Post marriage: How to change your name

Marriage vows have been taken. Relatives and friends have made their way back home. Gifts have been unwrapped. It is now time to settle into a whole new you, possibly with a new name too!

To get to the bottom of post-marriage naming conventions, let's start from the beginning.

You have to notify authorities of your new marital status by submitting a photocopy of your husband's passport and your marriage certificate.

Your marital status will be noted with your husband's name inserted into the spouse column.

A joint notarised affidavit is a declaration made by you and your husband on stamp paper, signed by a magistrate or a notary. The declaration states that your maiden name was say, for example, Amrita Rao and you were married to Rahul Sharma on July 12, 2006.

Then by virtue of your marriage, your new name is Amrita Sharma and you shall be known by this name. The affidavit also carries a joint photograph of your husband and you.

A notarised affidavit, along with your marriage certificate, is enough to change your name at the bank, on your passport, on the Permanent Account Number (PAN) for income tax (IT) deductions and even on your driving license.

However, submitting a notarised affidavit can be a tedious and expensive affair every time your new name has to be recorded. More so, if the concerned departments / officials ask for the original affidavit each time!

Make your life simpler by registering your new name with your state government gazette. Collect a copy of the name change form --- available free of cost -- and fill in the details correctly. Attach a copy of your marriage certificate and pay a nominal fee.

The concerned officer will give you a receipt and will send four copies of the gazette carrying your name change details and a reference number to your address mentioned in the form. This procedure takes about 10 to 15 days or a month.

Once the gazette copies are with you, just add the gazette copy with all your name change applications.

Shakespeare may have asked, "What's in a name?" For a newlywed, there is lot!