- This topic has 66 replies, 27 voices, and was last updated 1 year, 3 months ago by
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UWe are a happily married couple working in Bangalore, blessed with a baby few days back. We want our baby girl to take my wife’s surname. We are also thinking of coming up with a neutral middle name for her that combines both our names. While I know that a person can legally change their name to whatever they want, I am curious to learn if there could be some legal technicalities, archaic rules, etc that may create issues with important documents like birth certificate, passports, school admissions, etc. I want to make sure we are ready to navigate any archaic rules/legalities so that our daughter does not have to face any issues. Our social circle in Bangalore is very progressive and supportive of our decision, as are our parents, so the question is more about legalities in making this choice.
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SAise hi cool lag raha tha.
Also his surname could be wierd like Boob, which believe me is legit surname in India. -
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SBecause people are more idiot here than logical.
They want different revolts to happen by changing surnames for a change that will give them more problems and won’t solve issues.
They are all about individualism, but in the end, they do this in favour of change in society and mess everything up in the process.
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SI really don’t understand the fact of Reddit herd, like being individualistic isn’t equal to being logical.
You won’t even do the name change in the name of progressive until others do, because you are human and a social animal.
They forgot that India is a family-oriented society and not individualistic, name change here by logic will cause you trouble, here no one will save you from that because you are progressive, but rather the fact that our culture and system are different, you can do all this by voting and peaceful ways, but they choose ways that cause themselves harm than others.
You are downvoted in a legal subreddit, where logical reasoning and proof are used to get things done.
People here are saying go ahead, OP, bro, keep ideology aside from legal laws in a subreddit that is made for laws.
There is no law passed that makes it easier for you to do that.
So better to stick to talking about laws than how progressive or conservative you are
It only matters when you have to pass a bill, not when a law is already there and you can’t change it in the meantime without being in issues.
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HYou can get the name changed through the gazette, but think carefully before taking this step, you might regret it later. Good luck and congratulations
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UThank you! Changing names in gazette is always an option, but I was curious if the child can take my wife’s surname by birth. Are there any legal technicalities that may be a reason for regret?
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HSee, on the birth certificate, the childs name along with mothers and and fathers name will be displayed, they won’t allot your surname to the child, but it’s done by default. All you have to do is make a gazette entry about this. This won’t cause you any legal trouble as one is free to name themselves whatever they want.
The only issue you’ll face is when you apply for her passport, because during the passport application (only in tatkal I believe), they input your name and your parents names as per your birth certificate.
Other than that you have zero issues legally.
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UWhatever name you fill out on the birth certificate will be the legal name. Doesn’t matter what surname or middle name you use.
You can even leave the name on the birth certificate empty if you haven’t decided yet. You can always update it later once you have decided on a name.
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UThank you, that’s helpful. So legally, you just enter the first name on birth certificate. Does it mean that the child’s name gets father’s surname by default? As in there’s no legal provision in India for the child to have mother’s surname by birth?
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UMy recommendation is that you decide on a full formal name and then fill up the birth certificate. I’m not sure but if you fill just the first name, then they might just append the father’s last name.
Has the name been decided and have you filled up the birth certificate?
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UExcellent. Then just fill up the birth certificate with the full decided name. That will be the legal name of the child for life. Unless of course the child after turning major decides to change their name.
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PBy default people do whatever is the norm in their own community. I’ve had idiots at a couple of banks add my fathers name or initials to my name despite having my proper name filled out as per my documents. Don’t leave any ambiguity please. Fill the full name, or don’t fill anything and update it later.
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UGood point in making sure there’s no ambiguity! India has a long way to go when it comes to revamping such systems. Not too long ago, the Indian passport was much harder to make without a husband/father’s name, making things much harder for children who are orphans or do not know their father. Today it’s much simpler to make Indian passport in such situations. I hope we continue to improve our systems and make them more inclusive.
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KUsage of middle name complicates things when it comes to passport, PAN etc.
Keep it simple and universal with firstName lastName format.
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KFull disclosure: I speak from a painful experience of having to deal with my name which was not straightforward and in standard format. You can take my words at face value because I know the true pitfalls.
1. Absence of middle names creates no issues. Infact it makes things easier. That is the best case scenario. Do not include any “initials” either. Because PAN doesn’t accept initials when it comes at the beginning of the name or the ending of the name. Like J Ryan Carter or Ryan Carter J
FirstName LastName is gold standard, so just go with only that.
2. I think you must know, there is no concept of middle name in Indian passport. i.e. first name + middle name is combined together to form “Given name” in Indian passport, which gets converted to “first name” when your kid moves abroad.
Let’s assume “Ryan Jacob Carter” is your kid’s name.
Ryan is first name
Jacob is middle name
Carter is last name.Indian Passport will say
given name: Ryan Jacob
Last name: CarterWhen your kid moves abroad, their first name will become : Ryan Jacob , which will simply complicate things, cause confusion and also not look nice.
People will wonder whether to call your kid Ryan or Jacob.
Identity crisis for the kid as well. I have seen this happen with a friend here in India who has two names as first name, so this claim is not baseless.
If the middle name ends up being easier on the tongue for either Indians or foreigners then your kid will be known by middle name forever, which is worse.
Final suggestion from a mid 30s man who has seen enough suffering because of name: please keep only FirstName LastName. Keep firstname very simple. It’s very tempting to have fancy names but in the era of globalisation, if your kids name is very easy to pronounce for people of most nationalities then you would have done your kid proud.
If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.
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UThank you for the detailed answer! I can relate with issues you discussed, as both me and my wife studied in the US and worked for a bit before moving to India. Indeed, having middle name is also a bit complicated if you forget to add it when booking international tickets (you have to rebook the entire flight without refunds). Nothing that can’t be managed but can be confusing sometimes!
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UThere’s a lot of cultural diversity. Some people have middle names and some don’t (in developed countries). However, it’s interesting to note that middle name does not have to be the father’s name in most developed countries (it can be anything like the first name).
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HMiddle name can be anything in India as well. Father’s name as middle name is only a Western India thing I think (MH, GJ)
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UNo, it doesn’t. My son has a middle name and we had no issues with neither for passport nor the Aadhaar card. The process was easy and seamless.
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SJust curious, your son has your last name, and you want your daughter to take her mother’s last name? Is that how you’re planning?
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UTrue, there are matrilineal communities around the world, but have much smaller numbers as compared to patrilineal ones.
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PI have never heard of such cultures. Fascinating. Do you belong to a similar culture op? Otherwise men start to fight if a woman expresses she wants her kids named after her.
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UIndeed, the diversity of cultures is very interesting. We don’t belong to a traditionally matrilineal culture, we are both from Maharashtra where it is typical for the kid’s middle name to be father’s first name and kid’s last name is father’s last name. It’s unfortunate that some men resist changing this tradition. Societies are slow to change especially when it comes to these things. Our social circle and parents were very happy when we made this decision.
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UI have two kids.. First one has my name as surname.. Second one has my wife’s name as surname.. No legal issues.. Names don’t have any binding laws as such
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UThank you for sharing your experience!
Did you have to follow any different procedure for your second child (for example adding to gazette etc)? Does the birth certificate mention the full name of the child? -
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