Name Change Procedure in Bihar
Search this and you will find one page saying no Bihar state gazette exists, and another giving you a Patna street address and a closing time for one. Both cannot be right, and acting on the wrong one costs you a trip and a fee. This page settles the question, then gives you the real process across all 38 districts: the affidavit first, then two newspaper notices, then the Central Gazette file, with honest fees and timelines.
To change your name in Bihar, make a notarised affidavit first, publish the change in two daily newspapers, one Hindi and one English, then send a signed file to the Central Gazette of India in Delhi with the fee paid through BharatKosh. Your notification appears in Part IV on egazette.gov.in in about 30 to 45 days. The whole file travels by post, so no counter visit is needed anywhere in Bihar.
What does the name change procedure in Bihar involve?
Three stages, done in the right order. What makes Bihar harder than it should be is not the process, which is straightforward, but the search results, which contradict each other outright. One page publishes a Patna address with a closing time and promises your notification will be delivered to your door. Another states plainly that no state gazette exists here. A third runs a whole guide to a Bihar state gazette route. People act on all three, and two of them waste a day.
A Gazette notification is a formal announcement of your name change printed in the official journal of a Government. Once it carries a date and a page number, passport offices, UIDAI, banks, boards and employers treat it as the legal record of your new name. An affidavit on its own is the start of the change, not the finish.
At a glance
- Where it applies
- All 38 districts of Bihar, and any state or country you happen to be working in
- Route
- The Gazette of India, Part IV. No public counter in Bihar handles a personal name change
- Office
- Department of Publication, Civil Lines, behind Delhi Vidhan Sabha Metro Station, Delhi 110054
- How the file travels
- By post or courier, from any district. Geography costs you nothing
- Newspapers
- Two notices, one Hindi daily and one English daily circulating in your district
- Fee
- Commonly Rs 1,100 adult and Rs 1,700 minor, on BharatKosh only, revised each financial year
- Order that matters
- Affidavit first, then the notices, then the file. The notices copy the affidavit date
- Timeline
- About 30 to 45 days for publication after the file reaches Delhi, 3 to 7 weeks end to end
- Where to download
- egazette.gov.in, free. Hard copies ceased on 1 October 2015
- Official languages
- Hindi in Devanagari script, with Urdu as second official language in notified areas
Key takeaways
- Bihar has no citizen counter for personal name changes. Residents apply to the Central Gazette of India, and the file goes to Delhi by post or courier. There is exactly one office: Department of Publication, Civil Lines, Delhi 110054.
- No Government gazette office couriers a notification to your home. The Gazette has been digital only since 1 October 2015, so what you get is a PDF you download yourself.
- The order matters: affidavit first, then the notices, then the file. Both the notices and the gazette file copy their details from the affidavit, including its date. Several guides list the notice first, which creates a mismatch you cannot fix later.
- The fee is commonly Rs 1,100 for adults and Rs 1,700 for minors, paid only through bharatkosh.gov.in. The Department's guidelines say the amount is revised each financial year, so confirm before paying. Demand drafts are not accepted.
- Notices go in one Hindi daily and one English daily. Under the Bihar Official Language Act, 1950, Hindi in Devanagari script is the official language, and Section 3, inserted by Bihar Act II of 1981, allows Urdu as a second official language in notified areas, so an Urdu daily is a reasonable regional choice where it circulates.
- Fix the spelling before anything is drafted. In Bihar this deserves particular care, because Kumar or Kumari sits in the middle of a great many names and is written in full on some documents and dropped on others.
- Certificates issued by Bihar before 15 November 2000 for districts now in Jharkhand stay valid. Not because of any savings clause, because the Act has none, but because they were validly issued and nothing in the Act unmakes them.
- The whole job takes 3 to 7 weeks, and there is no official expedited option. Anyone promising two to three weeks against a usual four to five is describing their own paperwork speed.
- A birth certificate mistake is a Registrar correction under Section 15 of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969. It is not a gazette matter.
The Bihar name change process on video
Twelve short videos from our desk, placed through this page next to the section each one explains.
Name change procedure in Bihar, and the gazette office question
The name change process in Bihar बिहार में नाम बदलने की प्रक्रिया
- The process in Bihar, start to finishTwo overviews, one in English and one in Hindi.
- Gazette office in Bihar, and the address people search forWhy there is no counter in Patna for a personal case.
- The gazette notification and the newspaper advertisementMaking the notification, and booking the two notices.
- Changing the name in a passportFix the gazette before the passport, not after.
- Changing a surnameThe surname spelling that decides everything else.
- Aadhaar and the driving licenceAadhaar first, then the licence and the rest.
- Birth certificate name, and the father's nameA Registrar correction, not a gazette matter.
- Government employeesThe departmental deed and the service book entry.
Is there a gazette office in Bihar for a name change?
