Name correction in Aadhaar — and why it is not a name change
Two different requests, two different proofs, and one scarce resource. The diagnostic that decides which you need, and the sequencing that stops you spending an update you cannot get back.
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The thirty-second diagnostic
Answer this before you assemble anything. It decides whether you need one application or a three-step chain and a dozen downstream updates — and it decides whether you spend one of a strictly limited number of Aadhaar name updates well or badly.
Do your other documents already carry the name you want in Aadhaar?
- Yes — my passport, PAN or school certificate reads it correctly
A correction. One application, with the document you already hold.
Section 31 of the Aadhaar Act names this situation expressly: demographic information that “is incorrect”. Check UIDAI’s current accepted-document list, because it is a list rather than a principle.
- The difference is a spelling, an expanded initial, or a transliteration
Still a correction, in almost every case.
“Ragavan” for “Raghavan”, “S. Kumar” expanded to “Suresh Kumar”, or a regional-language name transliterated differently. These are errors in the record, not new names.
- No — I want a name none of my documents has ever carried
Is the reason a marriage?
- Yes
A different set of requirements, and usually a shorter route.
The marriage certificate is an anchor document that explains the change, and UIDAI’s requirements for a post-marriage update are not the same as for a general one.
Name change after marriage → - No
A legal change. Complete the chain first, then update Aadhaar once.
Affidavit, newspapers, gazette — and only then Aadhaar, to exactly the string the published gazette carries. Updating on the affidavit alone is how people spend two updates to achieve one change.
The gazette notification →
- Yes
- Both — one part is misspelt and I also want to change another part
Separate them, and do the correction first.
Bundling makes both harder to evidence, because the office cannot tell which part of the difference is an error and which is a deliberate change. And each update is scarce — plan the sequence so you spend as few as possible.
Whichever branch you are in, decide the exact final string before you apply: the expansion of initials, the spacing, the order of the parts, and the regional-language rendering. Institutions match on strings, not on intentions.
The Aadhaar Act names both situations, and leaves everything else to regulations — which is why the documents, the fee and the update limit are UIDAI’s to publish and not the Act’s.
Section 31 of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 provides that where an Aadhaar number holder’s demographic information changes, or is incorrect, they may request the Authority to alter it in the record in such manner as may be specified by regulations. Those two phrases — information that “changes” and information that “is incorrect” — are the legal change and the correction, and the fact that the section names both is why UIDAI treats them as different requests with different supporting documents. What the Act does not do is list the documents, set the fee, or limit the number of updates. All three are fixed under the regulations and can be revised without any change to the Act, which is why they are not reproduced on this page.
SourceAadhaar Act, 2016 — s. 31(opens in a new tab)Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 — s. 17(opens in a new tab)
Most of the documents on this page are issued by a State government, not by the Union. The Act behind a document is usually central — the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, for instance — but the forms, the fees, the processing times, the portal and the office you actually go to are fixed by each State under its own rules. That means there is no single national fee or timeline for a domicile certificate, an income certificate or a legal heir certificate, and any page that quotes you one has invented it. We give you the statutory framework, which is the same everywhere, and the name of the office and portal for your State, which is where the current fee is published. Where a figure is set by a central authority — UIDAI, the Department of Publication, Passport Seva — it is stated as such and attributed.
Correcting a name in Aadhaar and legally changing your name are two different things, and UIDAI treats them differently. A correction fixes an entry that records your name wrongly, and is supported by an existing document that already carries the correct name — a passport, a PAN card, a school certificate. A legal change alters the name itself, and is supported by the name-change chain, ending in the gazette notification. The statutory basis for either is Section 31 of the Aadhaar Act, 2016, which provides that where an Aadhaar number holder’s demographic information changes or is incorrect, they may request the Authority to alter it in the manner the regulations specify. What makes the distinction consequential rather than academic is that UIDAI limits how many times a name may be updated in a lifetime — so an update spent on a correction you did not need is an update you cannot spend later.
Key takeaways
- Ask the diagnostic question first: do your other documents already carry the name you want? If yes, this is a correction and you need no affidavit, no newspapers and no gazette.
- The name update is limited. UIDAI restricts how many times the name field may be updated over a lifetime. Confirm the current limit on uidai.gov.in and treat each update as one you cannot get back.
- Update once, to the final name. Where you are also going to change your name legally, do not spend an update on an interim spelling first — do the legal change and then make a single Aadhaar update to the final name.
