Birth Certificate Name Change in Delhi

Who can apply for a birth certificate correction in Delhi

• The person named on the certificate, once they are 18.
• A parent or guardian, for a child under 18.
• A close relative or someone authorised in writing, where the applicant cannot attend. Ask the office what authorisation it accepts before sending anyone.

The registrar checks that the applicant is connected to the record, so carry ID that shows the relationship as well as the documents listed below.

Why people correct a name on a Delhi birth certificate

• A spelling mistake made when the birth was registered, often found years later by a passport office or an employer.
• No name on the certificate, because the birth was registered before the child was named.
• A short form or pet name entered instead of the full legal name, or an initial that was never expanded.
• Marriage or divorce. A surname taken or dropped later is a legal name change, not a correction; see returning to a maiden name after divorce.
• Adoption, religious conversion or gender transition, each of which has its own route.
• A mismatch with Aadhaar, school or board records, where one document has to be brought into line with the rest.
• The date of birth is wrong too, which is a separate application; see correcting a date of birth.

The reason decides the route. A mistake in what was recorded is a correction. A move to a different name is a legal name change, and that needs the Gazette.

MCD or NDMC: which office holds your Delhi record?

Apply to the body that registered the birth, not the one nearest your current home. The issuing authority is printed at the top of the certificate. Getting this right is the first step in any birth certificate name change in Delhi.

• Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) for most of Delhi. The three corporations were merged in 2022 into one MCD with 12 zones and a single portal, mcdonline.nic.in.
• New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) for births registered in NDMC areas, with its own online services at eservices.ndmc.gov.in.
• Delhi Cantonment Board for births registered in the cantonment.

If you hold an older certificate from North, South or East MCD, the record is now with the unified MCD. MCD has reissued some older certificates with new registration numbers and treats only the latest one as valid, so download a fresh copy from the portal before you apply.

How to correct a name online with MCD

MCD’s birth and death portal lets you correct the child’s, mother’s or father’s name online once the certificate has been generated.

1. Sign in at mcdonline.nic.in with your mobile number and OTP, and open Registration of Birth & Death.
2. Find the record through Search/Print Certificate, using the registration number, or the date of birth, gender and parents’ names.
3. Open the Action menu against the record and choose Correct details.
4. Mark the change as a minor or major correction against the name, enter the correct name and upload your supporting documents.
5. Submit. MCD officials review it, and once it is approved you download the corrected certificate from the same Action menu.

Records from before 2008 are not all digitised. If the portal cannot find yours, MCD directs you to its Central Record Room to trace the entry. If the certificate was issued without a name, the same Action menu offers Add Name.

How to correct a name with NDMC

NDMC runs its own online record correction service, and a separate service for adding a name.

Search for the birth record on the correction service, then submit the change with the same kind of supporting documents MCD asks for. To add a name to a certificate issued without one, use NDMC’s name inclusion service: only parents can apply, their Aadhaar is verified through DigiLocker, and it is free within the first 365 days and ₹10 after that.

Applying online through MCD or in person

For births registered in MCD zones, corrections are filed on MCD Online, which handles Correct Details and Add Name once the certificate has been generated. For the NDMC area, use NDMC record correction.

Records from before 2008 are not fully digitised, so if the search finds nothing, trace the entry at the Central Record Room before filing anything online.

Documents required for a Delhi correction

A correction needs an affidavit and proof of the correct name. A total change of name also needs a certificate from two credible persons.

• An affidavit on stamp paper stating the entry as recorded and the correct entry
• Both parents’ ID proof, such as Aadhaar
• A document that already shows the correct name, such as a school record or the hospital’s record of the birth
• The adoption deed or court order, if the change follows an adoption
• For a total change of name, a certificate from two credible persons who know the facts of the case

The two-credible-persons certificate is a statement from two people with personal knowledge of the facts, confirming that the old and new names belong to the same person. Ask the office for its format before you draft it — in practice, this is the one document applicants forget to sort out early, and it holds up more files than the Gazette step ever does. If a parent’s name is the problem, see correcting a mother’s or father’s name.

Changing to a completely different name in Delhi

A total change of name follows the same order in Delhi as anywhere in India: affidavit, newspaper notice, Gazette notification, then back to MCD or NDMC.

Step 1: the affidavit

Swear an affidavit giving the old and new names and the reason for the change, with every detail written exactly as it appears on Aadhaar.

Step 2: the newspaper notice in Hindi and English

Publish the change of name in a leading daily newspaper circulating in your area, giving the old name, the new name and your address. The Gazette office needs the original printed page, not a scan… lose it, and you’re republishing the notice from scratch. Most applicants in Delhi publish twice, once in a Hindi daily and once in an English one, since some departments ask to see both.

Step 3: the Gazette notification

Most applicants use the Gazette of India, published by the Department of Publication in Delhi, because the passport office, banks and every department accept it. The Department of Publication is in Civil Lines, Delhi, so applicants in Delhi can hand the application in during its public dealing hours instead of posting it.

