Quick answer: A birth certificate records what you were named at birth, so a gazette does not change it by itself. Many offices are satisfied with the certificate and the gazette together, since the pair explains the whole story, and for those you need do nothing. Where an office insists, apply at the registering body with the gazette, your affidavit, both newspaper pages and the old certificate. Some offices will note the change against the entry rather than rewrite it, and that is a normal outcome, not a refusal.
The first thing to settle is whether you have a problem at all. People assume every document must show the new name, and for most of them that is right. The birth certificate is the exception, because it is not describing you now. It is describing an event, and at that event you were given a particular name. Offices that handle documents all day understand this, which is why so many of them simply ask for both papers and move on.
At a Glance
| Why the old name is still there | The record describes your birth, not your present name |
| Does the gazette change it? | Not by itself; you have to apply |
| Often enough | The certificate plus the gazette, carried together |
| Where to apply | The body that registered the birth |
| Carry | Gazette, affidavit, both newspaper pages, old certificate |
| Possible outcome | The change noted against the entry rather than replacing it |
| Is that a refusal? | No; a noted entry usually does the job |
| Who usually asks | Passport, pension, some universities, property matters |
Key Takeaways
- A gazette announces your new name; it does not rewrite a record of your birth.
- Most offices accept the birth certificate and the gazette together, so check before applying.
- You apply at the body that registered the birth, in person, with the full gazette file.
- A noted or endorsed entry is a normal and useful outcome, not a half-measure.
- Keep the old certificate even after any update, because it links your two names.
What to Carry: Quick Facts
| Gazette notification | Printed from the downloaded PDF |
| The affidavit | The notarised one used for the gazette |
| Both newspaper pages | Complete originals, not clippings |
| Old birth certificate | The one with the earlier name |
| Aadhaar in the new name | Shows the change is already in use |
| Registration number | Written down separately |
| Originals | Checked at the counter even if copies are kept |
| Acknowledgment | Take one with a reference number |
Table of Contents
- Why the old name is still on it
- Do you actually need it changed?
- Who usually asks for it
- Applying at the registering office
- If they note it instead of rewriting it
- Why you keep the old one
- Central Gazette: the complete process and file format
- Areas we serve
- Related guides
- Why choose our office
- FAQs
Why the Old Name Is Still on It
Think of the two papers as answering different questions. Somebody asking your name today wants the gazette and your Aadhaar. Somebody checking where and when you were born wants the certificate. When an office wants both facts, it wants both papers, and that is why carrying them as a pair works so often.
This is also why nobody at the registration office will be surprised by your request. They see it regularly, and they are not treating your gazette as doubtful. They are simply working with a record that was written for a different purpose.
Do You Actually Need It Changed?
Ask this before spending money, because a good number of people do not.
| Situation | What usually works |
|---|---|
| An office asked for your birth certificate as proof of age or birthplace | The old certificate on its own; the name is not what they are checking |
| An office asked for it and noticed the name difference | Show the gazette alongside it; the pair explains it |
| A form asks for a certificate in your current name specifically | Apply for the update |
| You want your records tidy for the future | Worth doing, at your own pace |
| Property or inheritance is involved | Worth doing, because the link between names should be clear on paper |
That one question saves a lot of people a lot of trouble. If the answer is yes, you are finished today. If it is no, you now know that the update is genuinely needed and can start it without wondering.
Who Usually Asks For It
- Passport offices, which check birth details closely and where parent details are also recorded.
- Pension and service departments, where records are compared at retirement.
- Some universities, particularly for old degrees being reissued or verified.
- Property and inheritance matters, where the chain from birth to present name has to be plain.
- Foreign applications, where a reader unfamiliar with Indian gazettes may want one clean document.
Notice what these have in common: each one is looking at your whole life on paper, not just your identity today. Those are the situations where a single consistent set is worth having, and where the effort pays for itself.