This deserves a straight answer, because the search results give two opposite ones.
One widely shared page publishes an address in Patna, describes it as the Gazette Office in Bihar where you collect and submit a name change form, and even tells you the office closes at 5.30 PM. The same page then says the official notification will be delivered to your doorstep by the Gazette Office. A second page in the same niche states plainly that no state Gazette is in existence in Bihar and that residents send their applications to the Central Gazette office in Delhi by post. A third runs a whole guide to a Bihar State Gazette process and tells readers to submit to a Printing and Stationery wing of the Government of Bihar.
| The claim | What actually happens |
|---|---|
| A Gazette Office in Patna with a street address and a 5.30 PM closing time, where individuals file name changes | No public counter in Bihar accepts a personal name change. The one office is the Department of Publication, Civil Lines, Delhi 110054 |
| The Gazette Office will deliver the notification to your doorstep | No Government gazette office couriers notifications to applicants. The Gazette has been digital only since 1 October 2015, so you download the PDF yourself |
| A Bihar State Gazette name change process through a state Printing and Stationery wing | No citizen-facing Bihar state route for a personal name change surfaces. The file that gets accepted goes to Delhi |
| No state Gazette is in existence in Bihar, so post to Delhi | This one matches how the process works, and it is what this page tells you to do |
| Apply at the e-Gazette portal of the state | Some states genuinely run one, such as Gujarat. Bihar does not offer a personal name change service of that kind |
The position that matches how the process actually works. Personal name changes for Bihar residents are published in Part IV of the Gazette of India by the Department of Publication in Delhi. There is no counter in Patna or anywhere else in Bihar where an individual files a personal name change, and no Government gazette office delivers notifications to homes. If a page is promising home delivery of a Government gazette, it is describing its own courier service at best.
The gazette office people search for, on video
Gazette office in Bihar, and the address people search for
Has any state had its own name and borders rewritten more often?
Three redrawings in under ninety years, each one effected by a notification.
King George V announced the creation of Bihar and Orissa at the Delhi Durbar on 12 December 1911. On 22 March 1912 the Bihar and Orissa divisions were separated from the Bengal Presidency, which is why that date is now Bihar Diwas, and the new province formally came into being on 1 April 1912, with Patna as its capital and Cuttack as a winter capital. The campaign for separation had been led by English-educated Biharis who felt sidelined by a Bengal-centred administration, and a booklet by Sachchidanand Sinha and Mahesh Narayan in 1906 helped shift opinion.
On 1 April 1936 the province was split again, into Bihar Province and Orissa Province. Then on 15 November 2000 the southern districts were carved out as Jharkhand, under the Bihar Reorganisation Act, 2000 (Act 30 of 2000), whose Section 3 formed the new state out of eighteen named districts of Bihar.
The name itself is older than any of it. Bihar comes from vihara, the word for a Buddhist monastery, because the region was covered with them. Bihar Diwas has been celebrated on a large scale since 2010, and the state marked its 114th Foundation Day in March 2026.
Four claims about Bihar that are wrong
Each of these is on a page ranking today, and each one costs somebody time or money.
A gazette office in Patna, with a closing time
One page publishes a specific Patna address as the Gazette Office in Bihar, tells you it closes at 5.30 PM, and describes collecting and submitting a name change form there. No public counter in Bihar accepts a personal name change application. Before you travel anywhere, ask the office what it actually does.
Doorstep delivery of your notification
The same page says the official notification will be delivered to your door step by the Gazette Office. No Government gazette office couriers notifications to applicants, and since 1 October 2015 the Gazette has been digital only. You download the PDF free from egazette.gov.in.
The wrong Union ministry
Another page credits the Gazette of India to the Ministry of Home Affairs. There is no such arrangement. The Department of Publication is a subordinate office of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
A two to three week fast track
One page advertises completion within 2 to 3 weeks compared to the usual 4 to 5 weeks. No private company controls the Part IV publication schedule. What a company can shorten is its own paperwork, not the Department's cycle, and there is no official expedited service on this route.
How does the name change procedure in Bihar work, step by step?
Five stages, and the order of the first two is what most guides get wrong.
Affidavit first, always
One exact spelling settled, then a notarised affidavit built around it. Everything after copies from this.
Two newspaper notices
One Hindi daily and one English daily circulating in your district, with the complete original pages kept.
The Delhi file
The signed file posted to Civil Lines, with the fee paid on BharatKosh, then Part IV in 30 to 45 days.
Step 1: prepare and notarise the affidavit, first
The affidavit comes before the newspaper notice, not after. Some guides list the notice first, which causes real problems, because both the notice and the gazette file copy their details from the affidavit, including its date. Get an affidavit drafted on non-judicial stamp paper stating your old name, your new name, your father's or husband's name, your date of birth, your full address in Bihar and a clear reason for the change, then sign it before a Notary Public or have it attested by a First Class Magistrate. Stamp paper and notary together usually cost Rs 100 to Rs 500.