- Aadhaar and PAN must end up identical, character for character. A very large number of institutions verify against one or both, and a mismatch causes problems well beyond this exercise.
- The statutory basis is Section 31 of the Aadhaar Act, 2016. What documents UIDAI accepts, and the fee, are fixed by UIDAI under the regulations and are published on uidai.gov.in — they change, so read them there rather than from any secondary source.
The two routes, compared on what they actually cost you
They end at the same counter and everything before the counter is different. The last row is the one people do not think about until it is too late.
| Point of comparison | A correctionThe record is wrong | A legal changeThe name itself is changing |
|---|---|---|
| What supports it | An existing document already carrying the correct name, from UIDAI’s accepted list. | The gazette notification, and the affidavit behind it. |
| What you have to do first | Nothing. You already hold the proof. | The affidavit, two newspaper publications, and the gazette application — in that order. |
| What it costs before the counter | Nothing. | Stamp paper and notarisation, two newspaper insertions, and the gazette fee. |
| How long the whole thing takes | One application. | The chain, then the update. The chain is the long part. |
| Which records change afterwards | Only the ones that were wrong. Most of your documents already read correctly. | All of them — PAN, passport, every bank and demat account, insurance, employer, provident fund, property records, education records, licences. |
| Does it consume one of your limited name updates? | Yes. So make it once, to the exactly correct final spelling. | Yes, equally. Which is the argument for finishing the chain before touching Aadhaar at all. |
A correction
The record is wrong
- What supports it
- An existing document already carrying the correct name, from UIDAI’s accepted list.
- What you have to do first
- Nothing. You already hold the proof.
- What it costs before the counter
- Nothing.
- How long the whole thing takes
- One application.
- Which records change afterwards
- Only the ones that were wrong. Most of your documents already read correctly.
- Does it consume one of your limited name updates?
- Yes. So make it once, to the exactly correct final spelling.
A legal change
The name itself is changing
- What supports it
- The gazette notification, and the affidavit behind it.
- What you have to do first
- The affidavit, two newspaper publications, and the gazette application — in that order.
- What it costs before the counter
- Stamp paper and notarisation, two newspaper insertions, and the gazette fee.
- How long the whole thing takes
- The chain, then the update. The chain is the long part.
- Which records change afterwards
- All of them — PAN, passport, every bank and demat account, insurance, employer, provident fund, property records, education records, licences.
- Does it consume one of your limited name updates?
- Yes, equally. Which is the argument for finishing the chain before touching Aadhaar at all.
The asymmetry is the point: a correction is nearly free and a change is not, and people routinely run the expensive one when they needed the cheap one. Thirty seconds with the diagnostic above settles it.
For anyone born after the 2023 amendment, the birth certificate is now the document that proves date and place of birth for issuance of an Aadhaar number.
Section 17(3) of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, inserted by the 2023 Amendment Act, lists issuance of an Aadhaar number among the purposes for which the birth certificate shall be used to prove date and place of birth for a person born on or after its commencement — alongside admission to an educational institution, a driving licence, the voter list, registration of a marriage, appointment to a government post, and a passport. The practical effect is that an error in a birth register now propagates into the Aadhaar record rather than being worked around, which makes a Section 15 correction to a birth entry a far more consequential piece of work than it used to be.
SourceRegistration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 — s. 17(opens in a new tab)Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 — s. 15(opens in a new tab)Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 — s. 12(opens in a new tab)
Correction against legal change: the distinction, and why it is expensive to get wrong
This is the whole of the page, and it is worth being precise about it, because the two routes look similar and cost very differently.
A correction is what you need where a document records your name wrongly. Your name has always been Raghavan; the enrolment operator typed Ragavan; your passport, your PAN and your school certificate all read Raghavan. Nothing about you has changed. A record is wrong and you are asking for it to be made right, and the proof is any of the documents that already carry the correct name.
A legal change is what you need where you are asking to be known by a name none of your documents has ever carried. Nothing was recorded wrongly. The proof, therefore, cannot come from an existing document, because no existing document carries the new name — which is exactly why the affidavit, newspaper and gazette chain exists. It manufactures the evidence that does not otherwise exist.
Three questions settle which one you are in. Do your other documents already show the name you want? Is the difference a spelling, an expanded initial, a transliteration or an obvious typographical slip? Is anybody being asked to recognise a name that is new to the world? The first two point to a correction; the last points to a change.
