GUIDES
Naming guides
Sourced guides to registering and changing a name in India, the meanings the internet gets wrong, and naming traditions.
NAMING LAW
How to register a baby’s name in India
The birth register can carry a name from day one, or receive it later. What the law and the rules say, and where states differ.
Read the guide →NAMING LAW
Correcting a name on an Indian birth certificate
A missing name, a spelling error and a wholly new name are three different problems. What the Act provides for each.
Read the guide →NAMING LAW
Changing your name through the Gazette of India
The Department of Publication prints individual change-of-name notices. What it asks for, and what the notice does and does not do.
Read the guide →NAMING LAW
Changing your name in Aadhaar
The rules from UIDAI’s memorandum, its 2021 procedure and its document list, and why you should read the current procedure before you go.
Read the guide →NAMING LAW
Names on an Indian passport: rules and changes
How to enter a name on the application, and which documents each kind of change needs, from the Passport Seva instruction booklet.
Read the guide →NAMING LAW
Changing your name after marriage in India
Keeping a name, changing it and returning to it: what the courts have said and what each agency asks for.
Read the guide →MEANINGS
Name meaning myths: what the dictionary says
Many popular Indian names carry a gloss that no dictionary supports. What the Sanskrit dictionary says, and why a name does not need a classical meaning to be a good one.
Read the guide →NAMING TRADITION
Sikh naming: initials, Singh and Kaur
A naming tradition describes a practice; it cannot tell us an individual’s religion.
Read the guide →