/SSLC/Matriculation/10th class exam certificate or an equivalent certificate only". The Army says "Candidate's Name, Father's Name, Mother's Name and Date of Birth (DOB) must be entered exactly as per Matriculation/10th Class Board Certificate." Neither of them names your Aadhaar. Both of them name the certificate you got at fifteen or sixteen, written by a school clerk, and that is the document your whole application is measured against. If your name has changed since then, the answer is not to hide it. It is to declare it correctly, with the right two papers, before the cycle starts.
Fill the form in your Class 10 name, declare the changed name alongside it, and have the papers in hand before the first exam rather than before the interview. That last point is where candidates lose everything. A Railway notice we read says that where there is a change of name, the "Gazette Notification or any other legal document as applicable along with any one valid photo ID with the changed name, for such cases, should be submitted at the time of CBT-1/CBT-2/CBAT/ Document Verification". Read the first item in that list. Not document verification, which is months away. The first computer based test. And the instructions to candidates for verification ask for something most people have never heard of: "Gazette Notification and/or any legal document in case of formal change of name" plus "relevant affidavit executed before Magistrate or Notary on required stamp papers stating that the referred person in certificate(s) is one & same". Two papers, not one. A notification says the name changed. An affidavit says the two names are the same person. They do different jobs and the board asks for both. And the date of birth is closed. The same notice says the date of birth must match the matriculation certificate and "No subsequent request for change in date of birth will be considered."
Your Class 10 Certificate Is the Anchor, and Neither Recruiter Names Your Aadhaar
On the rest of this website the Aadhaar is usually the record everything else is measured against. In recruitment it is not, and candidates who assume otherwise fill the form wrongly on the very first day.
| What is actually written | What follows from it |
|---|---|
| Railways: a candidate "should enter their name, father name, mother name and Date of birth as recorded in SSC/SSLC/Matriculation/10th class exam certificate or an equivalent certificate only" | Note the word only. Not your current name, not the name on your Aadhaar. The name on the form is the Class 10 name, whatever you are called today |
| Army: "Candidate's Name, Father's Name, Mother's Name and Date of Birth (DOB) must be entered exactly as per Matriculation/10th Class Board Certificate." | The same rule in different words, from a completely separate organisation. When two recruiters this different agree, the point is settled |
| The verification instructions say the candidate's name and the father's or mother's name in the application "will be verified with reference to the names mentioned in this certificate" | That is the whole job described in one sentence. The certificate is the reference and your application is the thing being checked against it, not the other way round |
| Both name the father's name and the mother's name, not only yours | Which is why a parent's spelling defeats as many candidates as their own. Our father's name mismatch page and our mother's name page deal with those |
| The date of birth is taken from the same certificate, and "No subsequent request for change in date of birth will be considered." | Closed, in terms. Whatever is on the matriculation certificate is your date of birth for that recruitment, and there is no later appeal against it |
| Where a candidate is below matriculation, the Army notification allows "the Original copy of Mark sheet of Class 8/ School Leaving or School Transfer Certificate in Original (with date of Birth mentioned)" | So the principle holds even lower down: the oldest school record is the anchor, and everything after it is a copy of it |
Declare Both Names, and Never Replace One With the Other
This is the instruction candidates get wrong most often, and getting it wrong looks like concealment even when it was honest confusion. The notice does not ask you to choose between your old name and your new one. It asks for both.
| What the notice says | What to actually do |
|---|---|
| "In case of any change in name with respect to the name mentioned in SSC/SSLC/Matriculation/10th class certificate, candidate should indicate their changed name as well as his/her SSC/SSLC/Matriculation/10th class name separately" | Separately. Both names go on the application, each in its own place. A candidate who writes only the new name has not followed the instruction, and a candidate who writes only the old one has created a mismatch with her own photo identity |
| The evidence named is a "Gazette Notification or any other legal document as applicable" | Note or any other legal document as applicable. For a marriage, that is usually the marriage certificate. A gazette is one route and not the only one, and we say so although gazette filing is our main service |
| Along with it, "any one valid photo ID with the changed name" | So the changed name must already exist on a photo identity document by then. That is the practical deadline hiding inside the sentence, because an Aadhaar update takes its own time |
| And it is produced "at the time of CBT-1/CBT-2/CBAT/ Document Verification" | CBT-1 is the first computer based test. Months before any verification. Most candidates plan for the interview and are caught at the first exam hall |
| The verification instructions warn that a candidate "failing to produce the above mentioned original certificates on the date of document verification, your candidature is liable to be rejected" | Liable to be rejected, after clearing the examinations. That is the sentence worth reading twice before deciding this can wait |
| And the warning beyond this one recruitment | False information can lead to disqualification not only here but from "any selection or appointment in Railway or to other Government services". Which is why the answer is always to declare, never to hide |
No Affidavit, No Entry: What an Army Rally Actually Checks
The rally is a different kind of test from a computer based examination, and the document rule is blunter. One line in the notification we read decides whether a candidate gets through the gate at all.