The reason this matters more here than anywhere else in the chain is the update limit. UIDAI restricts the number of times the name field may be updated over a lifetime. That makes every update a scarce resource, and it makes a badly sequenced one — an interim spelling now, the real name later — genuinely costly rather than merely inconvenient.
| A correction | A legal change of name | |
|---|---|---|
| What has happened | A record is wrong. Your name has not changed. | You have decided to be known by a different name. |
| Do your other documents carry the name you want? | Yes. That is what makes it a correction. | No. That is what makes it a change. |
| What supports the request | An existing document already carrying the correct name — a passport, PAN, school certificate or similar, from UIDAI’s accepted list. | The name-change chain: affidavit, newspaper publication, and the gazette notification. |
| What it costs before you reach the Aadhaar counter | Nothing. You already hold the proof. | Stamp paper and notarisation, two newspaper insertions, and the gazette fee — plus the time each takes. |
| Does it consume a name update? | Yes. This is why it should be done once, to the correct final spelling. | Yes, equally. Which is the argument for doing the legal change first and updating Aadhaar once. |
| How long the whole thing takes | One application. | The chain, then the update. The chain is the long part. |
| The mistake people make | Running the whole chain for a misspelling. | Updating Aadhaar on an affidavit before the gazette is published, then having to explain the mismatch downstream. |
UIDAI limits how many times the name in an Aadhaar record may be updated over a lifetime. Confirm the current limit on uidai.gov.in — it is UIDAI’s figure to publish and it changes. What does not change is the consequence: an update spent on an interim version of a name is an update you cannot spend on the final one.
What the Aadhaar Act actually says
Section 31 of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 is the provision, and it is short. Where an Aadhaar number holder’s demographic information changes, or is incorrect, they may request the Authority to alter it in the record in such manner as may be specified by regulations.
Two things follow from that wording, and both explain what people find frustrating about the process.
First, the Act contemplates both situations expressly — information that "changes", and information that "is incorrect". Those are the legal change and the correction respectively, and the fact that the section names both is why UIDAI treats them as different requests with different supporting documents.
Second, the manner is left to regulations. The Act does not list the documents, does not set the fee, and does not set the limit on updates. All of those are fixed by UIDAI under the regulations, and all of them can be revised without any change to the Act. Which is why this page does not reproduce the document list, the fee or the limit: they are UIDAI’s to publish, they change, and a stale figure copied onto a website is worse than none.
What this page can usefully give you is the structure, the diagnostic, and the sequencing — none of which changes when UIDAI revises a fee.
How to make the update
There are two routes, and which one is open to you depends on what is being changed and what UIDAI currently permits online.
The online route, through the myAadhaar portal, is available for some kinds of demographic update and requires the mobile number registered with your Aadhaar, because the process is authenticated by a one-time password sent to it. If your registered mobile number is out of date, that has to be fixed first — and updating a mobile number is itself something UIDAI generally requires you to do in person.
The enrolment centre route is available for everything, and is required for anything the online route does not cover. You attend in person with the original documents.
In either case, the shape of the request is the same: identify the field being altered, state the correct value, and produce the supporting document from UIDAI’s accepted list.
- 1Decide first whether this is a correction or a legal change. If it is a legal change, complete the chain and obtain the gazette notification before doing anything here.
- 2Check that your registered mobile number is current, because the online route depends on it. If it is not, that is the first thing to fix, and it generally requires a centre visit.
- 3Read UIDAI’s current list of accepted supporting documents for a name update, on uidai.gov.in. It changes, and the acceptability of a particular document is UIDAI’s decision rather than an inference from what worked for someone else.
- 4Decide the exact final spelling — character by character, including initials, spacing and the order of the parts — and check it against your PAN. Aadhaar and PAN must end up identical.
- 5Make the request, online or at a centre, with the supporting document, and pay the fee UIDAI publishes.
- 6Keep the acknowledgement with the update request number. Everything afterwards, including tracking and any follow-up, depends on it.
- 7Once the update is reflected, update PAN to match if it does not already, and only then proceed to the other institutions that verify against them.
Not just the name but its exact rendering: whether an initial is expanded, whether a surname comes first, whether there is a space or a full stop after an initial, and how a regional-language name is transliterated. Institutions match on strings, not on intentions. Write the final form down, check it against your PAN and passport, and use that identical string everywhere.