Settle the spelling here. Decide the exact spelling, spacing and initials of the new name at this stage and never vary them again. In Bihar this deserves particular care, because Kumar or Kumari sits in the middle of a great many names and is written in full on some documents and dropped on others. A file that reads Ranjan Kumar Jha in one place and Ranjan Jha in another comes back, and the fee is not refundable.
Step 2: publish in two newspapers, one Hindi and one English
Publish the same notice in two dailies that genuinely circulate where you live: one Hindi daily and one English daily. Pick editions that actually reach your district, whether that is Patna, Muzaffarpur, Bhagalpur or Purnia. Under the Bihar Official Language Act, 1950, Hindi in Devanagari script is the official language, and Section 3, inserted by Bihar Act II of 1981, allows Urdu to be used as a second official language in areas notified by the State Government, so where an Urdu daily circulates in your area it is a reasonable regional choice as well. The notice must carry your old name, new name, full address, age, father's or husband's name and the affidavit date. Keep the complete original printed page of each newspaper, not a cutting, with the date clearly visible. Two notices usually cost Rs 800 to Rs 4,000.
Step 3: prepare the Central Gazette file
Per the Department's published guidelines the file contains: the original newspaper pages carrying your notices; a signed undertaking showing your old and new name with parentage and residential address, declaring the facts are true; two copies of the prescribed proforma, computer typed and not handwritten, signed and attested; a CD containing the print matter in MS Word without the witness portion; a certificate signed by you declaring that the hard copy and soft copy contents match; self-attested photocopies of the identity proof of the applicant and a witness; two self-attested passport size photographs; and a request letter to the Controller of Publications with the fee. Keep every supporting document less than one year old.
Step 4: pay the fee through BharatKosh only
The fee is paid only through bharatkosh.gov.in, the Government's Non-Tax Receipt Portal. It is commonly Rs 1,100 for an adult and Rs 1,700 for a minor, with an additional Rs 250 where an adult adopts a name of another religion without changing religion. The Department's guidelines state that the fee varies each financial year and varies from case to case, so confirm the current amount on deptpub.gov.in before paying. It is not refundable, and no demand draft is involved.
Step 5: post the file and download your notification
Send the complete file by post or courier to the Department of Publication, Civil Lines, Delhi 110054, or hand it in there yourself. Applications are entertained only from the applicant, which is why an honest consultant prepares and checks your file while you sign and send it. Your notification then appears in Part IV of the Gazette of India, in weekly Saturday dated issues, about 30 to 45 days after the file reaches Delhi. Physical hard copies ceased on 1 October 2015, so you open the issue on egazette.gov.in, search the PDF for your old or new name, and download the whole gazette as your own copy. It needs no further certification, and nobody will deliver it to your door.
The notification and the newspaper notice, on video
How to make a gazette notification in Bihar बिहार में गजट नोटिफिकेशन कैसे बनाएं
How to place a name change advertisement in a Bihar newspaper न्यूज पेपर में एड कैसे डालें
What documents are required for a name change in Bihar?
One core list, plus what your particular case adds.
The core file
- Notarised name change affidavit, hard copy, on non-judicial stamp paper
- Aadhaar or other Government photo identity showing the old name, self-attested
- Address proof in Bihar: electricity bill, water bill or rent agreement
- Complete original newspaper pages of both notices, Hindi and English, dates visible
- Filled name change proforma, two copies, computer typed, signed and attested
- A CD with the notice text in MS Word, without the witness portion, and a certificate signed by you that the hard and soft copies match
- Two self-attested passport size photographs, and self-attested identity of one witness
- A request letter to the Controller of Publications with the fee
What your case may add
- Marriage certificate, if the change follows a marriage
- Divorce decree, if the change follows a divorce
- Birth certificate of the child, where the applicant is a minor and a parent or guardian applies
- Adoption papers, where relevant
- Deed attested by the Indian Embassy or Consulate, if you apply from abroad
- Departmental deed, if you are a Central Government employee, under MHA O.M. No. 190016/1/87-Estt.(A) dated 12 March 1987
- Any earlier certificate you want reconciled, such as a BSEB matric certificate issued before the Jharkhand split
What does a name change in Bihar really cost?