The affidavit is the entry ticket, not a formality
The notification requires an "Affidavit Duly signed by candidate on Rs 10/- Non-Judicial Stamp Paper" and states that "Submission of Affidavit is mandatory to gain entry into the Rally. Candidates WILL NOT BE PERMITTED to enter the rally without affidavit." Capital letters in the original. A young man who has trained for a year is turned away at the gate for a missing sheet of stamp paper.
The stamp value named there is small
Rs 10 non-judicial stamp paper, as that notification puts it. We print that figure because the notification prints it, and we say plainly that stamp values and formats are set cycle by cycle. Read the stamp value in your own notification rather than relying on ours.
The name rule is the same as the Railways'
"Candidate's Name, Father's Name, Mother's Name and Date of Birth (DOB) must be entered exactly as per Matriculation/10th Class Board Certificate." Exactly as per. Not approximately, and not as per your Aadhaar.
The address has its own anchor, and it is not your Aadhaar either
The notification asks for the permanent home address "exactly as per Domicile/Nativity/Permanent Residential Certificate issued by Sub Divisional Magistrate/ District Magistrate". That certificate has to exist and to match, and in this State it is its own small job. Our residence certificate page covers it.
Everything is carried in original, with attested photocopies
Education certificates and marksheets, domicile, caste, character certificate and the rest, originals plus attested copies. Attestation takes a day and is always left to the last one. Do it in the same week you do the affidavit.
And a candidate below matriculation is not excused the anchor
The notification allows a Class 8 marksheet, school leaving or transfer certificate in original with the date of birth mentioned. The oldest school paper is still the reference, so the same advice applies one class lower.
The One and the Same Person Affidavit That Nobody Explains
We meet candidates who bought a gazette notification, did everything they were told, and were still sent away. Almost always the missing paper is this one, and it is named in the instructions in plain words.
| The paper | What it actually says, and why the board wants it |
|---|---|
| The notification or legal document | The instructions ask for a "Gazette Notification and/or any legal document in case of formal change of name". This establishes that a change of name happened and that it was done properly |
| The one and the same person affidavit | The instructions then ask for a "relevant affidavit executed before Magistrate or Notary on required stamp papers stating that the referred person in certificate(s) is one & same". This establishes that the person on the old certificate and the person standing in front of the board are the same human being |
| Why both, when one seems enough | Because they answer different questions. A notification is about a name. The affidavit is about a person. A board looking at two certificates in two names needs somebody to swear they belong to one candidate, and that is not what a gazette notice says |
| Who executes it | The wording is "before Magistrate or Notary", on the required stamp paper. A notarised affidavit is expressly within the wording, which matters in districts where a magistrate is harder to reach than a notary |
| What it should recite | Every certificate that carries a different form of the name, each named with its board, its number and its year, and a statement that all of them refer to you. Vague affidavits get sent back, so list the documents rather than describing them |
| And the case where it is the only paper you need | Where nothing was ever changed and a clerk simply spelt one document differently, there is no change of name to notify. Then the affidavit, plus the consistent documents, is the whole answer, and our correction against change page explains which of the two you are in |
Why This Belongs Before the Cycle Opens, Not During It
Everything above is knowable. What ruins candidatures is not ignorance of the rule but the calendar, because a recruitment cycle moves faster than the offices you need.