Where the Aadhaar update sits, and why it goes first downstream
In the name-change chain, Aadhaar is not part of the spine — it is the first of the downstream updates. It comes after the gazette, and before almost everything else.
The reason it goes first among the downstream updates is that a great many institutions do not verify your identity against your documents directly. They verify against Aadhaar, or against PAN, or against both. A bank asked to change a name on an account will check the new name against the Aadhaar it holds; if that Aadhaar still carries the old name, the change either fails or produces a record that does not match.
Which is why the sequence downstream is: Aadhaar, then PAN, then the passport, then everything that verifies against those three.
And it is why the single most common piece of wasted work in a name change is an institution updated before Aadhaar. It is not that the institution did anything wrong. It is that it recorded a change verified against a document that has since changed, and the mismatch has to be resolved by doing the whole thing again.
An ordering of the four against one another, from how these matters present. It is not a measurement. The first is the only one that cannot be undone by doing more work, which is what makes it the worst.
The situations that are not straightforward
Most name updates are simple once the correction-or-change question is answered. These are the ones that are not.
- A name change on marriage. The marriage certificate is an anchor document that explains the change, and UIDAI’s requirements for a post-marriage name update are not the same as for a general one. Read UIDAI’s current position, and see the marriage page in this cluster for the sequence.
- A minor’s name. The request is made by the parent or guardian, and the documents accepted are different. Note also that since the 2023 amendment to the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, the birth certificate has become the document to prove date and place of birth for issuance of an Aadhaar number for anyone born after it commenced.
- A registered mobile number that is out of date or belongs to somebody else. This blocks the online route entirely, because the process is authenticated by a one-time password. Fix it first, in person.
- A name that transliterates differently in the regional language and in English. Decide the exact form of both before you apply, because Aadhaar carries the name in both scripts and a mismatch between them causes its own problems.
- A name update refused for want of an acceptable document. UIDAI publishes the list of documents it accepts, and it is a list rather than a principle — a document that seems obviously good proof may simply not be on it. Read the list before applying.
- A person who has already exhausted the update limit. This is the situation the whole page is written to prevent, and it is not one this page can fix. UIDAI’s own grievance and exception processes are the route, and there is no general workaround.
After the update: making everything else agree
An Aadhaar update is one step. What makes it useful is that everything else then agrees with it, and that requires a deliberate sweep rather than dealing with institutions as they happen to come up.
PAN first, because Aadhaar and PAN are the two records almost everything else verifies against, and because a mismatch between them causes friction well beyond this exercise. Make them identical character for character — not merely equivalent.
Then the passport, which is both a downstream document and an identity document many institutions rely on.
Then the sweep: every bank account including dormant ones, every demat account and mutual fund folio, every insurance policy, the employer’s records and the provident fund account, property records, the driving licence, the voter roll and the ration card.
And education records, pulled forward rather than left to the end, because several boards and universities impose a time limit on a name change measured from the award of the qualification. It is the only item on the list that can expire.
Keep the gazette notification, the affidavit and the newspaper pages permanently. Every one of those institutions may ask for them, and an employer verifying a degree in your old name will ask for them years after you have stopped thinking about any of this.
Worked examples
Example 1: The misspelling: one application, no chain
- Aadhaar reads
- Priya Ragavan
- Passport, PAN and school certificate read
- Priya Raghavan
- What she was told to do
- An affidavit, two newspapers and a gazette notification
- 1.Ask the diagnostic question: do her other documents already carry the name she wants? They do — three of them.
- 2.That makes this a correction of an incorrect entry, which is one of the two situations Section 31 of the Aadhaar Act names expressly.
- 3.The supporting document is one she already holds. UIDAI publishes the list of documents it accepts for a name update; the passport is on it.
- 4.One request, online or at a centre, with the correct spelling and the supporting document. No affidavit, no newspapers, no gazette.
- 5.One caution that applies even here: the update consumes one of a limited number of name updates, so it should be made once, to the exactly correct final spelling.
A single application instead of a three-step chain and a dozen downstream updates — and a name update preserved for a future she may actually need it for.
Example 2: The update spent twice
- The plan
- A legal change of name, with the chain to follow
- What was done first
- An Aadhaar update, on the affidavit alone, before the gazette
- What happened next
- The gazette was published with a slightly different rendering of the name
- 1.The affidavit and the gazette rendered the name differently — an initial expanded in one and not the other. Small, and decisive, because institutions match on strings.
