Name Change Procedure in Goa
Almost every guide gives Goa the same answer used for the rest of India: affidavit, two newspaper advertisements, Central Gazette. For a person born in Goa that is the wrong process. Goa has its own statute, the Goa Change of Name and Surname Act, 1990, and since the 2022 amendment the application is decided by a court rather than by a Registrar. This page covers both routes, the eligibility test that now decides which one you may use, and what each really costs.
If your birth is registered in Goa and one of your parents or grandparents was born in Goa, you apply under the Goa Change of Name and Surname Act, 1990. Since the 2022 amendment that application goes to the Civil Judge Junior Division, with appeal to the District Judge. Everyone else, including people born outside Goa who live here, uses the Central Gazette route: notarised affidavit, two newspaper notices, and a signed file to the Department of Publication, Civil Lines, Delhi 110054, published in Part IV.
Why is the name change procedure in Goa different from every other state?
Because Goa is the one state in India with a dedicated statute for changing a personal name. Everywhere else a name change is a declaration you make and then publish. In Goa, for a person born here, it is an application decided by an authority, on the register that holds your birth entry, with objections, an enquiry and a right of appeal. That is a different kind of process, and it is why the generic all-India guide fails so badly here.
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, universities and employers treat it as the legal record of your new name. In Goa there is a second instrument that matters just as much: the order passed under the 1990 Act, which is what the birth register itself answers to.
At a glance
- Goa's own law
- The Goa Change of Name and Surname Act, 1990, Goa Act No. 8 of 1990, dated 3 September 1990
- Published in
- Official Gazette, Series I No. 25, dated 20 September 1990
- Who decides now
- The Civil Judge Junior Division, since the 2022 amendment. Appeal lies to the District Judge
- Who may use it
- A person born in Goa, whose birth is registered in Goa, with a parent or grandparent born in Goa
- Everyone else
- The Central Gazette route, through the Department of Publication, Civil Lines, Delhi 110054
- Newspapers
- Not part of the Goa Act route. Two dailies, one English and one local language, on the Central route
- Central fee
- Commonly Rs 1,100 adult and Rs 1,700 minor, on BharatKosh only, revised each financial year
- Goa route charges
- Ask the court office. No official figure is published, so treat quoted numbers as unverified
- Misuse is an offence
- Changing a name without following the procedure carries imprisonment of 7 days to 3 months, and the offence is cognizable
- Where to download
- egazette.gov.in for the Central Part IV notification. Goa's gazette is published by the Goa Government Printing Press
Key takeaways
- Goa is the only state in this series with its own name change statute: the Goa Change of Name and Surname Act, 1990, Goa Act No. 8 of 1990, dated 3 September 1990 and published in the Official Gazette, Series I No. 25 of 20 September 1990.
- The authority changed in 2022, and almost no guide has caught up. The Goa Change of Name and Surname (Amendment) Act, 2022, Goa Act No. 15 of 2022, replaced the Registrar with the Civil Judge Junior Division and the Chief Registrar with the District Judge. Pages still telling you to go to the Registrar are describing the old law.
- Eligibility is now a real test. The amended Section 3 covers a person born and whose birth is registered in the State of Goa, and whose parent or grandparent was born in Goa. If you do not meet it, the Goa Act route is not open to you.
- The 1990 Act replaced Portuguese law. Section 5 repealed Articles 178 and 179 of the Codigo do Registo Civil do Estado da India, approved by a Decree dated 9 November 1912, which had governed name changes in Goa until then.
- A 2019 amendment added a penalty. Goa Act No. 14 of 2019, dated 17 September 2019, made changing a name or surname without following the procedure punishable with imprisonment of not less than seven days and not more than three months, and made the offence cognizable.
- Born outside Goa but living here? The Central Gazette is your route. The Goa Act works on a Goa birth register entry, and you do not have one.
- The Central fee is commonly Rs 1,100 for adults and Rs 1,700 for minors, paid only through bharatkosh.gov.in and revised each financial year. Demand drafts are not accepted, whatever older Goa pages still instruct.
- There is no newspaper called the Times of Goa, no expedited gazette service, and India does not use deed poll. All three appear on widely shared Goa pages.
- A birth certificate mistake is a Registrar correction under Section 15 of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, through the body that issued the certificate.