Short answer: the Government fee is commonly Rs 1,100 for an adult, and a realistic all-in total is Rs 2,500 to Rs 6,000.
| Item | Typical amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Stamp paper and notary | Rs 100 to Rs 500 | A local notary in any district. Ask what the current stamp paper value is. |
| Two newspaper notices | Rs 800 to Rs 4,000 | One Hindi daily and one English daily that circulate in your district. |
| Central Gazette fee, adult | Commonly Rs 1,100 | On BharatKosh only, revised each financial year, non-refundable. |
| Central Gazette fee, minor | Commonly Rs 1,700 | Applies to anyone under 18. Also on BharatKosh. |
| Religion related addition | Rs 250 | Where an adult adopts a name of another religion without changing religion, per the published guidelines. |
| Speed post to Delhi | Rs 50 to Rs 200 | The only distance cost in the whole process. |
| Central Gazette fee, applying from abroad | Commonly Rs 3,500 adult, Rs 5,100 minor | The Government charge only, on BharatKosh, revised each financial year. |
| Embassy attestation, courier and incidentals | Varies, commonly Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,500 on top | Not a Government fee. Budget it separately rather than assuming one figure covers everything. |
| Gazette PDF retrieval | Free | A published gazette is a public record. Nobody should charge you to fetch it. |
| Realistic self-done total | Rs 2,500 to Rs 6,000 | All stages included, depending on which newspapers you choose. |
| Documentadvisor assistance | Quoted per case | Charged separately from Government charges. Call 9540005002 for a fixed quote before you commit. |
How long does a name change take in Bihar?
Short answer: 3 to 7 weeks end to end, and there is no paid fast track.
Day 1 to 2
The exact spelling fixed in writing, documents collected, affidavit drafted and notarised.
Day 2 to 9
Notices booked in one Hindi and one English daily. Publication follows each paper's schedule, so allow 2 to 7 days, then collect the complete pages.
Day 9 to 14
File assembled and checked, the fee paid on BharatKosh, then speed post to Civil Lines, Delhi 110054.
Then 30 to 45 days
Publication in Part IV, in weekly Saturday dated issues, after the file reaches Delhi. Then you download the PDF free.
Plan for 3 to 7 weeks from the first phone call to a notification you can download. The only part you control is how quickly and how accurately the file is put together.
Why do most Bihari applicants discover the problem outside Bihar?
Because a name mismatch surfaces where documents are checked, and for Bihar that is usually somewhere else.
Bihar sends one of the largest migrant workforces in the country, to Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Maharashtra and the Gulf. The mismatch is almost never discovered at home. It surfaces at an employer's verification, a bank KYC in another state, a passport application or a visa file, when a school certificate reads one way and an Aadhaar reads another. Nothing was wrong until two systems had to agree.
The Central Gazette handles this cleanly
- Part IV is valid in every Indian state and recognised by embassies, so one notification settles the name wherever you work
- The whole file can be prepared and posted from wherever you are, not from your home district
- Family in Bihar can send the file if that is easier, as long as the papers carry your own signature
- The affidavit can be sworn where you live now, with your Bihar address stated on it
- The notices can be published in the district where you are registered, or where you actually live
If you are going abroad, fix it before the passport
A passport carries the name split into given name and surname fields, and every visa, foreign registration and employer record issued afterwards copies that split. Change the name after the passport and you redo all of it.
From abroad, execute the deed, get it attested by the Indian Embassy or Consulate, publish the two notices in your district in Bihar, and apply to Delhi by post or courier. The Government fee from abroad is commonly Rs 3,500 for an adult and Rs 5,100 for a minor. Attestation and international courier sit on top of that and vary considerably, commonly another Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,500, so budget them separately.
Changing the name in a passport, on video
How to change a name in a passport in Bihar बिहार में पासपोर्ट में नाम कैसे बदलें
My certificates say Bihar but my district is now in Jharkhand. Are they still valid?
Yes. And the reason matters, because the usual explanation given online is not accurate.
Anyone schooled or employed in the southern districts before 15 November 2000 holds certificates issued by Bihar for places that are now in Jharkhand. Those documents remain fully valid, and a certificate naming Bihar does not become wrong because the district moved.
The real problem is not validity. It is that the name itself often differs across the two eras, because entries were made by different hands in different administrations, sometimes decades apart. A matric certificate from 1994 and an Aadhaar from 2014 can carry two versions of the same person. One gazette notification gives every office a single version, and Part IV is valid in both states, so the same notification works for a Bihar board record and a Jharkhand employer.
Why do Bihar names arrive in so many spellings?
Because a century of records reached English through several different routes.
The same name appears in different written forms across decades of Bihar records: Jha and Jhaa; Choudhary, Chaudhary and Chowdhury; Ranjan and Ranjhan. Urdu-script entries in older records add another layer of romanisation, and Hindi to English transliteration was never standardised across offices. To a Government database these read as different people, and one mismatch stops a passport, a bank KYC or a job verification.
The Kumar and Kumari problem
This one is specific enough to Bihar to be worth its own paragraph. Kumar or Kumari sits in the middle of a great many names here, and it is written in full on a matric certificate, abbreviated to an initial on a PAN card, and dropped entirely on a passport or an Aadhaar. Nobody made a mistake. It simply becomes a problem the moment two documents have to match.