Applying at the Registering Office
Find the record and the office that holds it
Through the CRS portal for rural and hospital births, e-Nagarsewa for city ones, or e-District for older records. Only the office that made the entry can act on it.
Get a current copy or certified extract
So you know exactly what the entry says today, rather than relying on an old printout.
Take the full gazette file, not just the notification
The gazette, the affidavit, both complete newspaper pages and the old certificate. Offices want to see the whole chain, not one page from it.
Apply in person
Give the registration number, the recorded name and the new name, and ask what the office is able to do. This is not done online anywhere in the state.
Accept a noted entry if that is what is offered
Many offices record the change against the original rather than replacing it, which is explained below and is usually enough.
Take an acknowledgment with a reference number
Then collect the fresh certificate and check what it actually says before leaving.
If They Note It Instead of Rewriting It
You may be told the entry cannot simply be overwritten, and that the change will be recorded against it. That sounds like a smaller result than you wanted. In practice it is usually the better one.
So if this is offered, take it. A certificate that carries both names and the gazette reference does the job at almost every counter, and it saves you explaining the gap later. Offices differ in how they handle this and there is no single national practice, so ask what yours does rather than assuming.
Why You Keep the Old One
- It links your two names, which matters whenever an old document surfaces.
- Your school and Board records still carry the old name unless you correct them too.
- Verifications reach backwards, and a government check may pull records from twenty years ago.
- Family and property papers may name you in the old form.
- It costs nothing to keep and is difficult to obtain again once discarded.
Store the old certificate, the new one, the gazette, the affidavit and both newspaper pages in one place. That set answers every question anyone will ever ask about your name, and having it together turns a long conversation into a short one.
Central Gazette: the Complete Process and File Format
Our core service: if the gazette is already done, use the file below as a checklist of what to carry to the registration office. If it is not done yet, this is the whole route as we file it from Lucknow.
Stage 1: The affidavit
Clause three is the one that helps you at the registration counter. It says plainly that the person named in the register and the person standing there are the same, which is exactly the connection the office needs to record.
Stage 2: The Public Notice, in two copies
Each witness gives signature, full name and address, and both sign both copies. Do it at one sitting, since chasing a second signature later is the commonest small delay.
Stage 3: The CD and CD-Certificate
Stage 4: Newspapers, fee, covering letter and dispatch
Publish in two newspapers
One Hindi daily of your district and one English paper, booked the day the affidavit is sworn. Keep the complete original pages with the masthead and date, and buy two copies of each, because the passport office asks for them again later.
Pay Rs 1,100 on BharatKosh
Before the envelope is sealed, with the function head, PAO and DDO checked on the confirmation screen, and two receipts printed.
Write the covering letter
To The Controller, Publication Department, Civil Line, Delhi 110054, saying the formalities are complete and the documents are enclosed. Add your mobile number and email.
Assemble, check and photocopy
Affidavit, Public Notice in two witnessed copies, CD with CD-Certificate, both newspaper pages, identity and address proof, photographs and the receipt. Keep a full copy set at home.
Courier it, tracked
One to three days from most UP districts. There is no counter to visit and nothing is gained by travelling.
Search Part IV after 25 to 45 days
Weekly Gazette, Part IV, a Saturday date range covering your window. Download the whole issue and note the issue number and date.
Print More Copies Than You Think You Need
Small point, and it saves repeat trips for exactly the readers of this page.
The same applies to the newspaper pages, which is why buying two copies of each edition on the day matters. Newsagents do not stock back issues, and a photocopy of a newspaper page is accepted far less readily than an original.
Gazette Fees, Time and the File
| Birth record update | The registering office's application fee |
| Certified extract or fresh copy | A nominal fee |
| Affidavit | Rs 100 to 500 including stamp paper and notary |
| Adult gazette fee | Rs 1,100 on BharatKosh |
| Minor, through a guardian | Rs 1,700 |
| Newspaper advertisements | A few hundred rupees per paper |
| Publication window | 25 to 45 days after the Department receives the file |
| Our service | Basic from Rs 999, Complete from Rs 1,999, quoted separately |
The envelope in one line: covering letter with your phone and email, affidavit (notarised), Public Notice typed in two copies with two witnesses on each, CD in MS-Word format with the signed CD-Certificate, both complete newspaper pages, photo identity proof, address proof, photographs and the BharatKosh receipt.
