How to Change Name Legally in Patna: Full Guide

The process

The 3-Step Name Change Process in Patna

Every legal name change in India, Patna included, runs through the same three stages. Doing one or two of them does not finish the job.

Notarised affidavit

Declare your old name, new name, father's or husband's name, address and reason, on non-judicial stamp paper, signed before a notary public.

Newspaper publication

Publish the notice in two papers, one Hindi and one English. Keep the full original printed pages, not photos.

Gazette notification

Submit the affidavit, both cuttings, ID and address proof, photo, declaration, soft copy and fee. Once published, this is your permanent legal proof.

Watch the full gazette notification process for a Patna name change, from affidavit to the published notice.

Step 1: Make and notarise the affidavit

You swear an affidavit on non-judicial stamp paper stating your old name, new name, father's or husband's name, address, and the reason for the change. It is signed before a Notary Public. In Patna you can buy stamp paper through authorised vendors and get it notarised easily across the city.

Step 2: Publish the change in a newspaper — one is the rule

The Department of Publication's guidelines are unambiguous, and nine of the twelve pages ranking for this topic get it wrong: "Change of name should be advertised in one of the daily local leading newspapers stating therein Father's/Husband's name along with residential address and forward it in original to this department." One newspaper. The minor guidelines say the same, and the name-and-gender guidelines go further with "One recent advertisement Only in Daily Local National Newspaper (In Original)."

In Patna, the Hindi dailies people typically use are Dainik Jagran, Hindustan and Prabhat Khabar; for English, The Times of India and Hindustan Times. But note we are describing common practice, not an approved list — no Bihar or Central government source empanels or approves any newspaper for a name-change notice. The only test in the guidelines is the qualitative phrase "a daily local leading newspaper", and it names no title. Any page presenting a list of "government-approved Patna newspapers" invented that approval.

So why does everyone tell you two? Because downstream verifiers ask for two. Passport Seva's annexure accepts "clippings of two local news papers or the Gazette notification", and some banks follow suit. That is a passport requirement, not a gazette requirement, and agents have merged the two lists. Our advice: run one if the gazette is the goal; run two if a passport re-issue is next, because the second insertion costs far less than a rejected passport file. Nobody can reject your gazette application for having run one.

Three rules about the newspaper that cause more rejections than anything else. Submit the complete original newspaper — the checklist item reads simply "Original newspaper" and tells you to "forward it in original". Have the advertisement highlighted on the page. And keep it recent. Documents once submitted are never returned, so buy several copies of that day's paper before you post anything to Delhi.

Step 3: File for the gazette notification

You submit the affidavit, both newspaper cuttings, ID and address proof, a passport-size photo, a signed declaration and a soft copy, along with the government fee. For the state route, the file goes through the Bihar Secretariat or Gulzarbagh press process. For the Central route it goes to the Department of Publication, Civil Lines, Delhi-110054, and your notice is printed in Part IV of the Gazette of India. Once published, the gazette notification is your permanent legal proof.

Order matters: the affidavit always comes first. The newspaper ad and the gazette proforma both copy their details from it, so fix the exact spelling before you sign.

The big question

Bihar State Gazette vs Central Gazette: Which Should a Patna Resident Use?

Both are legally valid. The right choice depends on where you need the name recognised. Because Patna is the state capital, the Bihar state gazette is published right here.

Point	Bihar State Gazette	Central Gazette of India
Run by	Bihar Secretariat Press, Gulzarbagh, Patna (Finance Department)	Department of Publication, Delhi
Published in	Bihar State Gazette	Part IV, Gazette of India
Valid for	Within Bihar	All of India and abroad
Can a citizen apply?	Not online, and no documented counter process. The portal login reads "Only For Administrator and Department User"	Yes. In person, or by post or courier from Patna
Published fee	None published anywhere	Rs 1,100 adult, Rs 1,700 minor, published with sources
Published document checklist	None	A seven-item list, verbatim
Published processing time	None	None either — every day-count online is an estimate
Download	egazette.bihar.gov.in	egazette.gov.in
Best for	Records staying inside Bihar	Passport, PAN, Aadhaar, banks, embassies

Use the Central Gazette if

You need the change for a passport, visa or embassy; you are updating PAN or Aadhaar and want the most trusted proof; your employer runs strict background verification; you work in, or plan to apply for, a central government job; or your records will travel outside Bihar. The Central Gazette is accepted everywhere without question, which is why it is the safest pick for anything that leaves the state.

Should you use the Bihar State Gazette?

We changed our answer on this, and we are going to show you why. This page previously suggested the Bihar State Gazette as a reasonable choice if your records were staying inside Bihar. Having gone through the state's own portal properly, that advice does not survive contact with the evidence. The full findings are below, but in short: the Bihar Gazette genuinely does publish name changes, and there is genuinely no documented way for a private citizen to apply for one. For a Patna resident today, the Central Gazette is the route with a published fee, a published checklist and an address you can actually post a file to.

One clarification: the Central Gazette is only mandatory for central government employees. For everyone else it is a strong recommendation for wide acceptance, not a legal compulsion.

Filing from elsewhere in Bihar, or moving for work? The gazette routes are identical across the state. See the full Bihar name change guide for the parent state, the Jharkhand guide next door, the Lucknow guide for UP, and the Delhi guide for where the central files land.

A common search

The Gazette Office in Patna: Gulzarbagh, and Where Central Files Go

Many people search for a "gazette office in Patna." Here is the practical geography, so you do not waste a trip.

Watch how the gazette notification file is prepared and submitted for a Patna name change, whether through the Gulzarbagh press or the Central route.

Because Patna is the state capital, the Bihar state gazette is published here, by the Bihar Secretariat Press, also known as the Gulzarbagh Government Printing Press, which operates under the Finance Department and has issued the state's official gazette for over a century. The state e-Gazette portal is at egazette.bihar.gov.in, where you can search and download published notifications.

If you use the Central Gazette (Gazette of India), your file goes to the Department of Publication, Civil Lines, Delhi-110054, published in Part IV and downloadable from egazette.gov.in. There is no Central Gazette counter in Patna, so that file travels to Delhi.

One correction worth making: some websites describe a Bihar name change as being published in "Part IV." Part IV is specifically the Central Gazette (Gazette of India). The Bihar State Gazette is a separate state publication issued from Gulzarbagh. Knowing which one you are applying to matters, because they are different offices with different acceptance.

What we actually found

Can You Apply for a Bihar Gazette Name Change? We Went and Checked.

"Bihar gazette name change online" is one of the most searched phrases in this topic. Several pages ranking for it walk you through a portal application. We opened the portal. Here is what is really there.

Quick Answer

The Bihar Gazette does publish name changes — but there is no documented way for a private citizen to apply for one. The submission login at egazette.bihar.gov.in reads "Only For Administrator and Department User", with no citizen registration link. No fee schedule for a private name-change notice is published anywhere on a Bihar government site. No document checklist, no application form and no processing time are published either. What a citizen can do on that portal is search and download notifications that have already been printed. For an actual application from Patna, the Gazette of India, Part IV is the route with a published fee, a published checklist and an address that accepts post.