What fixes it, and what does not
A gazette notification declaring one final written form fixes it at the root, instead of correcting one document at a time and hoping the next office agrees. What does not fix it is a fresh affidavit for each office, which is what many people try first.
Decide the form deliberately before drafting: middle name in full or as an initial, surname spelling settled, spacing fixed. Then reproduce it letter for letter on the affidavit, both notices and the proforma.
Changing a surname, on video
How to change a surname in Bihar बिहार में सरनेम कैसे बदलें
Which parts of Bihar do we serve?
All 38 districts, and every state or country you may be working in. The whole process runs online and by post, so your district does not matter, and neither does your current address.
Call 9540005002, WhatsApp 9540005064, or write to support@documentadvisor.in. Monday to Saturday, 9 AM to 6 PM. For the all-India process, see our complete name change service guide.
Related guides
Other states written up in the same detail, plus the national process, in case your records sit in more than one place.
What do the gazette terms actually mean?
The words that appear on every name change website, and the Bihar specific ones, in language people actually use.
- Gazette notification
- A formal announcement printed in the official journal of a Government. For a name change it is what Aadhaar, PAN, passport offices, banks, boards and employers accept as legal proof. It is not a court order.
- Central Gazette
- The Gazette of India, published by the Department of Publication in Civil Lines, Delhi. Accepted across India and by foreign missions, and the route Bihar applicants use.
- Part IV
- The section of the Gazette of India carrying notices from private people rather than from Government. Part IV belongs to the Central Gazette only.
- Controller of Publications
- The officer heading the Department of Publication, at Civil Lines, Delhi 110054. There is no Controller of Publications in Patna or anywhere in Bihar.
- Affidavit
- A written statement you swear is true, signed before a notary or attested before a First Class Magistrate, recording your old name, new name, parentage, address and the reason for the change. In Bihar it must come before the newspaper notices.
- Proforma
- The prescribed application format the Department of Publication requires, computer typed in two copies and signed by you and two witnesses. Handwritten copies are not accepted.
- BharatKosh
- The Non-Tax Receipt Portal at bharatkosh.gov.in, the only accepted channel for the Central Gazette fee. Demand drafts were discontinued.
- e-Gazette
- The portal at egazette.gov.in where published Central Gazette issues are searched and downloaded free. Since 1 October 2015 this is the only form the Gazette takes.
- BSEB
- The Bihar School Examination Board, which issues matric and intermediate certificates and runs its own correction process for names on them.
- Bihar Reorganisation Act, 2000
- Act 30 of 2000, which formed Jharkhand out of eighteen districts of Bihar with effect from 15 November 2000. It contains no clause saving existing records, contrary to what several guides claim.
- Second official language
- Under Section 3 of the Bihar Official Language Act, 1950, inserted by Bihar Act II of 1981, Urdu may be used as a second official language in areas the State Government notifies. Hindi in Devanagari script is the official language under Section 2.
- Registrar correction
- A correction to a birth or death record under Section 15 of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, through the body that issued it. Not a gazette matter.
What do you update after the gazette, and in what order?
The gazette is the middle of the journey, not the end. Doing this in the wrong order turns a four week job into a four month one.
| Order | Record | Why it comes here |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aadhaar | Almost everything else verifies against Aadhaar. Update it at an enrolment centre with the gazette PDF and your identity proof. |
| 2 | PAN card | The correction form asks for proof, and an updated Aadhaar makes this straightforward. |
| 3 | Bank accounts | Banks check the PAN and Aadhaar pair. Updating the bank before those two creates a mismatch you then have to undo. |
| 4 | Passport | Re-issue with the change of name, checking carefully how the given name and surname fields are filled, because that split is what foreign systems read. |
| 5 | Voter ID and driving licence | Straightforward once Aadhaar carries the new name. |
| 6 | EPFO or UAN and insurance | Employer linked records. HR usually needs the notification and the updated Aadhaar together. |
| 7 | BSEB, board and university records | Slowest of the lot. Each board and university runs its own correction process and charges its own fee. |
| 8 | Land, property, GST and business records | Through the registering authority and, where a firm is involved, the GST and business registrations. |
Aadhaar rules are on uidai.gov.in and passport re-issue rules on passportindia.gov.in.
Aadhaar first, then the licence
How to change a name in Aadhaar in Bihar बिहार में आधार कार्ड में नाम कैसे बदलें
How to change a name in a driving licence in Bihar ड्राइविंग लाइसेंस में नाम कैसे बदलें
Is a birth certificate mistake a gazette matter in Bihar?