| What has to happen | Why it cannot be done in the gap |
|---|---|
| A board correction, where the Class 10 certificate itself is wrong | This runs through your school and the board, not through us and not through a portal. It is the slowest thing on this page by a distance, and it is the one that cannot be hurried by paying anybody |
| A photo identity in the changed name | The Railway notice wants the notification along with "any one valid photo ID with the changed name". An Aadhaar update has its own queue. Start it first, not last |
| A gazette notification, where one is genuinely needed | A newspaper notice, a proforma, a payment, a file sent to Delhi and a wait for publication. Weeks, not days, and the publication date is not yours to choose |
| The affidavit | The quickest of the four and the one to do last, because it should name every certificate by number. A day, once everything else exists |
| And then the cycle itself | Application window, then CBT-1, where the Railway notice already wants the papers. The gap between a notification opening and a first test is not long enough to build a board correction inside it |
| Which gives the only sensible instruction on this page | Do it in a year when you are not applying. A candidate of eighteen who checks the Class 10 certificate against the Aadhaar this month has removed a risk that would otherwise surface at twenty two, in an exam hall, with no time left |
How a Railway or Army Candidate Should Fix a Name Problem
Write down exactly what the Class 10 certificate says
Your name, your father's name, your mother's name and your date of birth, letter by letter, from the certificate and the marksheet. This sheet is the reference for everything that follows, because it is the reference the board will use.
Put every other document beside it
Aadhaar, caste certificate, residence certificate, bank passbook, and any later marksheet. Write down what each one says on the same sheet. Very often everything agrees and one document does not.
Decide which document is actually wrong
Not the easiest one to change. If the certificate is right and the Aadhaar is wrong, correct the Aadhaar. If the certificate itself carries an error, that is a board correction and it is the long road. Our JAC marksheet against Aadhaar page is written for exactly this comparison.
If the certificate is wrong, start the board route today
Through the school, against the admission register. It is the slowest step and everything else can run beside it. Our JAC certificate correction page sets out that route for this State's board.
If the name genuinely changed, decide what evidence fits
A marriage certificate for a surname taken at marriage. A gazette notification for a real change of name. The notice says "Gazette Notification or any other legal document as applicable", so pick the one that applies rather than the most expensive one.
Get a photo identity into the changed name early
Because the notice asks for the evidence along with a valid photo ID carrying the changed name. Start the Aadhaar update before the gazette file, not after it, because the two can run at the same time. Our Aadhaar page covers the route.
Then swear the one and the same person affidavit
Before a magistrate or a notary, on the required stamp paper, listing every certificate by board, number and year and stating that all of them refer to you. Do this last, once the other documents exist and can be named.
Fill the application in the Class 10 name, and declare the other
Both names, separately, exactly as the notice instructs. Never replace one with the other, and keep a dated copy of the filled application.
Carry the papers to the first test, not to the interview
The Railway notice lists CBT-1 first. Put the notification, the affidavit and the photo identity in the same folder as the admit card the night before the first exam, and keep them together for the whole cycle.
For a rally, add the affidavit to the entry checklist
Because without it there is no entry at all. Check the stamp value in your own rally notification, get the attestations done in the same week, and do not leave either to the final days.
Keep the whole file for the rest of your working life
You will be asked again at appointment, at a promotion, at a pension. The affidavit and the notification you swore at twenty two are the documents that answer all of it, and nobody ever keeps them.
Central Gazette Process for a Name From Jharkhand, and Where It Fits a Candidate
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 get it onto a photo identity document first, because the notice asks for the notification together with a valid photo ID in the changed name, and let the bank, the caste and residence certificates and the rest follow after it.
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 a Candidate's Name Correction Costs in Jharkhand
Candidates and their families are the group most often overcharged on this subject, because the fear is the largest and the deadline is real. So here is the whole cost picture, including the parts that cost nothing.