- 2.The Aadhaar record now matched the affidavit and not the gazette, which is the document every downstream office would ask for.
- 3.A second Aadhaar update was needed to bring it into line with the gazette.
- 4.That consumed a second update out of a lifetime limit, for no benefit at all.
- 5.The correct sequence would have been: complete the chain, read the published gazette, and then make one Aadhaar update to exactly the string the gazette carries.
Two of a limited number of updates used to achieve one change. This is why the page insists on completing the chain before touching Aadhaar, and on deciding the exact final string before applying.
Example 3: The mobile number that blocked everything
- The need
- A straightforward correction of a spelling
- The obstacle
- The mobile number registered with Aadhaar is one she stopped using in 2018
- The attempt
- The online route, which requires a one-time password
- 1.The online route is authenticated by a one-time password sent to the registered mobile number. With an old number registered, it cannot complete.
- 2.Updating the registered mobile number is itself something UIDAI generally requires to be done in person at an enrolment centre.
- 3.So the sequence is: attend a centre, update the mobile number, and then make the name correction — either at the same visit or online afterwards.
- 4.This is worth checking before planning anything else in a name change, because it blocks the first downstream step and therefore everything after it.
- 5.The check takes a minute: attempt a login on myAadhaar and see whether the one-time password arrives.
A centre visit that was going to be necessary anyway, discovered before it derailed a timetable rather than after. Check the registered mobile number first.
More questions about this page
What is the difference between correcting a name in Aadhaar and changing it?▼
How many times can I change my name in Aadhaar?▼
What documents does UIDAI accept for a name update?▼
How much does an Aadhaar name update cost?▼
Do I need a gazette notification to change my name in Aadhaar?▼
Should I update Aadhaar or PAN first?▼
Can I update my Aadhaar name online?▼
My name is spelt differently in English and in the regional language. Which is right?▼
What if my name update is rejected?▼
I changed my name after marriage. Is that the same process?▼
Official sources checked
The statutes, rules and regulator pages the statements on this page were checked against.
- Alteration of demographic or biometric information. The section names both situations — information that changes and information that is incorrect — and leaves the manner to regulations, which is why the documents, fee and update limit are UIDAI’s to publish rather than the Act’s.
- The authority for the current accepted-document list, the fee and the lifetime limit on name updates. None of those figures is reproduced on this page: UIDAI revises them, and its site was restructured while this cluster was being built, so the figures are deliberately left to the source that sets them.
- The correction power for a birth register entry, and the 2023 provision making the birth certificate the proof of date and place of birth for issuance of an Aadhaar number for anyone born after its commencement.
When the update is refused, or blocked before you start
The first entry blocks the online route entirely and is worth checking before you plan anything else. The last one is the situation this whole page is written to prevent.
| What the refusal says | What it actually means | The cheapest fix |
|---|---|---|
| The one-time password never arrives. | The mobile number registered with your Aadhaar is out of date, or belongs to somebody else. The online route is authenticated by that number, so nothing can proceed. | Update the registered mobile number, which UIDAI generally requires to be done in person at an enrolment centre. Then make the name request, at the same visit or online afterwards.If that fails — Check this first, before planning any timetable. It blocks the first downstream step of a name change and therefore everything after it. |
| The supporting document was not accepted. | UIDAI publishes a list of accepted documents, and it is a list rather than a principle. A document that is obviously good proof of your name may simply not be on it. | Read the current list on uidai.gov.in and resubmit with a document that is on it. Do not reason from what worked for someone else — the list changes. |
| The name on the supporting document does not exactly match the requested value. | An initial expanded in one and not the other, a different spacing, or the parts in a different order. Institutions match on strings. | Request exactly the string that appears on the supporting document, character for character. Where you want a different rendering, that is a change rather than a correction and needs the chain. |
| A legal change was submitted as a correction. | The request asks for a name none of the supporting documents carries, on the strength of a document that carries a different one. | Complete the name-change chain and resubmit with the gazette notification. There is no shortcut here, because the evidence for a new name does not exist until the chain creates it. |
| The update went through, and now PAN and Aadhaar do not match. | One was updated and the other was not, or they were updated to slightly different renderings of the same name. | Make them identical, character for character, before doing anything else downstream. A great many institutions verify against one or both, and a mismatch causes friction well beyond a name change. |
| The lifetime limit on name updates has been reached. | The situation this page exists to prevent, and the one it cannot solve. Each update is a scarce resource and they are gone once spent. | UIDAI’s own grievance and exception processes are the route, and there is no general workaround.If that fails — Which is the argument for the discipline earlier on this page: finish the chain first, decide the exact final string, and make one update. |
The one-time password never arrives.