First, the good news: the state route is real

Some pages claim Bihar has no gazette of its own. That is wrong. The publication is The Bihar Gazette, carrying the masthead "REGISTERED NO. PT.-40 · PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY", and the imprint at the foot of an issue reads verbatim: "PUBLISHED AND PRINTED BY THE SUPERINTENDENT, BIHAR SECRETARIAT PRESS, PATNA." The portal states that "The Bihar Secretariat Printing Press, Gulzarbagh works under the Finance Department, Government of Bihar, Patna."

And it genuinely carries private name changes. The portal's own notification list shows entries 454 to 460, subject "Name Change", issued by the Office of Superintendent, Bihar Sec Pres, dated 13 May 2025, type Ordinary — out of more than 41,000 published notifications. So the state gazette is not a myth, and name changes do get printed in it.

Now the part nobody publishes

What you would need to apply	What Bihar actually publishes
A citizen login or registration	The submission login says "Only For Administrator and Department User". There is no citizen sign-up link
A fee schedule	None exists. We searched the portal's home, contact, sitemap, notification and search pages. There is no rate card and no fee circular for a private notice
An application form	None published
A document checklist	None published
A processing time	None published
Office timings or a street address	The official contact page gives only "Gulzarbagh, Patna" — no street, no PIN, no email, no timings

Which means any "Bihar Gazette fee" you have been quoted is a service price, not a government charge. Because there is no citizen submission channel, there is nothing for a citizen fee schedule to attach to. We have seen Rs 200 to Rs 500 quoted, and we have seen the Central slabs of Rs 1,100 to Rs 1,700 printed under a heading reading "Gazette Notification Fee in Bihar". Neither is a Bihar government fee, because no Bihar government fee for this has ever been published.

And no, RTPS does not do name changes either

Several pages send Patna readers to RTPS / ServicePlus Bihar for a gazette name change. We read the state's own e-District service catalogue, which lists 93 services across 10 departments. Here is what is actually on it:

General Administration: residence, caste and income certificates at RO, SDO and DM levels plus Tatkal, non-creamy-layer certificates, EWS certificate
Planning & Development: birth registration and certificate, death registration and certificate
Home: character certificate
Labour Resources: factory, boiler, shops and establishment, contract labour, trade union and migrant worker licences
Others: tourism recognitions, social welfare pensions, non-forest land certificate, clinical establishment registration, notary appointment applications for advocates, and educational certificates marked "under configuration"

Name change is not on that list. Gazette notification is not on that list. Neither appears anywhere in the 93 services, and neither appears on the live portal menu. If a website tells you to apply for a gazette name change through an RTPS counter, it has not looked.

The Gulzarbagh contact ladder, from the government's own page

Every competitor that gives a Patna number gives exactly one, usually 0612-2631183, labelled "the gazette office". That is actually the Deputy Superintendent's line. Here is the full list as the official contact page publishes it, with designations:

Officer	Phone
Director, Press and Printing Stationery, Patna	0612-2217654
Superintendent, Secretariat Press, Gulzarbagh, Patna — this is the officer who publishes the Gazette	0612-2631813
Deputy Superintendent, Secretariat Press, Gulzarbagh, Patna	0612-2631183
Assistant Superintendent, Secretariat Press, Gulzarbagh, Patna	0612-2631809

Watch the digits. The Superintendent's number is 2631813 and the Deputy's is 2631183 — a transposition apart. That is almost certainly how one of them ended up copied across a dozen websites as "the" gazette number. If you are calling about publication, start with the Superintendent.

Why we do not print a street address or PIN code here. You will find "Mahaveer Ghat, Patna City, Sadikpur, Patna, Bihar 800007" and similar on other pages. The Bihar government's official contact page publishes no street line, no PIN, no email and no office timings — only "Gulzarbagh, Patna". The addresses in circulation appear to be scraped from business listings. They may well be right, but we are not going to put an unverified address in front of someone about to make a journey. Call the Superintendent and ask where to come. Note also that even the PIN is disputed: post-office directories give Gulzarbagh S.O. as 800007, while other references say 800008.

So what should a Patna resident actually do?

If your records are leaving Bihar — passport, visa, a job outside the state, a central government post, a bank or an embassy — use the Central Gazette. It has a published fee, a published checklist, and it accepts post from Patna. No residency restriction applies: the Department of Publication's guidelines contain no state or domicile condition at all.
If you specifically want the state gazette, telephone the Superintendent on 0612-2631813 and ask what the current process is for a private notice. We cannot tell you, because Bihar does not publish it — and we would rather say that than invent a procedure.
If your goal is a school certificate, you may not need a gazette at all. See the BSEB section — the Board works from your school enrolment register, not from a gazette.
If your goal is a birth certificate, that is a Registrar matter, not a gazette matter. See the birth certificate section.

Sources for this section: Bihar e-Gazette portal · Bihar e-Gazette contact page · Bihar e-Gazette notification list · Bihar e-District service catalogue (93 services, PDF) · Department of Publication adult guidelines. Verified on 27 August 2026.

Fact check

What Other Websites Get Wrong About Name Change in Patna

The pages ranking for this topic copy each other, and the same errors travel from site to site. Here is what they say, against the verified position, so your file is not built on a myth.