The Goa name change process on video
Five short videos from our desk, placed through this page next to the section each one explains.
How to make a gazette notification in Goa
- How to make a gazette notification in GoaWhat a notification is, and what the Central file contains.
- Gazette office in Goa, and the address people search forWhy there is no Central Gazette counter in Goa.
- Documents required for a name change in GoaThe short Goa Act list, and the longer Central one.
- How to change a name in Aadhaar in GoaAadhaar first, because everything else verifies against it.
- How to change a name in a school record in GoaSchool and board records run their own correction process.
Did a Portuguese decree from 1912 govern Goan name changes until 1990?
Yes, for seventy eight years. That is why the process here still runs through the civil register rather than through Delhi.
Until 1990, changing a name in Goa was governed by the Codigo do Registo Civil do Estado da India, the civil registration code approved by a Decree dated 9 November 1912, from the Portuguese administration. Articles 178 and 179 of that code dealt with changes of name and surname. They survived the end of Portuguese rule in 1961 and the years of Union Territory administration that followed, because the incoming administration kept the existing civil law in place rather than sweeping it away.
They were finally replaced by the Goa Change of Name and Surname Act, 1990 (Goa Act No. 8 of 1990), dated 3 September 1990 and published in the Official Gazette, Series I No. 25, dated 20 September 1990. Section 5 repealed those two Portuguese Articles, with a saving so that anything already done under them stayed valid. Section 4 gave the Government power to make rules by notification in the Official Gazette, and the Goa Change of Name and Surname Rules, 1991 followed.
The Act has been amended twice since. Goa Act No. 14 of 2019, dated 17 September 2019, spelled out the grounds on which a change may be sought, including a wrong or improper entry and an unpleasant or distasteful name or surname, and added a penalty for changing a name without following the procedure. Goa Act No. 15 of 2022, published on 8 September 2022, moved the whole decision out of the civil registry and into the courts.
Born in Goa or not: which route actually applies to you?
This is the question that decides everything, and it is the one almost every guide skips.
The Goa Act is built around the birth register. Section 3 speaks of changing the name or surname as recorded in the birth register in the State of Goa, and the application goes to the authority for the jurisdiction in which that birth is recorded. If your birth was never registered in Goa, there is no Goa register entry to amend, so the route has nothing to work on. Go the other way and file a Central Gazette application when the Goa Act applies to you, and you have published a notification without touching the register your Goan documents actually flow from.
| Your situation | Route that applies | What you actually do |
|---|---|---|
| Born in Goa, birth registered in Goa, parent or grandparent born in Goa | The Goa Change of Name and Surname Act, 1990, as amended | Apply on the prescribed form to the Civil Judge Junior Division for the jurisdiction where your birth is recorded, with the affidavit, birth certificate and identity proof |
| Born outside Goa, living in Goa | Central Gazette of India | Notarised affidavit, two newspaper notices, and a signed file to the Department of Publication, Civil Lines, Delhi 110054 |
| Born in Goa but the name has to work nationally or abroad | Often both | Complete the Goa Act route first, then take a Central Gazette notification for the passport, central Government use and overseas records |
| Born in Goa but no parent or grandparent born here | Central Gazette of India | The amended eligibility test is not met, so the Goa Act route is not open. Use the Central route |
| Fixing an error in the birth certificate rather than changing the name | Section 15, Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 | Apply to the body that issued the certificate for a Registrar correction. Not a gazette matter at all |
Who may use the Goa Act route, and who decides now?
The single most out of date fact on the internet about Goa name changes.
Read almost any page about changing a name in Goa and it will send you to the Registrar, with an appeal to the Chief Registrar. That was correct until the Goa Change of Name and Surname (Amendment) Act, 2022 (Goa Act No. 15 of 2022), published on 8 September 2022. The amendment omitted the definitions of Registrar and Chief Registrar from Section 2 altogether, and in Section 3 substituted:
- the Civil Judge Junior Division in place of the Registrar, as the authority that decides the application; and
- the District Judge in place of the Chief Registrar, as the appellate authority.
The same amendment narrowed who may apply. The amended provision covers a person who is born and whose birth is registered in the State of Goa, and whose either parent or grandparent was born in the State of Goa. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant confirmed the position on the floor of the Legislative Assembly on 5 August 2025, stating that the verification power now rests with the Civil Judge Junior Division rather than the Civil Registrar, and that the District Judge is the appellate authority.