| Item | What we can and cannot tell you |
|---|---|
| The one and the same person affidavit | Sworn "before Magistrate or Notary on required stamp papers", as the instructions put it. The cheapest paper on this page and the one most often missing. Our affidavit page covers the wording |
| The rally affidavit | The Army notification we read names Rs 10 non-judicial stamp paper. We print that because the notification prints it, and stamp values are set cycle by cycle, so read your own notification |
| A board correction of the Class 10 certificate | The board's own charge, through your school. We print no figure because it is the board's to set, and it changes. The cost that matters here is time rather than money |
| A Central Gazette file, where the name genuinely changed | Paid only through BharatKosh, revised each financial year, non refundable. Read the amount on the portal on the day. Our name change cost page keeps the working figures |
| A gazette where the name never changed | Money wasted. A mistyped certificate is a correction, not a change, and the notice's own words are "or any other legal document as applicable". We file gazette notices for a living and we will still tell a candidate when one is not applicable |
| Anybody who offers to fix a date of birth | Walk away, and do not argue. The notice says "No subsequent request for change in date of birth will be considered" and false information can bar a person from "any selection or appointment in Railway or to other Government services" |
| Our charge | Quoted on the call, after we have seen the Class 10 certificate and the Aadhaar, and never before we have told you whether you need us at all |
Myths About Name Changes Before Railway and Army Recruitment
| What candidates are told | What is actually so |
|---|---|
| Fill the form in the name on your Aadhaar | Neither recruiter says that. The Railways say enter the name "as recorded in SSC/SSLC/Matriculation/10th class exam certificate or an equivalent certificate only", and the Army says "exactly as per Matriculation/10th Class Board Certificate" |
| Put the new name in and forget the old one | The instruction is the opposite. A candidate "should indicate their changed name as well as his/her SSC/SSLC/Matriculation/10th class name separately". Both names, separately. Replacing one looks like concealment even when it was not |
| The documents are only needed at document verification | Not according to the notice. They are to be submitted "at the time of CBT-1/CBT-2/CBAT/ Document Verification". CBT-1 is the first computer based test, months earlier, and this is where candidates are caught |
| A gazette notification is all you need | It usually is not. The verification instructions also ask for an "affidavit executed before Magistrate or Notary...stating that the referred person in certificate(s) is one & same". Two papers: one about a name, one about a person |
| You always need a gazette for any name difference | The notice's own words are "Gazette Notification or any other legal document as applicable". For a surname taken at marriage that is usually the marriage certificate. We sell gazette filings and we are still telling you to read the words as applicable |
| The date of birth can be sorted out later if there is a problem | It cannot. "No subsequent request for change in date of birth will be considered." Whatever the matriculation certificate says is your date of birth for that recruitment, and there is no appeal written against it |
| An Army rally is about fitness, the papers are secondary | "Submission of Affidavit is mandatory to gain entry into the Rally. Candidates WILL NOT BE PERMITTED to enter the rally without affidavit." A year of training ends at the gate over a sheet of stamp paper |
| Only my own name matters | Both recruiters name your father's name and your mother's name too, and a parent's spelling defeats as many candidates as their own. Check all three on the certificate |
| If it goes wrong I lose this one attempt | Worse than that. The instructions warn that false information can disqualify a person from "any selection or appointment in Railway or to other Government services". Declare, never hide |
| Somebody can get it done quickly once the notification is out | Nobody can hurry a board correction, nobody can hurry a gazette publication, and nobody at all can change a date of birth. A person promising any of those three is selling something that does not exist |
Key Terms for a Railway or Army Candidate
| Term | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| Matriculation certificate | The Class 10 board certificate. The anchor document for both recruiters, for your name, your parents' names and your date of birth |
| Centralised Employment Notice | The Railways' recruitment notification, usually called a CEN. Each cycle has its own and the wording changes, so read the one for your post |
| CBT-1 | The first computer based test. The point at which a notice we read already wants your name change papers, not the later verification |
| Document verification | The stage where originals are checked. Failing to produce them means candidature "is liable to be rejected", after the examinations are already behind you |
| Rally | The Army's recruitment event. Entry itself depends on the affidavit, before anything physical is tested |
| One and the same person affidavit | Sworn before a magistrate or notary, "stating that the referred person in certificate(s) is one & same". The paper that ties two names to one candidate |
| Gazette notification | Evidence that a name was formally changed. Named in the notice as one option among "any other legal document as applicable", not as the only one |
| Photo identity in the changed name | The notice asks for the evidence together with "any one valid photo ID with the changed name". Which means the new name must already be on an identity document |
| Board correction | Correcting the certificate itself, through your school and the board. The slowest route on this page and the one that cannot be hurried |
| Domicile or nativity certificate | Named in the Army notification for the permanent address, issued by a Sub Divisional Magistrate or District Magistrate. Its own job in this State |
| Attested photocopy | What a rally asks for alongside every original. Always left to the last week and it should not be |
| Equivalent certificate | What both allow in place of matriculation where applicable, including, for the Army, a Class 8 marksheet or school leaving certificate with the date of birth. The oldest school paper is still the anchor |
Candidate Name Correction Help Across Jharkhand
This State sends a very large number of young people to Railway and Army recruitment every year, and a great many of them come from households where the Class 10 certificate was the first document anybody in the family ever received. That is exactly why the spellings differ. What we do takes one reply in most cases. We read the Class 10 certificate and marksheet against the Aadhaar and everything else, tell you whether anything actually differs, tell you whether it is a correction or a genuine change of name, tell you which of the two papers you need and in what order, and draft the one and the same person affidavit so that it names every certificate properly rather than describing them vaguely. Write to us in a year when you are not applying, not in the week a notification opens. We work across Ranchi, Hazaribagh, Giridih, Medininagar and every other district, on scans over WhatsApp. If your papers already agree, we will tell you so and charge you nothing.