What many websites say	The verified fact
"There is also a Gazette Office in Bangalore, in a mall, which handles Bihar Gazette notifications"	A copy-paste template leak. No shop in a Bangalore mall publishes the Bihar Gazette. The Bihar State Gazette comes from the Bihar Secretariat Press at Gulzarbagh in Patna, and the Central Gazette from the Department of Publication in Delhi.
"Publish the notice in the Bihar Gazette or the Maharashtra Gazette"	The same template leak, with the wrong state left in. Maharashtra's gazette has nothing to do with a Patna name change. Your two routes are the Bihar State Gazette and the Central Gazette of India.
"Send your application along with a DD of the fee"	Demand drafts are not accepted at all. The Central Gazette fee is paid online through BharatKosh (NTRP) only, and the fee is non-refundable.
"Deposit the gazette fee through a challan at the counter"	For the Central Gazette there is no challan counter. Payment is online through BharatKosh (NTRP), and the receipt goes into your file.
"Government employees have their own higher fee slab"	No employment-based tier exists. The Central Gazette charge is set by applicant category: Rs 1,100 adult and Rs 1,700 minor in India, Rs 3,500 and Rs 5,100 respectively from abroad. Government servants add the MHA deed format, not a different fee. Religion is a genuine exception, though — see the next row.
"Each extra alias costs Rs 250"	There is no per-alias fee anywhere. No Department of Publication guideline mentions an alias or additional-name charge. The Rs 250 is the add-on for adopting a name associated with another religion without converting, making Rs 1,350 in total. This error was on our own page until this update, and we have corrected it.
"Apply for a Bihar Gazette name change online at egazette.bihar.gov.in or through RTPS"	Refuted on both counts. The Bihar e-Gazette submission login reads "Only For Administrator and Department User", with no citizen registration. And RTPS / ServicePlus Bihar's official 93-service catalogue contains no name-change and no gazette service at all. The evidence.
"The Bihar Gazette name change fee is Rs 200 to 500" or "Rs 1,100 to 1,700"	No Bihar government fee for this has ever been published. The Rs 1,100 to 1,700 range is the Central schedule printed under a Bihar heading. Any Bihar figure you are quoted is an agent's service price.
"Two newspaper advertisements are required, one Hindi and one English"	The guidelines say one: "Change of name should be advertised in one of the daily local leading newspapers." Two is a passport requirement that agents have merged in. Full explanation.
"Hindustan, Dainik Jagran and Prabhat Khabar are the government-approved newspapers"	No government source approves or empanels any newspaper for a name-change notice. The only test in the guidelines is the qualitative phrase "a daily local leading newspaper", and it names no title. Those papers are common practice in Patna, not an approved list.
"Department of Publication, Civil Lines, Bihar-110054"	110054 is a Delhi PIN. There is no Department of Publication in Bihar. The office is at Civil Lines, Delhi-110054, behind the old Vidhan Sabha.
"Dept. of Publication, Gov. of Patna" · "passportPatna.gov.in" · "epfPatna.gov.in"	These appear on more than one page currently ranking for Patna searches. They are find-and-replace scars from a national template where "India" was swapped for "Patna", and the domains do not exist. The real ones are passportindia.gov.in and epfindia.gov.in. It is the clearest proof that the top "Patna" pages are not Patna pages.
"A notary affidavit is enough for a BSEB certificate correction"	The Board specifies an affidavit sworn before a First Class Executive Magistrate, with the swearer's photograph, in a prescribed format, and marks it mandatory. A notary affidavit gets the file returned. Detail here.
"You need a gazette notification to correct a BSEB certificate"	BSEB's own correction document never mentions a gazette. The Board works from your school enrolment register. Many Patna readers pay for a gazette they did not need for this.
"Correcting a birth certificate needs a state Gazette publication, and if refused you should file a writ in the High Court"	Both wrong, and both live on a high-traffic page. A birth-record correction is made by the Registrar under Section 15 by marginal entry. No gazette, no writ.
"Rs 10 / Rs 20 / Rs 100 stamp paper is legally required for the affidavit in Bihar"	Neither the Indian Stamp (Bihar Amendment) Act, 1991 nor the CAG's Bihar stamp-duty manual prescribes a duty for an affidavit. The denominations quoted are customary, not mandated.
"Your printed gazette copy will arrive by post in 45 days"	Printed Central Gazette copies stopped from 1 October 2015. You download the PDF yourself from egazette.gov.in (Part IV, published every Saturday), and it needs no certification or stamp.
"Any old affidavit and newspaper ad will work"	The Department of Publication does not accept documents older than one year, and documents once submitted are not returned.
"Fix your birth certificate spelling through the gazette"	A birth certificate correction is a Registrar matter under Section 14 or Section 15 of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, through Patna Municipal Corporation or your local Registrar — not the gazette. Section 14 adds a name that was never entered; Section 15 corrects one that is wrong. The full distinction.

Why this matters: a mall office that does not exist, another state's gazette or a stale document does not just delay your file, it can mean paying the non-refundable fee again. Every fact in this table follows the Department of Publication's guidelines and the official sources listed below.

Checklist

Full Document Checklist for a Patna Name Change

Have these ready before you start. A missing or mismatched document is the number-one cause of delay.

Document	Needed?	Notes
Notarised name-change affidavit	Yes	Old name, new name, reason, father's/husband's name, address
Original newspaper cuttings	Yes	One Hindi, one English, full printed pages
Identity proof	Yes	Aadhaar, PAN, passport or voter ID
Address proof	Yes	Aadhaar, voter ID, electricity/water bill or rent agreement
Two passport-size photos	Yes	Recent
Name-change proforma / request form	Yes	Prescribed format
Signed matching declaration	Yes	Hard copy and soft copy match
Soft copy (CD or pen drive)	Yes	Notification text as required
Government fee receipt	Yes	BharatKosh challan for the Central route
Marriage certificate	For marriage	Surname change after marriage
Divorce decree	For divorce	Restoring your maiden name
Parents' ID + child's birth certificate	For minors	Guardian applies and signs
Embassy-attested deed	For NRIs from Patna	Attested by the Indian Embassy or High Commission
Deed + departmental route	For government employees	Under the MHA Office Memorandum

Saves a rejection: your old and new name must be spelled and formatted identically across the affidavit, both newspaper ads and your ID. One extra initial or a swapped middle name is enough to bounce the file.

A common question

Is the Name Change Process in Patna Fully Online?

Short answer: no, and any page telling you otherwise is describing a portal it has not opened.

Quick Answer

Nothing about a name change in Patna is fully online. The affidavit needs in-person attestation. The newspaper advertisement is booked with the paper. For the Central Gazette, only the fee is online through BharatKosh — the physical file, with the original newspaper and a CD, must be delivered in person or sent by post or courier to Delhi. For the Bihar State Gazette, there is no citizen submission channel online or documented offline. You can search and download published Bihar notifications at egazette.bihar.gov.in, and that is the extent of what a citizen can do there.

Step	Online?	What actually happens
Affidavit	No	Signed before a notary in person. For a BSEB certificate correction it must be sworn before an Executive Magistrate, not a notary
Newspaper advertisement	Partly	Bookable by phone or online with the paper, but you must collect the complete original newspaper afterwards
Central Gazette fee	Yes	BharatKosh (bharatkosh.gov.in). Mandatory since 1 October 2018; direct NEFT and RTGS were discontinued on 18 March 2019
Central Gazette file submission	No	"Application either submitted personally or sent by Post/ Courier only will be entertained." From Patna, that means speed post or courier to Civil Lines, Delhi
Bihar State Gazette application	No channel at all	The submission login is restricted to government departments. See below
Downloading the published notification	Yes	Free, from egazette.gov.in (Central, Part IV) or egazette.bihar.gov.in (Bihar)

One thing we removed from this page. An earlier version said name-change templates are available on the Bihar e-Gazette portal. We could not find them, and we are not going to leave a claim standing that we cannot show you. If you find them, tell us and we will link them.

One picture

The Whole Patna Name Change Decision, on One Page

Every figure and phone number below is taken from a government source, and every "NONE" is a thing Bihar genuinely does not publish. Save it, print it, or send it to whoever is filing for you.

Name change procedure in Patna infographic: notarised affidavit, one newspaper advertisement, and the choice between the Bihar Gazette at Gulzarbagh, which has no citizen application channel, and the Gazette of India Part IV, which costs Rs 1,100 for an adult and Rs 1,700 for a minor in India and accepts post from Patna. Also shows the Gulzarbagh contact ladder and the BSEB and birth-certificate routes that need no gazette. — Infographic: the name change procedure in Patna, Bihar. The notarised affidavit, one newspaper advertisement rather than two, and the gazette decision — the Bihar Gazette at Gulzarbagh publishes name changes but offers no citizen application channel, no published fee, form, checklist or timeline, while the Gazette of India Part IV publishes all four and accepts post from Patna at Rs 1,100 for an adult and Rs 1,700 for a minor in India, or Rs 3,500 and Rs 5,100 from abroad. Also shown: the four-officer Gulzarbagh contact ladder, the BSEB certificate correction that needs an Executive Magistrate affidavit rather than a gazette, and the Patna Municipal Corporation birth-certificate route under Sections 14 and 15 of the RBD Act 1969.