What it meansThe mobile number registered with your Aadhaar is out of date, or belongs to somebody else. The online route is authenticated by that number, so nothing can proceed.
The cheapest fixUpdate the registered mobile number, which UIDAI generally requires to be done in person at an enrolment centre. Then make the name request, at the same visit or online afterwards.
If that fails — Check this first, before planning any timetable. It blocks the first downstream step of a name change and therefore everything after it.
The supporting document was not accepted.
What it meansUIDAI publishes a list of accepted documents, and it is a list rather than a principle. A document that is obviously good proof of your name may simply not be on it.
The cheapest fixRead the current list on uidai.gov.in and resubmit with a document that is on it. Do not reason from what worked for someone else — the list changes.
The name on the supporting document does not exactly match the requested value.
What it meansAn initial expanded in one and not the other, a different spacing, or the parts in a different order. Institutions match on strings.
The cheapest fixRequest exactly the string that appears on the supporting document, character for character. Where you want a different rendering, that is a change rather than a correction and needs the chain.
A legal change was submitted as a correction.
What it meansThe request asks for a name none of the supporting documents carries, on the strength of a document that carries a different one.
The cheapest fixComplete the name-change chain and resubmit with the gazette notification. There is no shortcut here, because the evidence for a new name does not exist until the chain creates it.
The update went through, and now PAN and Aadhaar do not match.
What it meansOne was updated and the other was not, or they were updated to slightly different renderings of the same name.
The cheapest fixMake them identical, character for character, before doing anything else downstream. A great many institutions verify against one or both, and a mismatch causes friction well beyond a name change.
The lifetime limit on name updates has been reached.
What it meansThe situation this page exists to prevent, and the one it cannot solve. Each update is a scarce resource and they are gone once spent.
The cheapest fixUIDAI’s own grievance and exception processes are the route, and there is no general workaround.
If that fails — Which is the argument for the discipline earlier on this page: finish the chain first, decide the exact final string, and make one update.
Before you make the request, settle these
- 1Whether this is a correction or a legal change. Everything else follows from that answer.
- 2The exact final string — the expansion of initials, the spacing, the order of the parts — checked against your PAN and passport.
- 3The regional-language rendering as well as the English one, because Aadhaar carries both.
- 4That your registered mobile number is current, by attempting a login and seeing whether the one-time password arrives.
- 5That the supporting document you intend to rely on is on UIDAI’s current accepted list.
- 6Where this is a legal change: that the gazette has actually been published, and that you are requesting exactly the string the gazette carries.
Every entry on this list is prevented by ten minutes of preparation, and one of them cannot be undone at all. Aadhaar is the update to be most careful with, because it is the only one that is rationed.
Three figures this page does not give you, and why
- The lifetime limit on name updates. Real, and central to how you should sequence this. It is UIDAI’s figure to publish and it can be revised.
- The fee. Differs by route, and by whatever concessions UIDAI has in force at the time.
- The list of accepted supporting documents. A list rather than a principle — a document that seems obviously good proof may simply not be on it, and the list changes.
All three are published by UIDAI and all three change. A figure copied onto a website is out of date the moment UIDAI revises it, and a stale figure is worse than none because you plan around it and then discover it at a counter. Read them at the source.
Statutory basisAadhaar Act, 2016 — s. 31(opens in a new tab)
You are here
Getting the name right in Aadhaar
What to do next
- 1
If this turns out to be a legal change, start the chain
The evidence for a name none of your documents carries does not exist until the chain creates it.
The full dependency chain → - 2
The gazette is what supports a legal change here
It is the anchor document, and Aadhaar should be updated to exactly the string it carries.
The gazette notification → - 3
If the error originates in your birth certificate, fix that first
Since the 2023 amendment, the birth certificate is the proof of date and place of birth for issuance of an Aadhaar number for anyone born after it commenced.
Correcting a birth certificate under Section 15 → - 4
If the change is on marriage, the requirements differ
The marriage certificate is an anchor document in its own right, and the downstream sequence is different.
Name change after marriage →