Before You Apply: Check These
- Ask the office that wants the certificate whether the gazette alongside it is enough, before applying anywhere.
- Take the whole gazette file to the registration office, not just the notification page.
- Accept a noted entry if it is offered, because it is usually more useful than a rewritten one.
- Keep the old certificate whatever happens, since it links your two names.
After the Gazette: What Updates Next
If your gazette is recent and only the birth certificate is left, you are nearly finished. If you have not run the rest yet, the order is Aadhaar first, then PAN, bank and employer, then the passport with both newspaper pages, then Tehsil certificates and education records. Keep everything in one folder, including the old certificate.
What Other Websites Get Wrong
- Wrong: a gazette automatically updates every record. Right: each office runs its own application, and a birth record needs one too.
- Wrong: every document must show your new name. Right: a birth record describes an event, and many offices accept it with the gazette.
- Wrong: a noted entry means you were refused. Right: it records both names and is usually more useful.
- Wrong: take just the gazette page. Right: offices want the whole chain, including the affidavit and newspapers.
- Wrong: discard the old certificate once updated. Right: it is the link to every record still in your old name.
Areas We Serve in Uttar Pradesh
You apply where you were born, not where you live now, so this often means a trip back to your home district or a request sent there. We handle it across all 75 districts, most often these:
| Western UP and NCR | Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad, Meerut, Agra, Aligarh, Mathura, Bulandshahr, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Hapur, Firozabad |
| Rohilkhand and Bundelkhand | Bareilly, Moradabad, Rampur, Shahjahanpur, Budaun, Pilibhit, Bijnor, Amroha, Jhansi, Banda, Mahoba, Chitrakoot |
| Awadh and central UP | Lucknow, Kanpur, Unnao, Raebareli, Sitapur, Hardoi, Barabanki, Lakhimpur Kheri, Sultanpur, Ayodhya, Amethi, Bahraich |
| Purvanchal and eastern UP | Varanasi, Prayagraj, Gorakhpur, Azamgarh, Jaunpur, Ballia, Deoria, Mirzapur, Basti, Ghazipur, Mau, Sonbhadra |
Most of these calls come from people who moved away for work, changed their name in the city, and then found their birth record sitting quietly in a district office three hundred kilometres away. Our chamber is at Chamber No. 19, Sadar Tehsil, Sector 5, Gomti Nagar Vistar, Lucknow 226010, with the city guide on our Lucknow page. Call 9540003316 or WhatsApp 9540005002 from any district.
Related Guides on This Site
Whichever counter you reach next, there is a guide for it here:
- birth certificate correction: the main guide covering every route.
- gazette name change: the full route from affidavit to download.
- downloading your gazette copy: free, permanent and how to search Part IV.
- correction versus change: why this one is a change, not a correction.
- the Nagar Nigam route: for a city birth record.
- the gram panchayat route: for a village birth record.
- passport name change: one of the offices that asks for both papers.
- government employees: service records and what they need.
- Aadhaar name update: usually the first record after publication.
- the full cost breakdown: government fees and our fees, line by line.
- contact the office: Lucknow office, phone and WhatsApp.
Why We Ask Who Wants It
When someone calls about this, our first question is which office asked for the certificate and what for. Quite often the answer means no application is needed at all, and we say so. When it is needed, we prepare the file so the visit is one trip. Vipin Chauhan, B.Tech LL.B, has run both outcomes many times.
- We check whether you need it at all: because the gazette alongside the old certificate is frequently accepted.
- We prepare the whole chain: gazette, affidavit and newspapers, not one page.