No. If the error sits in a birth certificate, whether it is a wrong spelling, a wrong parent name or a missing child name, the fix is a Registrar correction under Section 15 of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969. You apply to the body that issued the certificate: your Nagar Nigam, Nagar Parishad or gram panchayat. The Civil Registration System portal is crsorgi.gov.in.
A gazette notification can support the file, but it does not rewrite the certificate itself, and agents who push every birth certificate case into a gazette application are charging you for the wrong process. The Registrar route is usually both cheaper and faster.
Birth certificate corrections, on video
How to change a name in a birth certificate in Bihar जन्म प्रमाण पत्र में नाम कैसे बदलें
How to change the father's name in a birth certificate in Bihar जन्म प्रमाण पत्र में पिता का नाम
Which special situations come up most in Bihar?
Four cases we see constantly.
BSEB and university records
A spelling on a matric or intermediate certificate that does not match the Aadhaar is one of the most common reasons people here start the process. The Bihar School Examination Board runs its own correction process, and universities have theirs. The gazette notification supports that application, especially for a bigger change, but the board's own procedure decides the outcome. Nobody can promise that a gazette alone rewrites a board certificate, and anyone who does is overselling. Ask the board what it needs before you choose anything.
Name change after marriage or after divorce
A woman adding her husband's surname follows the same three stages with the marriage certificate attached. Reverting to a maiden name after a divorce follows the same route with the decree attached. If you keep using your existing name and nothing on paper changes, you do not need a gazette at all. No court order is needed for either.
Name change for a minor child
A parent or legal guardian applies on the child's behalf. The affidavit is sworn by the parent, the child's birth certificate is attached, and the minor fee applies, commonly Rs 1,700 with the usual revision caveat. Both parents signing avoids objections later, and where a surname is changing after a divorce, expect to provide the other parent's consent or proof of sole custody.
Land, property and business records
A gazette notification does not update a land or property record by itself. Take the published notification to the registering authority, and where a firm is involved to the GST and business registrations, and follow each process. In Bihar, where land records often reach back through several administrations, expect the office to ask for the full chain rather than the notification alone.
What changes for Government employees in Bihar?
Central Government employees follow the Ministry of Home Affairs Office Memorandum No. 190016/1/87-Estt.(A) dated 12 March 1987: a deed of change of name is executed and routed through the department, so that the service book is updated alongside the gazette notification.
State Government employees in Bihar should likewise inform their department rather than doing the gazette quietly. A service record that does not match the published name creates a second problem, usually at promotion or pension, years later. Ask your department one thing before you spend anything: what they want on the record and in what order. Send us any departmental circular and we build the file around it.
Government employees, on video
How to change the name of a Government employee in Bihar सरकारी कर्मचारी का नाम कैसे बदलें
What names does the law not allow, and what do you gain by doing it properly?
You may take almost any name you like. Almost.
Names that will not be accepted
- A name taken in order to hide your identity
- A name taken to escape a debt, a liability or a legal proceeding
- A name that is obscene or offensive
- A name containing punctuation marks or symbols
- A name that impersonates another person for gain
A change of name does not erase anything behind you. Your old records stay linked through the notification itself, which names both the old and the new name. That is the point of publishing it.
What you gain by doing it legally
- Official recognition that every department works from, public or private
- One exact spelling that Aadhaar, PAN, bank, BSEB and passport records all follow
- A single version that reconciles a pre-2000 Bihar certificate with a current record
- A dated public record you can show any office that questions the change
- No lawyer and no court order needed, because this is an administrative process
What mistakes get Bihar applications rejected?
Every one of these is avoidable, and the fee is not refundable.
In the file itself
- Booking the newspaper notice before the affidavit exists, so the notice cannot carry the affidavit date and the details do not match. This is the single most common Bihar failure
- Kumar or Kumari present on one paper and missing on another, or a surname spelled two ways across the file
- Sending a cutting instead of the complete original page with the date visible
- A soft copy whose text does not match the hard copy, when a signed certificate says it does
- Documents older than one year, or a handwritten proforma where a typed one is required
Wrong route, or bad advice
- Travelling to a supposed gazette office in Patna to file a personal name change
- Waiting for a printed gazette to be delivered, when hard copies ceased on 1 October 2015
- Arranging a demand draft instead of paying on BharatKosh
- Taking a birth certificate error to the gazette instead of the Registrar under Section 15
- Letting an agent claim they will submit the file for you, when the Department entertains applications only from the applicant
Should you do it yourself or take professional help?