One honest caveat. The Goa Change of Name and Surname Rules, 1991 were framed around the Registrar, and they are what set the enquiry, the notice, the objection window and the forms. Since the deciding authority has moved to a court, confirm the current filing practice and the current forms at the Civil Judge Junior Division for your jurisdiction before you prepare anything. Any page that quotes you a confident counter-by-counter procedure for Goa today, including this one, should be checked against the court office, because the practice is newer than most of the published material about it.
Four claims about Goa that are wrong
Each of these is currently sitting in the Goa search results, and each one costs somebody time or money.
- That you need a deed poll. India does not use the British deed poll system, and no Indian name change application asks for one. A widely shared Goa page lists it among the documents to gather anyway. Collecting one achieves nothing.
- That there is a gazette office in Goa you visit. There is no counter in Goa where a private person files a Central Gazette application, and Government employees are not required to visit one either, despite a page saying an officer in charge will guide them there. The Central Gazette office is in Civil Lines, Delhi 110054, and the file reaches it by post or courier.
- That the notice must run in all major national newspapers. On the Central route the requirement is two dailies that genuinely circulate where you live, one English and one in the local language. On the Goa Act route newspaper advertisements are not how the application is made at all. And there is no newspaper called the Times of Goa; that masthead does not exist.
- That you pay the Central fee by demand draft. That route closed years ago. Payment is only through bharatkosh.gov.in, and no draft should be made out to a Controller of Publications in Goa, because no such officer exists here. Several Goa pages, including older versions of pages we ourselves published, still instruct it.
The gazette office people search for, on video
Gazette office in Goa, and the address people search for
The Goa Act route, step by step
Five stages, and the first one is finding the right office rather than the nearest one.
Find the right jurisdiction
The court for the place where your birth is recorded, not the one nearest your current address.
Affidavit and three documents
An affidavit affirming the facts, a copy of the birth certificate and a copy of your identity proof.
Application, enquiry, order
Filed on the prescribed form, notice and objections, then an order, with an appeal if it is refused.
Step 1: identify the right jurisdiction
Your application belongs to the jurisdiction in which your birth is recorded, not the one nearest to where you live now. If you were born in Margao and live in Panaji, the Margao jurisdiction is where the file goes. Confirm which registry holds your birth record before you prepare anything, because everything after this depends on it. Since the 2022 amendment the deciding authority is the Civil Judge Junior Division for that jurisdiction, so ask the court office directly how applications are being received there now.
Step 2: prepare the affidavit and the supporting documents
The list is refreshingly short compared with the Central route:
- An affidavit, as an affirmation of the facts, on stamp paper, carrying your name, date of birth and parents' names
- A photocopy of your birth certificate
- A photocopy of your identity proof, such as Aadhaar, PAN, ration card, passport, driving licence or voter ID
Decide the exact spelling and spacing of the new name at this point. Whatever the order records is what your register entry and every document flowing from it will carry.
Step 3: file the application on the prescribed form
The application is made on the form prescribed under the Goa Change of Name and Surname Rules, 1991, commonly referred to as Form A. It goes in with the documents above, and it cannot be submitted without them, so take them with you rather than expecting to add them later. Because the deciding authority moved to the courts in 2022 while the rules were written around the Registrar, ask the court office to confirm the current form and the current filing counter before you fill anything in.
Step 4: the enquiry, the objection window and the order
Your application is not simply stamped and filed. Under the rules the authority conducts an enquiry: it may examine you and any witnesses and record their statements. Notice of the application is published, and there is an objection window reported at thirty days, during which anyone may object. Where objections are received, you are given an opportunity to make your representation against them, and the order is required within sixty days of the application. If you are refused, an appeal lies to the District Judge, and the order in appeal is final. That is a real statutory second look, and it is worth knowing about before you accept a refusal at the counter.
Step 5: the record and the Goa Gazette
Where the order is favourable, the change is carried into the register record and the notification is published in the Goa Gazette, which is published by the Goa Government Printing Press. In current practice the change is reflected in the certificate issued from the register, Form B, while the original birth certificate entry itself is not overwritten. Keep copies of both the order and the published notification, because different offices ask for different ones. Confirm the exact output with the court office, since this part of the practice has moved more recently than most published guidance about it.