Real, verified costs

Real Cost of Name Change in Patna, Route by Route

Costs vary with your newspaper choice and whether you do it yourself or hire help. Here are realistic ranges.

Item	Charge	Effective range printed on the guideline	Source
Central Gazette — adult, in India	Rs 1,100	w.e.f. 01/04/2016 to 31/03/2017	Adult guidelines
Central Gazette — adult, living abroad	Rs 3,500	w.e.f. 01/04/2016 to 31/03/2017	Adult guidelines
Central Gazette — minor, in India	Rs 1,700	01.04.2016 to 31.03.2017	Minor guidelines
Central Gazette — minor, living abroad	Rs 5,100	01.04.2016 to 31.03.2017	Minor guidelines
Adopting a name of another religion without converting	Rs 1,100 + Rs 250 = Rs 1,350	stated "[till date]"	Adult guidelines
Change of name and gender in Public Notice	Rs 1,400	FY 2016–17; the guideline itself says it "varies each financial year"	Name & Gender guidelines
Bihar State Gazette	No published fee at all	—	See the Bihar Gazette section — there is no citizen channel, so there is nothing for a citizen fee to attach to
Stamp paper for the affidavit (Bihar)	Rs 10 to Rs 100 in practice	—	Customary. No Bihar rule prescribes an affidavit stamp duty — see note below
Notary attestation / drafting	Rs 100 to Rs 500	—	Notary Public
Newspaper advertisement	Rs 400 to Rs 3,000	—	The paper or its booking agent. One is required, not two — see below
Courier of the file to Delhi (Central route)	Rs 100 to Rs 300	—	Speed post or courier
Self-done total	Roughly Rs 1,000 to Rs 3,000 plus

Two honest notes: newspaper cost is the biggest variable, since a major daily costs far more than a smaller one, and the gazette fee is non-refundable even if the file is rejected. Ignore inflated bundled quotes, since those are service prices, not the government cost. Pay the Central fee only through BharatKosh and keep the receipt.

The caveat every other Patna page leaves out. Look at the third column. Every fee the Department of Publication publishes is printed as valid "w.e.f. 01/04/2016 to 31/03/2017" — a window that closed over nine years ago. The Department's own public-notice guideline goes further and says the charge "varies each financial year and varies from case to case." So treat these as the last formally notified rates and pay whatever the BharatKosh screen shows you at the moment of payment. Anyone quoting you a confident "2026 fee" is quoting a nine-year-old PDF without telling you.

Correcting ourselves: there is no per-alias fee. This page used to say each extra alias costs Rs 250. That was wrong, and the error is common across this whole niche. No Department of Publication guideline mentions an alias or per-additional-name charge anywhere. The Rs 250 is the add-on for adopting a name associated with another religion without converting — Rs 1,100 + Rs 250 = Rs 1,350, and it comes with an undertaking that you are not changing your religion. Changing your religion itself is a separate track.

And one about stamp paper. You will see Rs 10, Rs 20 and Rs 100 quoted confidently for a Bihar affidavit. We checked the Indian Stamp (Bihar Amendment) Act, 1991 and the CAG's Bihar stamp-duty manual: neither prescribes a stamp duty for an affidavit at all. The denominations in circulation are customary practice, not a published rule. Buy what your notary uses, and do not let anyone tell you a specific denomination is legally mandated.

Timeline

How Long Does a Name Change Take in Patna?

Plan for about 4 to 6 weeks end to end. The affidavit and notarisation take a day, the newspaper publication happens within about a week, and the gazette processing is commonly 30 to 45 days for the Central route. The Bihar State Gazette timeline depends on the Gulzarbagh press's schedule.

Some Patna guides quote a total of 45 to 60 days for the state route, so build in buffer if you have a deadline. Updating your individual documents afterward, such as Aadhaar, PAN and passport, is a separate timeline on top of this. There is no official fast-track, so anyone promising a "3-day gazette" is not being straight with you.

Next step

After the Gazette: Updating Aadhaar, PAN, Passport & BSEB Records in Order

Getting the gazette is the milestone, not the finish line. You still carry it into each record, and order matters.

Aadhaar is the first record to update after your gazette is published. This video shows the Aadhaar name change process for Patna residents.

Order	Document	How to update
1	Aadhaar	Update at an Aadhaar Seva Kendra with the gazette; it is the base ID others reference
2	PAN	Correct the name with your updated Aadhaar and the gazette copy
3	Passport	Re-issue at the Passport Seva Kendra with the Central Gazette
4	Bank & KYC	Update once your core IDs reflect the new name
5	Voter ID, licence, ration card	Submit the respective correction forms
6	School, board (BSEB/CBSE), university	Follow the board's formal correction process with the gazette
7	Employer, PF, insurance, property	Update as needed with the gazette

For each update you usually submit copies of the affidavit, the newspaper ad and the gazette notification together. Keep several printouts, because every office wants its own copy. Boards accept the gazette as proof for name corrections on certificates and marksheets, a common need for Patna's large student population.

Get this right

Birth Certificate Spelling Mistake? Patna Municipal Corporation, Not the Gazette

Here is a point most Patna name-change pages get flat wrong: they push a gazette notification to fix a spelling mistake in a birth certificate. That is the wrong route.

A clerical or spelling error in a birth certificate, a wrong letter or a registrar's typo, is corrected by the Registrar of Births and Deaths under Section 15 of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, through the local municipal body, which in the city is the Patna Municipal Corporation. It is not a gazette job. The gazette route is for an actual change of name, adopting a genuinely different name.

Section 14 or Section 15? This decides which counter you walk to

The Act draws a line that almost nobody explains, and it changes what you are actually applying for.

	Section 14 — adding a name	Section 15 — correcting an entry
When it applies	The birth was registered without a name at all. The field is blank	A name is recorded, but it is "erroneous in form or substance, or has been fraudulently or improperly made"
What it is	A first entry, not a change. The parent or guardian gives the name and the Registrar enters it, initialling and dating it	A correction of a mistake
How the record changes	The name is written into the register	By a marginal entry only, "without any alteration of the original entry", signed and dated by the Registrar
Governed by	The Act directly	The Act plus "such rules as may be made by the State Government" — so Bihar's own rules set the conditions

The practical consequence of that marginal-entry rule. A Section 15 correction does not rewrite history. Your corrected certificate carries the correction in the margin, and the original entry stays visible. That is normal and it is what the Act requires — do not let anyone tell you the certificate should come back looking as though the error never happened.

And the limit worth knowing before you start. Neither section is a mechanism for an adult to adopt a different name. Section 15 corrects a demonstrable mistake; it does not effect a change of name by choice. That distinction is exactly where the gazette route begins.

Who handles it in Patna, and what it costs

Inside Patna city limits the registering authority is the Patna Municipal Corporation, at Second Floor, Block-C, Maurya Lok Complex, Buddha Marg, Patna, Bihar 800001, phone 0612-2223791, email pmcprda@gmail.com or patnamc-bih@gov.in. Outside municipal limits it sits with the Nagar Parishad, Nagar Panchayat or the Gram Panchayat as the local registration unit. The Patna district administration also directs birth and death certificate services to the national Civil Registration System portal at dc.crsorgi.gov.in.