You can do the whole thing yourself, entirely by post, and no lawyer is required.
| Point of comparison | Doing it yourself | Using Documentadvisor |
|---|---|---|
| Money out | Rs 2,500 to Rs 6,000, if nothing goes wrong | Government charge plus a quoted service charge |
| Your time | A notary visit, two newspaper bookings, the file assembly and the speed post, plus the follow-up | About 30 minutes of sending scans and confirming the wording |
| The Bihar specific risk | The volume of contradictory information online. People set off to offices that do not handle their case, or wait for documents that will never arrive | We settle where the file actually goes before you spend anything |
| The judgement call | Whether this is a gazette matter at all, rather than a Registrar or board correction, and which exact spelling to declare | We settle that first, in writing, before anything is drafted |
| Risk of paying twice | The fee is non-refundable, and one mismatch means the file comes back after weeks | Every field and every line checked before anything is submitted |
| Best if | A plain change, one clear spelling, records all inside Bihar | A passport or visa, working outside the state, a pre-2000 certificate, a BSEB record, or a spelling that varies |
The trade is time and error risk. The affidavit wording, the notice wording, the proforma, the matching soft copy, the BharatKosh payment head and the file order all have to agree, and one mismatch means the file comes back after weeks with the fee gone. You can compare the whole range of name change services before deciding.
Your Trust and Security First
A name change means handing your identity documents to someone you have never met. We take that seriously, and we would rather be slow and correct than fast and wrong.
Your documents stay private
Your scans go to one advisor and one file. We do not resell your details, add you to a marketing list, or share your papers outside your case.
We work from the department's own guidelines
Not from a search result. The fees, the document list and the submission rule on this page come from the Department of Publication's published guidelines, and the reorganisation facts from the Bihar Reorganisation Act, 2000 itself.
We tell you what to ignore
No gazette counter in Patna, no doorstep delivery, no demand draft, no two week fast track. In Bihar, knowing which pages to ignore saves more money than knowing the process.
One exact written form, agreed in writing
Kumar or Kumari in or out, surname spelling settled, spacing fixed. We send it to you letter by letter and wait for your written confirmation before anything is typed or booked.
One advisor, start to finish
The same person handles your file from the first scan to the published notification, on the same number you first called, whether you are in Purnia or in the Gulf.
Your originals come back to you
Original newspaper pages and the affidavit come back once the file is accepted, and we keep a scanned set so a lost document years later is not a fresh problem.
Everything You Need, In One Place
One place for the paperwork people find hardest: gazette notifications, affidavits, newspaper advertisements, rental agreements and property papers. Drafted, checked and filed by a team that does it daily.
Document Services
India's trusted documentation consultant and newspaper ad portal
How It Works
Booking a service with Documentadvisor is as easy as 1-2-3. Sit back and let our team do the work.
Book
Call, WhatsApp or fill the form. Tell us your old name exactly as it appears on your oldest certificate, the complete new name you want, your district, and where the name has to be accepted, then send clear scans.
Schedule
We confirm the exact written form with you in writing, draft the affidavit, then schedule the Hindi and English notices and assemble the Delhi file with the fee paid on BharatKosh.
Relax
You sign and send the file, and we track it to publication, then send you a written checklist of which record to update next. No travel, no queues, no wrong office.
The questions Google gets asked most about Bihar
How can I change my name legally in Bihar?
Make a notarised affidavit first, publish the change in two newspapers, one Hindi and one English, then apply to the Central Gazette of India in Delhi with the prescribed proforma and the fee paid on BharatKosh. The notification in Part IV on egazette.gov.in is your legal proof.
Is there a gazette office in Bihar for a name change?
No. There is no public counter in Patna or anywhere in Bihar where an individual files a personal name change. The Department of Publication is at Civil Lines, Delhi 110054, and your file reaches it by post or courier.
Will the gazette office deliver my notification to my home?
No. The Gazette has been digital only since 1 October 2015, and no Government gazette office couriers notifications to applicants. You download the PDF yourself, free, from egazette.gov.in.
What is the Government fee for a gazette name change?
Commonly Rs 1,100 for adults and Rs 1,700 for minors, paid only through bharatkosh.gov.in, with Rs 250 extra where an adult adopts a name of another religion without changing religion. The Department's guidelines say the fee varies each financial year, so confirm the current amount before paying.
Should the affidavit or the newspaper notice come first?
The affidavit, always. Both the newspaper notice and the gazette file copy their details from it, including the affidavit date, so a notice published before the affidavit exists cannot match, and the file comes back.
My certificates were issued by Bihar but my district is now in Jharkhand. Are they valid?
Yes. They were validly issued when they were issued, and nothing in the Bihar Reorganisation Act, 2000 unmakes them, although the Act contains no clause saving records either, contrary to what several pages say. If the name differs across old and new records, one gazette notification gives every office a single version, valid in both states.
Start your Bihar name change today
Tell us your old name exactly as it appears on your oldest certificate, the complete new name you want, your district and where the name has to be accepted. We will tell you exactly what the file requires, the total cost and the timeline, before you pay anything.