The Central Gazette route, step by step
For people born outside Goa, and for Goa-born applicants who also need a nationally recognised notification.
Step 1: fix the exact name, then notarise the affidavit
Get an affidavit drafted on non-judicial stamp paper stating your old name, new name, your father's or husband's name, your full address in Goa and a clear reason for the change, then sign it before a notary. Stamp paper and notary together usually cost Rs 100 to Rs 500. Settle the exact spelling and spacing at this stage, because everything after this has to match it letter for letter.
Step 2: publish in two newspapers
Publish the same notice in two dailies that genuinely circulate where you live, one English and one in the local language. There is no requirement to advertise in every national newspaper, whatever some pages say, and the newspaper has to be a real one. The notice carries your old name, new name, address, age, parentage and the affidavit date, in exactly the affidavit's form. Keep the complete original printed pages with the dates clearly visible, not cuttings. Two notices usually cost Rs 800 to Rs 4,000.
Step 3: prepare the file for Delhi
The Department's published guidelines list: the original newspaper page, a signed undertaking carrying your old and new name, parentage and address, two copies of the prescribed proforma typed and signed by you and two witnesses, 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, two self-attested passport size photographs and a self-attested photocopy of photo identity, and a request letter to the Controller of Publications. Keep every supporting document less than one year old.
Step 4: pay 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, and the Department's own guidelines state that the amount varies each financial year and varies from case to case, so confirm the current figure on deptpub.gov.in before paying. It is not refundable. Do not arrange a demand draft in favour of the Controller of Publications; that route closed years ago, though several Goa pages still instruct it.
Step 5: send the file and download the notification
Send the complete file by post or courier to the Department of Publication, Civil Lines, Delhi 110054. Applications are entertained only from the applicant, personally or by post or courier, which is why an honest consultant prepares and checks your file while you sign and send it. Your notification appears in Part IV of the Gazette of India about 30 to 45 days after the file reaches Delhi. Hard copies ceased on 1 October 2015, so you open the issue on egazette.gov.in, search the PDF for your name, and download the whole gazette as your copy. It needs no further certification.
What documents are required for a name change in Goa?
Two very different lists, because the two routes are two different processes.
The Goa Act route
- An affidavit affirming the facts, on stamp paper, with your name, date of birth and parents' names
- A photocopy of your birth certificate, showing the entry registered in Goa
- A photocopy of your identity proof: Aadhaar, PAN, ration card, passport, driving licence or voter ID
- The prescribed application form, commonly called Form A, filled and signed
- Proof of the Goa birth of a parent or grandparent, where the office asks for it under the amended eligibility test
- Where a minor is the applicant, the parent or guardian applies and the child's birth certificate is central
The Central Gazette route
- Notarised affidavit on non-judicial stamp paper, hard copy
- Complete original newspaper pages of both notices, dates visible
- Two copies of the prescribed proforma, typed, signed by you and two witnesses
- A CD with the print matter in MS Word, without the witness portion, and a certificate signed by you that the hard and soft copies match
- Aadhaar or other Government photo identity in the old name, self-attested
- Two self-attested passport size photographs, and a request letter to the Controller of Publications
- Marriage certificate or divorce decree, where the change follows one
- Deed attested by the Indian Embassy or Consulate, if you apply from abroad
- Departmental deed, if you are a Central Government employee
The document list, on video
Documents required for a name change in Goa
What does a name change in Goa really cost?
Short answer: the Central fee is commonly Rs 1,100 for an adult, and the Goa Act route is lighter because there are no newspaper advertisements.
| Item | Typical amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Stamp paper and notary for the affidavit | Rs 100 to Rs 500 | Needed on both routes. Ask your notary what is current. |
| Goa Act route: court and gazette charges | Ask the court office | No reliable public figure. Treat numbers on private sites, such as a quoted Rs 1,500 to Rs 3,000, as unverified. |
| Two newspaper notices, Central route only | Rs 800 to Rs 4,000 | One English and one local language daily. Not part of the Goa Act route at all. |
| 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. |
| Applying from abroad, Central route | Around Rs 7,500 to Rs 9,000 | Government fee plus embassy or consulate attestation of the deed and courier. |
| Gazette PDF retrieval | Free | A published gazette is a public record. Nobody should charge you to fetch it. |
| Realistic self-done total | Rs 500 to Rs 6,000 | The lower end is the Goa Act route, the higher end the Central route with two notices. |
| 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 Goa?