When you register	Fee and what else is needed
Within 21 days	Free
21 to 30 days	Rs 10 as delayed fee
Within one year	Rs 10, plus an order of the Block Statistical Officer
After one year	Rs 10, plus orders of the Block Development Officer and the Block Statistical Officer
Certificate copies	The first copy is free; further copies Rs 5 each

A conflict we are going to show you rather than smooth over

Patna Municipal Corporation's own birth-certificate page states, verbatim: "In the birth registration, once the name of child is entered the same cannot be amended in any nature and no other (alias) name can be attached to it."

That sits in direct tension with Section 15 of the Act, which expressly empowers the Registrar to correct an entry that is "erroneous in form or substance". Both are real sources and they do not reconcile on their face.

What we think is going on — presented as reasoning, not as fact. The reading most consistent with both texts is that PMC is describing the substitution of a different name by choice, which Section 15 does not permit, rather than the correction of a demonstrable clerical error, which it does. But PMC's page does not say that, and we could not verify that reading from any Bihar government source. So: go to the counter expecting to have to argue the difference, carry documentary proof of the correct spelling, and take a printout of Section 15 with you. And if a Patna reader has been through this, tell us what actually happened — we will update this section.

Why this matters for the rest of the page. That PMC sentence is, in practice, the reason many Patna residents end up needing a gazette at all. If the Corporation will not amend the entry, a gazette notification becomes the document you carry to every other authority to explain the difference between the birth record and the rest of your life.

Sources: Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 (India Code) · Patna Municipal Corporation — birth certificate · Patna district administration

Use the right channel: if a service pushes a gazette for a simple birth-certificate typo, that is a sign to ask more questions. You may be paying for a gazette you never needed.

School and board records

BSEB Certificate Correction: You May Not Need a Gazette at All

This is the section that saves Patna readers the most money, and no gazette-services page in the search results has it. The Bihar School Examination Board runs its own correction process, and it does not ask for a gazette notification.

Quick Answer

To correct a name, a parent's name or a date of birth on a BSEB matric or inter certificate, apply through the head of your school or college with an affidavit sworn before a First Class Executive Magistrate — not a notary — carrying your photograph, in the prescribed format. The Board works from your school enrolment register, and its own correction document never mentions a gazette notification. One important limit: at Inter level, date of birth correction is not permitted at all — the Board's document states plainly "जन्म तिथि सुधार – प्रावधान नहीं है।"

The five documents BSEB actually asks for

#	Document, as the Board words it
1	"A hand written or typed application, duly forwarded by the head of school / college / Training Institution"
2	"Original Affidavit along with Photograph of the swearer from First Class Executive Magistrate" — marked mandatory. The Hindi column reads "कार्यपालक दण्डाधिकारी के समक्ष फोटो के साथ निर्धारित प्रारूप में शपथ पत्र (आवश्यक)"
3	"Self-attested photocopy of Original Certificate and Marks-sheet of said examination"
4	"Self-attested photocopy of Registration Card and Admit Card of said examination"
5	"Self-attested photocopy of valid Aadhar Card"

A notary affidavit is not what the Board wants. This is the single most common reason a BSEB correction file is sent back. The Board specifies an Executive Magistrate, with your photograph attached to the affidavit, in a prescribed format. Get that right before you pay for anything else.

What can and cannot be corrected

Level	Name / parents' names	Date of birth	Supporting records the Board relies on
Matric / Secondary	Yes	Yes	School enrolment register, transfer-certificate file, school-leaving certificate
Inter / Senior Secondary	Yes	No provision	School or college enrolment register, leaving certificate, and the matric certificate (mandatory)
D.El.Ed.	Yes	Yes	TT enrolment register (mandatory), matric certificate, marks-sheet, admit card

If you are still in school, there is a free window

Before the certificate is ever printed, BSEB releases a dummy registration card and later a dummy admit card, and lets students correct spelling in their own and their parents' names, the photograph, date of birth, caste, religion, nationality, gender and subject choices. Corrections are marked on the printed card, handed to the school head, and uploaded by the school. There is no fee. Class 10 runs through secondary.biharboardonline.com and Class 12 through seniorsecondary.biharboardonline.com; the Board has published helplines 0612-2232074 (Matric) and 0612-2230039 (Inter).

If you are a current student, do this instead of anything on the rest of this page. Correcting a dummy registration card costs nothing and takes days. Correcting a printed certificate afterwards costs money, needs an Executive Magistrate affidavit, and takes months. The windows are short and they move each year, so check with your school the moment the dummy card is released.

Two things we will not tell you, because BSEB does not publish them. First, there is no stated time limit for applying for a correction after your result — the Board's correction document sets none, whatever other sites claim. Second, we are not printing a correction fee. Figures of Rs 200, Rs 500, Rs 1,000 and Rs 2,500 circulate; they appear to trace back to a Board fee PDF we could not read cleanly enough to match amounts to categories. Ask your school office for the current figure.

Sources: BSEB — Documents required for correction (PDF) · Bihar School Examination Board, Sinha Library Road, Patna-800017.

A route with no fee

Changing Name and Gender: The Free Route Most Pages Never Mention

There are two completely different paths here, and one of them costs nothing. No Patna name-change page in the search results covers either properly.

Quick Answer

The National Portal for Transgender Persons issues a Certificate of Identity and an ID card free of charge, within a stated maximum of 30 days, from the District Magistrate, on an affidavit in Form-2. That certificate is itself sufficient to change name and gender on official records — no gazette notification required. Separately, if you do want a gazette notice, the Gazette of India has a distinct "Change of Name and Gender in Public Notice" track at Rs 1,400, needing only one newspaper advertisement and a Gender Identity Document from the CMO or the head of the hospital department where treatment was carried out.

	District Magistrate route	Central Gazette route
Cost	Free	Rs 1,400 (FY 2016–17 figure; the guideline says it varies each financial year)
Newspaper advertisement	Not required	One, in original, in a daily local national newspaper, English or Hindi
Time	Maximum 30 days, as stated	No published timeline
What you file	Affidavit in Form-2 via transgender.dosje.gov.in	Gender Identity Document from the CMO or head of the treating hospital department, plus the usual file
Legal basis	Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, following NALSA v. Union of India (2014)	Department of Publication guidelines, Gazette of India Part IV

One rule on the gazette route that silently sinks applications. The advertisement must run under the "Public Notice" heading, not under "Change of Name". Tell the newspaper's classifieds desk in writing, because if it prints in the wrong column you will have paid for an advertisement you cannot use.

Which to choose. If your goal is Aadhaar, PAN, a bank or a school record, start with the free District Magistrate certificate — it is designed exactly for this and it costs nothing. Consider the gazette only if a specific authority has told you in writing that it wants one.

Sources: National Portal for Transgender Persons — FAQ · Department of Publication — Change of Name and Gender guidelines (PDF)

Special cases

Name Change After Marriage, Divorce & for a Minor in Patna

💍

After marriage

A woman changing her surname follows the same three steps and adds her marriage certificate. Taking a spouse's surname is a choice, not a legal requirement, but the gazette is what makes it stick across Aadhaar, PAN, passport and bank, and bridges your maiden and married names.