- 📞Call 9540005002
Monday to Saturday, 9 AM to 6 PM - WhatsApp 9540005064
Send your scans here, it is the fastest way - ✉️support@documentadvisor.in
- 📍Near Hanuman Mandir, Metro Pillar No. 376, Near Burari Metro Station, Shop No. 2nd Ground Floor, Gali No. 1, Plot No. 31/12, Hardev Nagar, Jharoda Majra, Burari, Delhi 110084
Frequently asked questions on name change in Bihar
The questions we are asked on the phone every day.
Does Bihar have its own state gazette route for a personal name change?
I found an address for a gazette office in Patna. Should I go there?
Do I have to travel to Delhi?
Which comes first, the affidavit or the newspaper notice?
Which newspapers should I use?
How do I pay the gazette fee?
Can a service get it done in two to three weeks?
Will I get a printed gazette certificate by post?
Do I really need a CD for the file?
My name is spelled differently across my documents. What fixes it?
My certificates were issued by Bihar but my district is now in Jharkhand. Are they valid?
I work in Delhi, Gujarat or the Gulf. Can I apply from there?
Can a gazette alone correct my BSEB certificate?
Can I change my name after marriage without a court order?
How do I change my minor child's name in Bihar?
My birth certificate has a spelling mistake. Do I need the gazette?
Are the Rs 999 offers real, and is the fee refundable?
Can I fix a spelling mistake in my published notification?
People also search for: gazette office in Patna, Bihar state gazette name change, name change after marriage in Bihar, name change fees in Bihar, BSEB certificate name correction, deed poll in India, name change agent in Patna, gazette notification for name change in Bihar, name change in Gaya Muzaffarpur Bhagalpur, pre-2000 Bihar certificate Jharkhand.
Where can you verify all of this yourself?
Every fact above can be checked at these sources. Please do check them, and please type the addresses rather than clicking a search result.
- Department of Publication, Government of IndiaThe single Central Gazette office, Civil Lines, Delhi 110054, with the published change of name guidelines, the proforma and the current fee. A subordinate office of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
- The Gazette of India, e-Gazette portalSearch and download published notifications free. Your Part IV notification appears here, and physical hard copies ceased on 1 October 2015.
- BharatKosh, the Non-Tax Receipt PortalThe only accepted channel for the Central Gazette fee. Demand drafts and direct transfers were discontinued.
- Bihar Reorganisation Act, 2000, on India CodeAct 30 of 2000. Section 2 leaves the appointed day to notification, Section 3 formed Jharkhand out of eighteen districts, Sections 84 to 86 deal with laws and Sections 88 and 89 with pending proceedings. No section saves existing records.
- Government of Bihar official portalDepartment listings and district information for all 38 districts, and the state's own notifications.
- Bihar School Examination BoardThe board that issues matric and intermediate certificates and runs its own correction process for names on them.
- Civil Registration System, Registrar General of IndiaBirth and death registration, and the framework for Registrar corrections under Section 15 of the RBD Act, 1969.
- Unique Identification Authority of IndiaAadhaar name update rules, accepted proofs and enrolment centre locations.
- Passport SevaRe-issue with a change of name, the documents required, and how the given name and surname fields are filled.
- India PostSpeed post tracking for the file you send to Civil Lines, Delhi 110054. The only distance cost in the whole process.
The short version
Everything on this page in ten lines
- There is no gazette counter in Bihar for a personal name change. The one office is the Department of Publication, Civil Lines, Delhi 110054, and your file goes there by post.
- No Government gazette office delivers a notification to your home. Hard copies ceased on 1 October 2015 and you download the PDF free from egazette.gov.in.
- The order matters: affidavit first, then the two notices, then the file. The notices copy the affidavit date, so a notice published first cannot match.
- Notices go in one Hindi daily and one English daily circulating in your district. An Urdu daily is a reasonable regional choice where it circulates.
- The fee is commonly Rs 1,100 adult and Rs 1,700 minor, plus Rs 250 in one specific case, on BharatKosh only, revised each financial year and never by demand draft.
- The whole job takes 3 to 7 weeks. There is no expedited option, so a two to three week promise is about a company's own paperwork.
- Fix the exact spelling before anything is drafted. Kumar or Kumari in full on one paper and missing on another is the most common Bihar failure.
- The published guidelines still list a CD with the print matter in MS Word for the file, so prepare it.
- Pre-2000 Bihar certificates for districts now in Jharkhand stay valid, but not because of any savings clause, because the Act has none. Part IV is valid in both states.
- A birth certificate mistake is a Registrar correction under Section 15 of the RBD Act, 1969, through the Nagar Nigam, Nagar Parishad or gram panchayat.
Change your name once, and change it properly
Send us your documents on WhatsApp today. We will tell you exactly what your file needs, the total cost and the timeline before you pay anything. Patna, Gaya, Bhagalpur, Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga, every Bihar district, and applicants working outside the state.