Short answer: roughly two to three months on the Goa Act route, 3 to 7 weeks on the Central route, and no paid fast track on either.
Day 1 to 3
The exact new name settled in writing, the birth jurisdiction confirmed, documents collected and the affidavit drafted and affirmed.
Goa route: up to 60 days
Application filed, notice published, an objection window reported at thirty days, the enquiry, and the order due within sixty days of the application.
Central route: day 2 to 9
Notices booked in two dailies. Publication follows each paper's schedule, so allow 2 to 7 days, then collect the complete pages.
Central route: then 30 to 45 days
Two to four days to prepare and send, the fee paid on BharatKosh, then publication in Part IV about 30 to 45 days after the file arrives.
Plan for roughly two to three months on the Goa Act route, including the gazette publication that follows a favourable order, and 3 to 7 weeks on the Central route. If your case needs both, start the Goa application first, because the register entry is what everything else should be built on.
Why do Goa-origin families abroad run into this more often?
Because Goa has an unusually large diaspora, and foreign systems split a name at a different point than Indian ones.
Goans have lived and worked in Portugal, the United Kingdom, the Gulf and East Africa for generations, and mismatches surface far more often outside India than inside it. The usual trigger is the same every time: a passport that splits the name one way, a foreign registration that splits it another, and an Indian birth certificate that agrees with neither. Nothing was wrong until three systems had to agree.
The sequence that actually works
- If your birth is registered in Goa, fix the register entry first through the Goa Act route
- Then take a Central Gazette notification if you need a nationally and internationally recognised record
- Then apply for the passport re-issue against that notification
- Then update the overseas records: visa, foreign registration, employer, university and bank files
- Doing it the other way round leaves the register saying one thing while the gazette says another
Running the Central route from outside India
Execute the deed and get it attested by the Indian Embassy or Consulate, publish the two notices where you live in Goa, and apply to the Department of Publication in Delhi by post or courier. Family in Goa can send the file, but the papers must carry your own signature.
Budget around Rs 7,500 to Rs 9,000 all in, because embassy or consulate attestation and international courier sit on top of the Government fee. Download the published Part IV notification from egazette.gov.in, anywhere in the world.
Which parts of Goa do we serve?
Both districts and every taluka, plus Goa-origin families living abroad. The Central route runs entirely online and by post, and the Goa Act route runs from the jurisdiction that holds your birth record.
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 Goa name change terms actually mean?
The words that appear on every name change website, and the Goa specific ones, in language people actually use.
- Goa Change of Name and Surname Act, 1990
- Goa Act No. 8 of 1990, dated 3 September 1990, the state's own statute for changing a name or surname recorded in the birth register. It is the reason Goa's process differs from every other state.
- Form A
- The prescribed application form under the Goa Change of Name and Surname Rules, 1991, filed with an affidavit, a birth certificate photocopy and an identity proof photocopy.
- Form B
- The certificate issued from the register. In current practice it is Form B that carries the change once an order is passed, while the original birth certificate entry is not overwritten.
- Civil Judge Junior Division
- Since the 2022 amendment, the authority that decides a name change application under the Goa Act. It replaced the Registrar, and appeals now go to the District Judge.
- Codigo do Registo Civil
- The Portuguese-era civil registration code for the Estado da India, approved by a Decree of 9 November 1912. Its Articles 178 and 179 governed Goan name changes until the 1990 Act repealed them.
- Goa Government Printing Press
- The office that publishes the Official Gazette of the Government of Goa, in its own series. The 1990 Act itself appeared in Series I No. 25.
- Central Gazette
- The Gazette of India, published by the Department of Publication in Civil Lines, Delhi 110054. Accepted across India and by foreign missions.
- 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 Goa.
- Affidavit
- A written statement you swear or affirm is true, signed before a notary, recording your old name, new name, parentage, address and the reason for the change.
- BharatKosh
- The Non-Tax Receipt Portal at bharatkosh.gov.in, the only accepted channel for the Central Gazette fee. Demand drafts were discontinued.
- 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 name change and not a gazette matter.
What do you update after the order or the gazette, and in what order?