📄

After divorce

Reverting to a maiden or previous name uses the same affidavit, newspaper and gazette route, with the divorce decree as supporting proof. The process does not change, only the stated reason and supporting document differ. No fresh court case is needed just to change the name back.

🧒

For a minor

A parent or legal guardian applies and signs on the child's behalf, with the birth certificate attached. The minor fee is typically Rs 1,700. BSEB, CBSE and most boards ask for the gazette (and sometimes a court order) for school records.

A separate route

Government Employees in Patna: A Separate Route

Patna hosts the Bihar Secretariat and a large state workforce, so this matters here. Bihar state government employees can route service-record name changes through the state gazette process. Central government employees do not file the standard self-application gazette; they follow the Ministry of Home Affairs Office Memorandum No. 190016/1/87-Estt.(A) dated 12/03/1987, executing a deed and publishing through the proper departmental channel.

Tip: either way, check with your establishment section first so your service record updates cleanly alongside the change.

Every document

Name Change Services We Handle in Patna

A gazette on its own is only useful once your other records match it. We help you update your new name across all the documents that matter.

🪪

Aadhaar Card

Name change or spelling correction with the gazette as proof.

💳

PAN Card

Name update through the NSDL or UTIITSL route.

🗳️

Voter ID (EPIC)

Name correction on the electoral roll via Form 8.

🛂

Passport

Re-issue with your new name using the Central Gazette.

🚗

Driving Licence

Name update at the RTO with the gazette copy.

🏦

Bank & KYC

Update your name across bank accounts and KYC records.

🎓

School & University

Records for BSEB, CBSE and universities.

📜

Birth Certificate

Correction through the Patna Municipal Corporation Registrar under the RBD Act, not the gazette.

🛡️

LIC & Insurance

Name change on policies and insurance records.

Tell us which documents you need updated. Call 9540005026 and we guide you through each one after the gazette.

Across the district

Areas in Patna We Serve

We handle name change work for people all across Patna and the wider district, with doorstep pickup and delivery.

From Kankarbagh, Boring Road and Patliputra to Rajendra Nagar, Bailey Road and outer areas like Danapur and Phulwari Sharif, the legal steps are identical, because a name change runs on paperwork, not on which part of Patna you live in. The same file works across Bihar and everywhere in India, and birth certificate corrections stay with Patna Nagar Nigam or your local Registrar.

Kankarbagh Boring Road Patliputra Rajendra Nagar Bailey Road Kadamkuan Gardanibagh Danapur Digha Phulwari Sharif Patna City Gulzarbagh Ashok Rajpath Fraser Road Exhibition Road Kurji Rukanpura Anisabad Mithapur Khagaul Bihta Patna District

Do not see your area? We still cover it. Call 9540005026 and we will confirm.

Avoid these

Why Name Change Applications Get Rejected in Patna

Most rejections come from avoidable mismatches. Because the gazette fee is non-refundable, a rejection means paying again.

Reason	What to do instead
Name mismatch across affidavit, ads and ID	Fix one exact spelling and use it everywhere, even initials
Wrong newspaper mix (two English or two Hindi)	Use one Hindi and one English paper
Photo or scan of the newspaper	Submit the original printed page
Incomplete proforma or missing declaration	Complete every field and sign the declaration
Soft copy that does not match the hard copy	Make the soft-copy text identical to the proforma
Typos in the application text	Proofread; the gazette prints exactly what you submit
Wrong fee category or missing receipt	Pay the correct category on BharatKosh and attach the receipt
Blurry or expired ID/address proof, or old photos	Use clear, current documents and recent photos
Documents more than one year old	The Department of Publication does not accept documents older than one year, so file while papers are fresh; documents once submitted are not returned

Your call

DIY or a Name Change Agent in Patna?

Doing it yourself is possible and saves the service fee, if you have time to draft the affidavit correctly, book two ads, prepare the file in the right format, pay the fee, and either submit at Gulzarbagh or courier a matched file to Delhi. The trade-off is rejection risk: one small mismatch and you restart, minus the non-refundable fee.

A Patna name-change agent handles the affidavit, the newspaper booking, the file preparation, the fee and the submission, and tracks publication for you. It is the sensible choice when your time is tight, there is a deadline such as a passport appointment or an overseas move, or your case has a wrinkle: a minor, a divorce, a service record, or a document already carrying a spelling error.

Why YourDoorstep

Why People in Patna Choose Us

📍

Both gazette routes covered

We handle the Bihar State Gazette through the Gulzarbagh press process, and the Central Gazette at Civil Lines, Delhi, where our own office sits, so your file is submitted and tracked to publication.

📰

Hindi & English newspaper ads handled

We book both newspaper ads for you in the correct format, in the dailies that circulate in Patna.

🚗

Doorstep document pickup in Patna

Document pickup and delivery across Kankarbagh, Boring Road, Patliputra, Danapur and beyond, with everything else on call and WhatsApp.

✅

We check your gazette file before we submit

We review the full file against the checklist before filing, so there are fewer rejections, and we handle Aadhaar, PAN and passport after.

An example of a case we handle. A software engineer in Kankarbagh got married and needed her new surname on her passport and PAN before an overseas project, with barely six weeks in hand. She sent her details and marriage certificate on WhatsApp. We drafted the affidavit, arranged the notary, booked a Hindi paper and an English paper, paid the BharatKosh fee, and filed the Central Gazette in Delhi. In a few weeks the notice appeared in Part IV, and she updated her passport and PAN in time. She never took a day off work. This is an illustrative example of the type of case we handle, not a named client review.

Quick Answers to Common Patna Name Change Searches

How much does the Central Gazette cost for Patna residents? Rs 1,100 for adults and Rs 1,700 for minors, paid on BharatKosh (NTRP). Each extra alias name adds Rs 250, applicants living abroad pay Rs 3,500, and the fee is non-refundable.

How fresh do my documents need to be? The Department of Publication does not accept documents older than one year, so complete the affidavit, newspaper ads and gazette filing without a long gap. Documents once submitted are not returned.

Where is the gazette office in Patna? The Bihar state gazette is published by the Bihar Secretariat Press or Gulzarbagh Government Printing Press in Patna. The Central Gazette office, however, is in Delhi.

Should I use the Bihar State Gazette or the Central Gazette? Both are valid. Use the Central Gazette for passport, visa and central jobs, since it is accepted everywhere. The Bihar State Gazette works well if your records stay within the state.

Which newspapers do I use in Patna? One Hindi daily such as Dainik Jagran, Hindustan or Prabhat Khabar, and one English daily such as The Times of India or Hindustan Times.

Is a birth certificate name change done through the gazette? No. It is a Registrar correction under Section 15 of the RBD Act, 1969, through the Patna Municipal Corporation.

Let YourDoorstep handle your name change for you

We prepare the affidavit, book the Hindi and English newspaper ads, pay the government fee, and file the gazette for you, whether the Bihar State route or the Central route, then guide you on updating Aadhaar, PAN and passport. Doorstep service across Patna, honest pricing.