District pages are linked from the services page.
Send the Class 10 certificate first
Send the Class 10 certificate and marksheet first, because that is the document both recruiters measure everything against and nothing can be decided without it. Then your Aadhaar, your caste certificate and residence or domicile certificate if you hold them, any later marksheet, and the marriage certificate where a marriage is the reason. Tell us in one line what has happened: you have spotted a difference, a form has already been filled, you were stopped at a verification, or a notification is open now. Say whether you are applying this cycle or not, because that changes the order of everything we tell you. Our first reply tells you whether anything actually differs, whether this is a correction or a genuine change of name, which of the two papers you need, and the wording for the one and the same person affidavit. If your documents already agree, 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
Candidate Name Correction: Frequently Asked Questions
Which name do I write on a Railway or Army application form?
My name changed after marriage. Do I hide the old one?
When do I actually have to produce the papers?
Is a gazette notification enough on its own?
Do I need a gazette at all if it is just a spelling mistake?
My Class 10 certificate itself is wrong. What now?
What if the date of birth is wrong?
What exactly stops me entering an Army rally?
My father's name is spelt differently on two documents.
My surname is Hembrom on one paper and Hembram on another.
Can somebody get this done quickly once the notification is out?
How much of this can you actually do for us?
Official Sources for Railway and Army Candidates
- Railway Recruitment Board, RanchiThe board most candidates from this State deal with. Notifications, schedules and instructions are published here, and this is where to read the notice for your own post.
- A Centralised Employment Notice, in fullThe source of the name, changed name, photo identity and date of birth wording quoted on this page. Read it to see how such a notice is laid out, then read your own.
- Railway Recruitment Board instructions to candidatesThe source of the one and the same person affidavit wording, the verification document list and the warning about rejection and disqualification.
- Join Indian ArmyThe Army's own recruitment portal, where rally notifications for each recruiting office are published. Read the notification for your rally rather than any summary of it.
- Indian RailwaysThe ministry behind the recruitment boards, for the wider framework and for official announcements.
- Jharkhand Academic CouncilThis State's board, which issues the Class 10 certificate that both recruiters measure a candidate against, and the only body that can correct it.
- Unique Identification Authority of IndiaFor the Aadhaar name update route, which on this subject usually follows the certificate rather than leading it, and which takes its own time.
- Department of PublicationFor the twelve gazette categories and their proformas, in the case where a name has genuinely been changed rather than merely mis-spelt.
- e-GazetteWhere a published notice is read and the free copy downloaded, which is the copy a board will want to see.
- BharatKosh, the Non Tax Receipt PortalThe only route for the Government printing charge since October 2018, and the only place the amount of the day can be read.
A Candidate Name Problem in Eight Lines
The short version
- Both recruiters measure you against the Class 10 certificate.
- Neither of them names your Aadhaar anywhere.
- Fill the form in the Class 10 name, whatever you are called now.
- Where the name changed, declare both names separately.
- A gazette says the name changed, an affidavit says it is one person.
- The papers are wanted at the first test, not at verification.
- An Army rally will not let you in without the affidavit.
- The date of birth is closed once the application is in.
Send us the Class 10 certificate and your Aadhaar in a year when you are not applying.
Ten minutes now beats an emergency at twenty two. If your documents already agree, we will say so and charge you nothing.