The order is the middle of the journey, not the end. Doing this in the wrong sequence turns a two month job into a six month one.
| Order | Record | Why it comes here |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aadhaar | Almost everything else verifies against Aadhaar. Update it at an enrolment centre with the order and gazette copy, or the Central notification, 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 | School, board and university records | Slowest of the lot. Each board and university runs its own correction process and charges its own fee. |
| 8 | Property, revenue and business records | Through the registering authority, with the order or published notification as your proof. |
Aadhaar rules are on uidai.gov.in and passport re-issue rules on passportindia.gov.in.
Aadhaar first, then the rest
How to change a name in Aadhaar in Goa गोवा में आधार कार्ड में नाम कैसे बदलें
Is a birth certificate mistake a name change in Goa?
No, and in Goa the distinction matters more than anywhere else, because the two things run through different processes. If the register entry is right and you want a different name going forward, that is a name change, and for a person born and registered in Goa it runs under the 1990 Act. If the entry itself is wrong, a misspelling, a wrong parent's name or a missing child name, that is a correction under Section 15 of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, made through the body that issued the certificate. The Civil Registration System portal is crsorgi.gov.in.
A gazette notification can support a correction file, but it does not rewrite the certificate itself, and an agent who pushes every case down one path is charging you for the wrong process. The Registrar route is usually both cheaper and faster.
Which special situations come up most in Goa?
Four cases we see constantly, starting with the one that is genuinely Goan.
Portuguese-era and older spellings
Goan records carry naming conventions from a long Portuguese administrative period, and older entries often differ from modern ones in spelling, in accents and in the order of family names. A birth register entry may read differently from a school certificate issued decades later, and both may differ from an Aadhaar record. That is exactly what the Goa Act route was built for, because it works on the register entry the others were derived from rather than layering a new declaration on top. Where the route is closed to you, a Central Gazette notification declaring one exact written form does the same job by a different means.
Name change after marriage
A woman changing her surname after marriage follows the route her birth record dictates: the Goa Act route if her birth is registered in Goa and the eligibility test is met, the Central route otherwise, with the marriage certificate attached in either case. Reverting after a divorce follows the same route with the decree attached. And if you keep using your existing name and nothing on paper changes, you do not need either process.
Name change for a minor child
A parent or legal guardian applies on the child's behalf. On the Goa Act route the application concerns the child's own birth register entry, so the birth certificate is central and the child's own eligibility is what is tested, not the parent's. On the Central route the parent swears the affidavit, attaches the birth certificate and pays the minor fee, commonly Rs 1,700 with the usual revision caveat. Where a surname is changing after a divorce, expect to provide the other parent's consent or proof of sole custody.
Property, revenue and business records
An order or a gazette notification does not update a property or revenue record by itself. Take it to the registering authority, and where a firm is involved to the GST and business registrations, and follow each process. In Goa, where property records often reach back through Portuguese-era documentation, expect the office to ask for the full chain rather than the notification alone.
School and board records, on video
How to change a name in a school record in Goa
What changes for Government employees in Goa?
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. No visit to any gazette office in Goa is involved, despite a page telling Goan employees that an officer in charge will guide them at one. There is no such office.
State Government employees in Goa should likewise inform their department rather than doing the process quietly. A service record that does not match the changed name creates a second problem, usually at promotion or pension, years later. Ask your department one thing before you spend anything: which instrument they want on the record, the order under the Goa Act or the Central notification, and in what order. Send us any departmental circular and we build the file around it.
What does the law not allow, and what happens if you ignore the procedure?
Goa is the one state where the answer to the second question is a criminal one.
Names and reasons 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 order or the notification itself, which names both the old and the new name. That is the point of publishing it.
The Goa penalty, which is unusual
The Goa Change of Name and Surname (Amendment) Act, 2019 (Goa Act No. 14 of 2019), dated 17 September 2019, inserted a penal provision. Whoever changes a name or surname or both without following the procedure under the Act is punishable with imprisonment of not less than seven days and not more than three months, and the offence was made cognizable under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
The same 2019 amendment also set out the grounds on which a change may be sought, which include a wrong or improper entry and an unpleasant or distasteful name or surname. Read together with the 2022 eligibility test, Goa treats a surname change as a matter of record and lineage, not simply preference.
What delays or defeats a Goa name change application?