- We explain the noted entry: so a normal outcome does not feel like a refusal.
- We file the gazette itself: where it has not been done yet.
Associate office at Chamber No. 19, Sadar Tehsil, Gomti Nagar Vistar, Lucknow, serving all 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh, Monday to Saturday, 10 AM to 6:30 PM. Call 9540003316 or WhatsApp 9540005002.
Tell Us Who Asked
Uttar Pradesh Name Change
Associate Office: Chamber No. 19, Sadar Tehsil, Sector 5, Gomti Nagar Vistar, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh 226010
Head Office: Metro Pillar 337, Hardev Nagar, Street 1, Shop No 1 (Shri Sham Documentation)
Call: 9540003316
WhatsApp: 9540005002
Email: info@uttarpradeshnamechange.com
Hours: Mon to Sat, 10 AM to 6:30 PM
Tell us which office asked for the certificate and what for. Often the gazette alongside it is already enough, and we will tell you so.
Get Call and Name Change Format
Loading the enquiry form...
Birth Certificate After a Gazette: FAQs
My gazette is published. Why does my birth certificate still show the old name?
Because it records what you were named at birth, and that did not change when you changed your name. The gazette records a decision you made later. Both papers are true.
Does the gazette update it automatically?
No. Every office runs its own application, and the birth register is no different. Nothing happens until you apply.
Do I even need to change it?
Often not. Many offices accept the old certificate with the gazette alongside it. Ask the office that wants the certificate before you apply anywhere.
What should I ask that office?
Whether your birth certificate in the old name plus your gazette notification for the new one will be accepted together. If yes, you are finished today.
Who usually insists on an updated certificate?
Passport offices, pension and service departments, some universities, property and inheritance matters, and foreign applications where a reader may not know what an Indian gazette is.
Where do I apply?
At the body that registered the birth, in person. Find it on the CRS portal, e-Nagarsewa or e-District first, since only that office can act on its own entry.
What do I carry?
The gazette, the affidavit, both complete newspaper pages and the old certificate. Offices want the whole chain, not one page from it.
They said they will note the change rather than rewrite the entry. Is that bad?
No, and it is often better. A noted entry shows the original name and the change together, which links you to every old record you still hold.
Can this be done online?
No. It is done in person at the registering office anywhere in the state.
Should I throw away the old certificate?
Never. Your school records, marksheets and old bank papers still carry the old name, and the old certificate is what connects them to the new one.
How many gazette prints should I make?
About five. Each office keeps your print rather than a copy, and the download is free and permanent so you can always print more, though not while standing in a queue.
What if I have not done the gazette yet?
Then start there, since nothing about a change of name proceeds without it. The full file and wording are set out above.
Official Sources
- The Registration of Births and Deaths framework, under which a birth record is maintained by the registrar and amended on application.
- The Civil Registration System at crsorgi.gov.in, with e-Nagarsewa for urban records and e-District through eSathi for older ones.
- The Department of Publication's guidelines for change of name, which govern the gazette notification itself.
- The UP Civil Registration helpline on 1800-180-5145 for identifying a registration unit.
Facts here are checked against these sources and our own casework. Offices differ in whether they rewrite or note an entry, so confirm locally; the fact that a gazette does not update a birth record by itself is the stable part.
The Short Version
Your gazette announces the name you use now. Your birth certificate records what you were named on the day you were born, and that fact did not change, which is why the old name is still printed on it. Before applying anywhere, ask the office that wants the certificate whether it will accept the old one with the gazette alongside, because a great many will and then you are finished. If an update is genuinely needed, apply in person at the body that registered the birth, carrying the whole chain: the gazette, the affidavit, both complete newspaper pages and the old certificate. If the office offers to note the change against the entry rather than rewrite it, take that, because a record showing both names is more useful than one showing only the new one. And keep the old certificate whatever happens, since your school records, marksheets and old papers still carry the earlier name and this is what links them.