Gazette Name Change Affidavit in Vadodara

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Where this sits in the process

A Gazette name change has three moving parts and this affidavit is the first of them. You swear the change on oath. You then publish notices in two newspapers. You then apply to the Government Press, sending the proforma it prescribes together with the affidavit, the original newspaper pages and your identity documents. If the Press accepts the application, the change is notified in the Gazette and you receive the published copy.

The value of the Gazette entry is that it is a published Government record. It does not depend on you keeping a piece of paper safe for thirty years. When a bank, a pension office or an employer questions the change long afterwards, the Gazette can be produced and cited. That is why Government service records and most institutional records want it, while a school or a small co-operative bank will often act on the affidavit alone.

What the Gazette entry is, and is not.

It is evidence that the change was published in the official Gazette. It is not a court order, and it is not an adjudication that you were entitled to the change. Nobody's rights are decided by it. It is proof of publication — which is exactly what institutions want, and no more than that.

What the affidavit has to contain

The old name, written exactly as it appears on the identity document being produced.
The new name, in the exact spelling you want notified — this is the spelling that will be printed and it is very difficult to correct afterwards.
Father's or husband's name, age, occupation and full residential address.
A statement that both names refer to one and the same person, that the change is voluntary, and that it is not being made to defraud anyone or to escape any liability or proceeding.
Where a photograph and specimen signature are required by the proforma, they go on the affidavit and are attested.

The wording has to be reconciled with the proforma before it is sworn, not after. The commonest wasted trip is an affidavit drafted in one form of words and an application form filled in another, with the two disagreeing about a middle name or an initial.

Who needs to go the Gazette route

Government and public sector employees changing a name in the service book. Anyone whose change has to survive a later verification — police verification, a pension claim, a professional council registration. People planning to travel or work abroad, where documents will be examined by a foreign authority that trusts a published official record far more than a private affidavit. And those who have already changed a name informally years ago and now need a clean paper trail to regularise it.

We do not promise a Gazette date.

Publication is done by the Government Press on its own schedule. We draft and notarise the affidavit, tell you exactly what the application needs, and check your newspaper cuttings before you send them. Anyone who guarantees you a Gazette date in a fixed number of days is guessing with your money.

What gets these rejected

Newspaper notices whose wording or spelling differs from the affidavit, even by an initial.
Cuttings pasted without the masthead and date, so the Press cannot see which paper and which day.
The address in the affidavit not matching the address proof, or an address outside the area the newspapers actually circulate in.
A photograph pasted on but not attested, or a specimen signature that differs from the signature on the identity document.
A minor's application deposed by the minor instead of by both parents as natural guardians.
The affidavit sworn before publication but describing the notices as already published.

Cost side

Three separate costs, and they are not one bill. Stamp duty on the affidavit as currently prescribed under the Gujarat Stamp Act, 1958, which we confirm at the counter. The notarial fee for taking the affidavit, capped at ₹35 under Rule 10(1) of the Notaries Rules, 1956 — see the charges page. Then the newspapers' own advertisement rates and the Government Press fee, both of which are paid to them and not to us.

What to bring

Aadhaar card and PAN card, originals and copies
The document carrying the old name — school leaving certificate or service record
Proof of current residential address
Passport-size photographs as required by the Press proforma
Both original newspaper pages if the notices have already been published
Marriage certificate, where the change follows a marriage
For a minor, the birth certificate and both parents' identity documents

Name Change Affidavit — the first step in changing your nameનામ ફેરફાર સોગંદનામું

Surname Change Affidavitઅટક ફેરફાર સોગંદનામું

Name Change After Marriage — the affidavit and what follows itલગ્ન બાદ અટક ફેરફાર

One and the Same Person Affidavit — two spellings, one personએક જ વ્યક્તિ હોવા બાબતનું સોગંદનામું

Common questions

Do I have to publish in the newspapers before or after the affidavit?

After. The affidavit is sworn first and the notices are then published referring to the change it records. An affidavit that describes notices as already published when they have not been is false on its face, and the Press will notice the dates. Keep the complete newspaper pages, not trimmed cuttings.

Can the Gazette entry be corrected if a letter is wrong?

Correcting a published entry is slow and troublesome, and in practice usually means going through the whole exercise again. This is why we make you read the new name in block letters and confirm it before the affidavit is sworn. Two minutes at the counter is worth more than any remedy afterwards.

Is a Gazette entry needed for a bank or a school?

Usually not. Most banks, schools and colleges act on the notarised affidavit, sometimes with the newspaper notices. The Gazette matters where the change must hold up years later against Government or institutional verification. We will say plainly which category you are in rather than pushing you into the longer route.

Gazette Affidavit — the sworn statement behind a Gazette name change