Every one of these is avoidable, and on the Central route the fee is not refundable.
Wrong route, wrong office
- Following a generic all-India guide and filing a Central Gazette application when you were born and registered in Goa and the Act route applies
- Going to the Registrar, because a page written before 2022 said so. The application is now decided by the Civil Judge Junior Division
- Applying in the jurisdiction nearest your current address rather than the one where your birth is recorded
- Assuming you qualify without checking the parent or grandparent condition added in 2022
- Accepting a refusal without knowing that an appeal lies to the District Judge
In the file itself
- Turning up with the form but without the birth certificate or identity photocopies, so it cannot be submitted
- Newspaper wording that does not match the affidavit on the Central route, even by one letter
- Submitting cuttings instead of complete original newspaper pages with the date visible
- Documents older than one year in the Central file
- Arranging a demand draft instead of paying on BharatKosh, or collecting a deed poll that no Indian process asks for
Should you do it yourself or take professional help?
The Goa Act route is genuinely simple on paper: one form, three documents, one office. Most people can do it themselves, and honestly should.
| Point of comparison | Doing it yourself | Using Documentadvisor |
|---|---|---|
| Money out | Rs 500 to Rs 6,000, depending on the route | Government charge plus a quoted service charge |
| Your time | A notary visit, the court office on the Goa route, or two newspaper bookings and the Delhi file on the Central one | About 30 minutes of sending scans and confirming the wording |
| The judgement call | Which route your birth record actually puts you on, and whether you meet the 2022 eligibility test | We settle that first, before anything is drafted or paid for |
| The Goa specific risk | Following advice written for the pre-2022 law, or for the rest of India, and losing months | We work from the amended Act and confirm the current practice with the office |
| Risk of paying twice | The Central fee is non-refundable, and a wrong route means starting again | Every field and every line checked before anything is submitted |
| Best if | A plain change, birth clearly registered in Goa, records staying in Goa | A passport or visa, a diaspora case, an eligibility question, a birth certificate error, or both routes together |
The value of help in Goa sits in the judgement before the paperwork: working out which route your birth record puts you on, whether your case is a name change or a Registrar correction, and whether you additionally need a Central notification for a passport or overseas use. Getting that wrong is what costs people months. 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 read the Act, not the search results
Goa's law changed in 2019 and again in 2022. This page is written from the amended Act and from what the Chief Minister told the Assembly in August 2025, which is why it differs from almost every ranking page about Goa.
We settle the route before you spend
Goa Act or Central Gazette, and whether your case is a name change at all rather than a Registrar correction. Getting this wrong costs a non-refundable fee and two months.
One exact written form, agreed in writing
Spelling, accents, the order of family names and spacing fixed. We send it to you letter by letter and wait for your written confirmation before anything is typed or filed.
One advisor, start to finish
The same person handles your file from the first scan to the order or the published notification, on the same number you first called. You never repeat your case to somebody new.
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, the complete new name you want, where your birth is registered, and where the name has to be accepted, then send clear scans.
Schedule
We confirm the route and the exact written form with you in writing, draft the affidavit, then prepare either the Goa Act application or the notices and the Delhi file.
Relax
You sign and file or send, and we track it to the order or publication, then send you a written checklist of which record to update next. No wrong route, no wasted fee.
The questions Google gets asked most about Goa
How do I change my name in Goa if I was born here?
You apply under the Goa Change of Name and Surname Act, 1990, on the prescribed form, with an affidavit, a photocopy of your birth certificate and a photocopy of your identity proof. Since the 2022 amendment the application is decided by the Civil Judge Junior Division for the jurisdiction where your birth is recorded, not by the Registrar.
Do I need newspaper advertisements for a name change in Goa?
Not on the Goa Act route, which works on the birth register through the court. Two newspaper notices are required on the Central Gazette route, which is what applies if you were born outside Goa or you need a nationally recognised notification.
What if my application is rejected?
An appeal lies to the District Judge, and the order passed in appeal is final. Before the 2022 amendment the appeal lay to the Chief Registrar, which is what most published guidance still says. A refusal at the counter is not the end of the matter.
How long does a name change take in Goa?
On the Goa Act route the order is required within sixty days of the application, with a notice and objection stage inside that, followed by the gazette publication. On the Central route publication in Part IV takes about 30 to 45 days after the file reaches Delhi.