📞9540005026
💬WhatsApp 9540005064
✉️ support@yourdoorstep.co.in
🕘 Mon to Sat, 9 AM to 6 PM

Call Now WhatsApp

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Free downloads

Official Forms and Guideline PDFs

The documents the counter actually works from, linked directly. All free, all published by the Government of India, and none of them behind a lead form.

Quick Answer

There is no single "name change application form" and no official Bihar form at all. You build the Central Gazette file yourself from the guidelines below: an undertaking, one original newspaper, the prescribed proforma in duplicate, a CD in MS Word, two photographs with ID proof, a similarity certificate, and a request letter with the BharatKosh receipt.

Document	Who needs it	Download
Guidelines for Change of Name — Adult (Major)	Anyone 18 or over. Contains the fee, the one-newspaper rule, the seven-item checklist and the proforma wording	PDF
Guidelines for Change of Name — Minor	A parent or guardian filing for a child. Rs 1,700 in India, Rs 5,100 abroad	PDF
Guidelines for Change of Name and Gender in Public Notice	Anyone changing name and gender together. Contains the "Public Notice heading" rule and the no-agent rule	PDF
Guidelines for Notification of Public Notice	Public notices other than a plain change of name	PDF
Deed for Central Government Employees	Central Government staff in Patna. Needs two gazetted-officer witnesses from your own department	PDF
Specimen Undertaking	Everyone — this is checklist item (i)	PDF
List of Acceptable Documents	Everyone. Proof of old name and of address, including the 3-month rule on utility bills	PDF
BSEB — Documents required for correction	Anyone correcting a Bihar Board certificate. The Executive Magistrate affidavit requirement is in here	PDF
Bihar e-District service catalogue (93 services)	Anyone told that RTPS handles name change. Read it and see for yourself	PDF
Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969	Sections 14 and 15, for birth certificate corrections	India Code
All Central guidelines, index page	In case a link above moves	deptpub.gov.in

What does not exist, and you should stop hunting for. There is no Bihar Gazette application form, no Bihar Gazette fee schedule, no official "name change procedure in Patna" booklet, no government affidavit format, and no fee schedule dated after 31 March 2017. If a site offers you any of those as an official download, it made it.

Name Change in Patna: Questions People Actually Ask

Can I apply for a Bihar Gazette name change online?+

No. The Bihar e-Gazette submission login reads "Only For Administrator and Department User", with no citizen registration link. There is no published fee, no application form, no document checklist and no processing time for a private notice. What a citizen can do on that portal is search and download notifications already printed. The Bihar Gazette does publish name changes — entries 454 to 460, subject "Name Change", Office of Superintendent Bihar Sec Pres, dated 13 May 2025 — but Bihar publishes no route for a private citizen to reach it. The full findings.

Is name change an RTPS service in Bihar?+

No. Bihar's official e-District catalogue lists 93 services across 10 departments — residence, caste and income certificates, EWS and non-creamy-layer certificates, birth and death registration, character certificate, labour licences, tourism recognitions, pensions, and notary appointment applications for advocates. Name change and gazette notification appear nowhere on it, and neither appears on the live portal menu. Any page routing you through an RTPS counter for this has not read the catalogue.

Is there really no per-alias fee?+

Correct — and this page said otherwise until this update, so we are fixing our own error in public. No Department of Publication guideline mentions an alias or per-additional-name charge anywhere. The Rs 250 that circulates across this whole niche is the add-on for adopting a name associated with another religion without converting: Rs 1,100 + Rs 250 = Rs 1,350, with an undertaking confirming you are not changing your religion.

Do I need a gazette for a BSEB certificate correction?+

Almost certainly not. BSEB's own correction document never mentions a gazette — the Board works from your school enrolment register. What it does require is an application forwarded by your school head plus an affidavit sworn before a First Class Executive Magistrate, with your photograph, in a prescribed format, marked mandatory. A notary affidavit gets the file returned. One limit: at Inter level, date of birth correction is not permitted at all. Full detail.

What does a minor living abroad pay?+

Rs 5,100, not Rs 3,500. The Rs 3,500 figure quoted on most Bihar and Patna pages is the adult non-resident rate. The Department publishes a separate guideline for minors giving Rs 1,700 in India and Rs 5,100 abroad. We could not find that Rs 5,100 figure on any other Patna page, which means NRI parents from Bihar reading them are being under-quoted by Rs 1,600.

I am changing name and gender. Is there a cheaper route?+

Yes — a free one. The National Portal for Transgender Persons issues a Certificate of Identity and ID card free of cost, within a stated maximum of 30 days, from the District Magistrate, on an affidavit in Form-2. That certificate is itself sufficient to change name and gender on official records, with no gazette and no newspaper advertisement. If you do want a gazette, the Central route has a distinct Rs 1,400 track needing a Gender Identity Document and one advertisement that must run under the "Public Notice" heading, not "Change of Name". Compare them.

Can an agent submit my Central Gazette file for me?+

The Department's name-and-gender guidelines state that submission by a lawyer, agent or representative is not permitted — personal submission, or speed post or courier. We are saying that plainly even though we sell a name change service, because it is what the guideline says. What a service can honestly do from Patna is prepare and check the file and get it to Delhi intact. What nobody can do is stand at the counter as your representative.

What stamp paper does the affidavit need in Bihar?+

Buy what your notary uses, commonly Rs 10 to Rs 100 — but that is custom, not law. We checked the Indian Stamp (Bihar Amendment) Act, 1991 and the CAG's Bihar stamp-duty manual, and neither prescribes a stamp duty for an affidavit at all. Every site quoting a mandatory denomination is quoting practice as if it were a rule. Note separately that the Gazette of India's seven-item checklist asks for "an undertaking duly signed by the applicant", not an affidavit.

Will I get a printed gazette copy by post?+

No. Printed Central Gazette copies stopped from 1 October 2015. Once published, you download the PDF from egazette.gov.in under Weekly Gazette, Part IV, published every Saturday. The downloaded PDF needs no certification or stamp.

How do I change my name legally in Patna?+

Sign a notarised affidavit, publish the change in one Hindi and one English newspaper, then obtain a gazette notification (Bihar State Gazette or Central Gazette). All three steps are required.

Where is the gazette office in Patna?+

The Bihar state gazette is published by the Bihar Secretariat Press or Gulzarbagh Government Printing Press in Patna. The Central Gazette office, however, is in Delhi.

Should I use the Bihar State Gazette or the Central Gazette?+

In practice, the Central Gazette. Not because the Bihar Gazette is invalid — it genuinely publishes name changes, and we can point you at the notification numbers — but because Bihar publishes no citizen route to reach it. The submission login reads "Only For Administrator and Department User", and there is no published fee, form, checklist or timeline for a private notice. The Central Gazette has all four and accepts post from Patna. The full evidence. If you specifically want the state route, phone the Superintendent on 0612-2631813 — we cannot tell you the process, because Bihar does not publish one.

How long does a name change take in Patna?+

Realistically four to six weeks for the Central route once a complete file reaches Delhi. But no official processing timeline exists — not for the Gazette of India, and certainly not for the Bihar Gazette, which publishes nothing at all for private notices. Every day-count in search results, ours included, is an estimate rather than a commitment. The one timing rule the Department does publish runs the other way: if your file is deficient you get six months to make it good.