Which law governs name changes in Goa?
The Goa Change of Name and Surname Act, 1990, Goa Act No. 8 of 1990, dated 3 September 1990, as amended in 2019 and 2022. It replaced Articles 178 and 179 of the Portuguese-era Codigo do Registo Civil do Estado da India of 1912.
Can anyone living in Goa use the Goa Act route?
No. The amended provision covers a person born in Goa whose birth is registered in Goa and whose parent or grandparent was born in Goa. If you do not meet that test, the Central Gazette route is the one open to you, and it works perfectly well.
Start your Goa name change today
Tell us your old name, the complete new name you want, where your birth is registered and where the name has to be accepted. We will tell you which route your case needs, whether you meet the 2022 eligibility test, 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 Goa
The questions we are asked on the phone every day.
Is the name change process in Goa really different from the rest of India?
Who decides my application now, the Registrar or a court?
Am I eligible for the Goa Act route?
Which office do I apply to?
What documents does the Goa application need?
How long does the decision take?
Can I appeal a refusal?
Who handles the Goa Gazette publication?
I was born outside Goa but live here. Which route?
I was born in Goa but need my name for a passport and work abroad. What should I do?
Is there a newspaper called the Times of Goa?
Can I pay extra to get it done faster?
How do I pay the Central Gazette fee?
Do I need a deed poll?
Do Government employees have to visit a gazette office in Goa?
My birth certificate has a spelling mistake. Is that a name change?
Are the Rs 999 offers real?
Will I get a printed Central Gazette copy by post?
People also search for: Goa Change of Name and Surname Act 1990, Form A name change Goa, Civil Judge Junior Division name change Goa, gazette office in Goa, name change in Panaji, name change in Margao, deed poll in India, Goa gazette name change fees, name change agent in Goa, Goa born NRI name change passport.
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.
- The Goa Change of Name and Surname Act, 1990, on India CodeGoa Act No. 8 of 1990, dated 3 September 1990. Section 3 on the application, Section 4 on rule making, and Section 5 repealing Articles 178 and 179 of the Codigo do Registo Civil do Estado da India of 1912.
- Goa Government Printing PressPublishes the Official Gazette of the Government of Goa in its own series, and hosts the Manual of Goa Laws. The 1990 Act appeared in Series I No. 25 dated 20 September 1990.
- Legislative Assembly of the State of GoaThe text of the Goa Change of Name and Surname (Amendment) Bill, 2022, which substituted the Civil Judge Junior Division and the District Judge and narrowed who may apply.
- 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.
- The Gazette of India, e-Gazette portalSearch and download published Central Gazette notifications free. Your Part IV notification appears here, and 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.
- 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.
- Government of Goa official portalDepartment listings and district information for North Goa and South Goa and every taluka.
The short version
Everything on this page in ten lines
- Goa has its own name change statute: the Goa Change of Name and Surname Act, 1990, Goa Act No. 8 of 1990, dated 3 September 1990.
- Since the 2022 amendment the application is decided by the Civil Judge Junior Division, and the appeal lies to the District Judge. The Registrar and Chief Registrar are out of the picture.
- Eligibility: born in Goa, birth registered in Goa, and a parent or grandparent born in Goa. Miss any part of it and the route is closed.
- Born outside Goa, or not eligible? The Central Gazette route applies: affidavit, two newspaper notices, and a file to Civil Lines, Delhi 110054.
- The Goa route needs no newspaper advertisements at all. That belongs to the Central route only.
- The order is due within sixty days of the application, after an enquiry and an objection window reported at thirty days.
- Central fee: commonly Rs 1,100 adult and Rs 1,700 minor, on BharatKosh only, revised each financial year and never by demand draft.
- No official figure is published for the Goa route's charges, so ask the office rather than trusting a number on a private site.
- Changing a name without following the procedure is an offence under the 2019 amendment: seven days to three months imprisonment, and cognizable.
- A birth certificate mistake is a Registrar correction under Section 15 of the RBD Act, 1969, not a name change and not a gazette matter.
Change your name once, and change it properly
Send us your documents on WhatsApp today. We will tell you which route your birth record puts you on, the total cost and the timeline before you pay anything. Panaji, Margao, Vasco da Gama, Mapusa, Ponda, every taluka, and Goa-origin families abroad.