How much does a name change cost in Patna?+

Central Gazette: Rs 1,100 adult and Rs 1,700 minor in India; Rs 3,500 and Rs 5,100 from abroad; Rs 1,350 for adopting a name of another religion without converting; Rs 1,400 for a name-and-gender public notice. Add stamp paper, notary and the newspaper. The Bihar State Gazette has no published fee at all, so any Bihar figure quoted to you is a service price. And every Central figure is printed as valid "w.e.f. 01/04/2016 to 31/03/2017", with the Department's own guideline saying it "varies each financial year" — so pay what BharatKosh shows.

Which newspapers do I use in Patna?+

In practice Dainik Jagran, Hindustan or Prabhat Khabar in Hindi, and The Times of India or Hindustan Times in English. Two corrections to what you will read elsewhere. First, the guidelines require one newspaper, not two: "Change of name should be advertised in one of the daily local leading newspapers." Second, no government body approves or empanels any newspaper for this — the only test is the qualitative phrase "a daily local leading newspaper". Anyone showing you an "approved list" invented it. Submit the complete original newspaper, highlighted, not a cutting.

Is an affidavit enough to change my name?+

No. It is only the first step. Aadhaar, PAN and passport offices require the gazette notification as legal proof.

How old can my affidavit and newspaper ads be?+

Not more than one year. The Department of Publication does not accept documents older than one year, so file the gazette while your papers are fresh. Documents once submitted are not returned, so keep clear copies.

Where do I download my gazette notification?+

The Central Gazette (Part IV) is downloaded from egazette.gov.in. The Bihar State Gazette is available from egazette.bihar.gov.in.

Is a Bihar name change published in "Part IV"?+

Only if you use the Central route. Part IV is a division of the Gazette of India — the part carrying notices from private individuals, published weekly on a Saturday and downloadable from egazette.gov.in. The Bihar Gazette is a separate state publication from Gulzarbagh with its own numbering; its name-change entries appear under "Office of Superintendent, Bihar Sec Pres". Sites describing a Bihar notice as being "in Part IV" have merged the two.

How do I change my surname after marriage in Patna?+

Follow the same three steps and add your marriage certificate. Taking your spouse's surname is optional, not mandatory.

Can I revert to my maiden name after divorce in Patna?+

Yes, using the affidavit, newspaper and gazette route, with your divorce decree as supporting proof. No separate court petition is needed just to change the name back.

How do I change my name in my Aadhaar card in Patna?+

After the gazette is published, visit an Aadhaar Seva Kendra with the gazette notification, affidavit and newspaper copies to update your name.

Do I need a gazette to fix a spelling mistake in my birth certificate?+

No. That is a Registrar matter under the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969. If the name was never entered you are adding one under Section 14; if a name is recorded but wrong you are correcting it under Section 15, by a marginal entry without altering the original. In Patna city that is the Patna Municipal Corporation, Maurya Lok Complex, phone 0612-2223791. One complication to read first: PMC's own page says that once a child's name is entered it "cannot be amended in any nature", which sits awkwardly with Section 15 — we explain that conflict rather than smooth it over.

How do I change a minor's name in Patna?+

A parent or guardian applies using the same three steps, with the child's birth certificate. The fee for minors is usually higher, around Rs 1,700.

I am a Bihar government employee in Patna, is my process different?+

Yes, and the difference is procedural rather than financial — there is no separate fee slab for government servants. A Central Government employee uses the Department of Publication's published deed, which must be witnessed by two gazetted officers of your own department or ministry with designation, official address and rubber stamp, not a notary. A Bihar state employee should route the change through their establishment section too, because the service book has to match. Start with your establishment officer before spending anything.

People also search for: Name change agent in Patna, gazette office in Patna, name change in birth certificate Patna, surname change after marriage, passport name change Patna, Aadhaar name change online, Bihar State Gazette vs Central Gazette.

How to Change Name Legally in Patna (2026)

Watch: Name Change Procedure in Patna

Patna name change at a glance

Key takeaways

The 3-Step Name Change Process in Patna

Notarised affidavit

Newspaper publication

Gazette notification

Step 1: Make and notarise the affidavit

Step 2: Publish the change in a newspaper — one is the rule

Step 3: File for the gazette notification

Bihar State Gazette vs Central Gazette: Which Should a Patna Resident Use?

Use the Central Gazette if

Should you use the Bihar State Gazette?

The Gazette Office in Patna: Gulzarbagh, and Where Central Files Go

Can You Apply for a Bihar Gazette Name Change? We Went and Checked.

First, the good news: the state route is real

Now the part nobody publishes

And no, RTPS does not do name changes either

The Gulzarbagh contact ladder, from the government's own page

So what should a Patna resident actually do?

What Other Websites Get Wrong About Name Change in Patna

Full Document Checklist for a Patna Name Change

Is the Name Change Process in Patna Fully Online?

The Whole Patna Name Change Decision, on One Page

Real Cost of Name Change in Patna, Route by Route

How Long Does a Name Change Take in Patna?

After the Gazette: Updating Aadhaar, PAN, Passport & BSEB Records in Order

Birth Certificate Spelling Mistake? Patna Municipal Corporation, Not the Gazette

Section 14 or Section 15? This decides which counter you walk to

Who handles it in Patna, and what it costs

A conflict we are going to show you rather than smooth over

BSEB Certificate Correction: You May Not Need a Gazette at All

The five documents BSEB actually asks for

What can and cannot be corrected

If you are still in school, there is a free window

Changing Name and Gender: The Free Route Most Pages Never Mention

Name Change After Marriage, Divorce & for a Minor in Patna

After marriage

After divorce

For a minor

Government Employees in Patna: A Separate Route

Name Change Services We Handle in Patna

Aadhaar Card

PAN Card

Voter ID (EPIC)

Passport

Driving Licence

Bank & KYC

School & University

Birth Certificate

LIC & Insurance

Areas in Patna We Serve

Why Name Change Applications Get Rejected in Patna

DIY or a Name Change Agent in Patna?

Why People in Patna Choose Us

Both gazette routes covered

Hindi & English newspaper ads handled

Doorstep document pickup in Patna

We check your gazette file before we submit

Quick Answers to Common Patna Name Change Searches

Let YourDoorstep handle your name change for you

Official Forms and Guideline PDFs

People Also Ask About Name Change in Patna

Can I change my name in the Gazette online in Bihar?

Does the Bihar Gazette publish name changes at all, then?

What is the easiest way to legally change your name in Patna?

What are the fees for changing a name in the Gazette of India?

How long does a gazette notification take?

Where is the Gazette office in Patna?

Where do Central Gazette files from Patna actually go?

Is name change an RTPS service in Bihar?

Do I need a gazette to correct my name on a BSEB certificate?

How do I fix a spelling mistake on a Patna birth certificate?

Which newspapers are approved for a name change notice in Patna?

How much stamp paper do I need for the affidavit in Bihar?

Can an agent submit my Central Gazette file for me?

What happens if my file is rejected or documents are missing?

Related Patna Name Change Searches, Answered

Gazette office Patna contact number