The Department of Publication’s guidelines ask for:

• A signed undertaking giving your old and new name, your father’s or husband’s name and your address
• The original newspaper notice
• The change-of-name matter in the prescribed format, typed, in duplicate, signed in your old name with two witnesses
• A CD with the same matter in MS Word, without the witness portion
• A signed certificate that the printed copy and the CD copy match
• Two self-attested passport photographs and a self-attested photo ID
• The publication fee, paid through the Bharatkosh portal

The fee is ₹1,100 for an adult and ₹1,700 for a minor. Send the application by post, or hand it in, to the Controller of Publications, Department of Publication, Civil Lines, Delhi 110054. The office does not accept applications through agents or advocates, so the applicant signs and submits it. Documents should be less than a year old, and nothing sent is returned.

No printed copy is posted to you. Publication usually takes 30 to 45 days; after that, download your notice from egazette.gov.in by searching the weekly Gazette, Part IV, for the week it appeared.

Back to MCD or NDMC

Gazette publication records the new name, but it does not change the birth certificate by itself. Submit the Gazette copy, the affidavit, the original newspaper notice and the two-credible-persons certificate to the body that holds the record, which decides whether the entry can be updated.

What a name change costs in Delhi

Government and publication costs are modest, and a spelling correction skips the newspaper and Gazette entirely.

Item	Typical cost
Affidavit (stamp paper and notary)	₹200 – ₹500
Newspaper notice	₹300 – ₹1,000 or more, depending on the paper
Gazette of India notification	₹1,100 for an adult, ₹1,700 for a minor
MCD or NDMC correction	Set by the office, usually small
Adding a name with NDMC	Free within 365 days, ₹10 after that

If you’d like us to prepare the file, we quote our fee in writing after reviewing your documents, so you know the full cost before anything is filed. The paperwork is rarely the slow part; the wait on Gazette publication is. The Gazette application itself is signed and sent by you, as the Department of Publication requires.

How long a Delhi correction takes

Route	Typical time
Online correction with MCD or NDMC	A few weeks, depending on the review
Legal name change	Around 2 to 4 months; the Gazette step alone is usually 30 to 45 days

Special cases: children, marriage and applicants abroad

• Marriage. Marriage does not change a birth certificate. A surname taken on marriage is a legal name change, not a correction; the passport office accepts a marriage certificate, but most other departments want the Gazette notification. See our guide to name change after marriage.
• Children. A parent or guardian signs the affidavit and applies for the child. An adoption case also needs the adoption deed or court order.
• Applicants living abroad. The name-change deed can be attested by the Indian Embassy or High Commission and the Gazette application sent by post. A family member can usually deal with MCD or NDMC on your behalf with written authorisation; ask the office what it accepts.
• Gender transition. The law on changing name and gender on official records was amended in 2026. Our guide to birth certificate name change for gender transition explains the current routes.
• Religious conversion. A new name taken on conversion follows the legal name change route; see name change after religious conversion.
• A parent’s name is wrong rather than the child’s: see correcting a mother’s or father’s name.

Official links for Delhi

Every link here was checked on 22 September 2026. Official Indian government sites end in .gov.in or .nic.in.

What you need	Where to go
Correct an MCD record	mcdonline.nic.in
Correct an NDMC record	eservices.ndmc.gov.in
Download or search the birth record	Civil Registration System
Gazette of India notification	egazette.gov.in, Part IV
Update Aadhaar	myaadhaar.uidai.gov.in
Update PAN	Protean or UTIITSL
Update the passport	passportindia.gov.in
Update the voter ID	voters.eci.gov.in

After the certificate is corrected: what to update next

Other records do not update themselves. Update Aadhaar first, then use it with the corrected certificate or the Gazette notification for everything else.

Aadhaar goes first for a reason: PAN, the passport office and most banks treat it as their default proof of identity and address, so getting it right once means you’re not explaining the same mismatch five more times.

Order	Record	Where to update it
1	Aadhaar	myaadhaar.uidai.gov.in or an Aadhaar Seva Kendra
2	PAN	Protean (formerly NSDL) or UTIITSL
3	Passport	passportindia.gov.in
4	School and board certificates	Your school and the board
5	Voter ID	voters.eci.gov.in
6	Bank accounts	Your branch

Common mistakes that delay Delhi applications

• Applying to MCD for a birth registered with NDMC, or the other way round. The two keep separate records.
• Using an older North, South or East MCD certificate without downloading the reissued one.
• Keeping only a scan of the newspaper notice when the original printed page is needed.
• Leaving out the two-credible-persons certificate for a total change of name.

Born in Haryana or Uttar Pradesh instead? Those pages explain the offices and portals there.

If your Delhi application is rejected

MCD and NDMC don’t always spell out why an application was turned down — sometimes the status just changes online with no note attached. Call or visit the office and ask exactly which document or entry did not match. The most common culprits are a name that doesn’t match Aadhaar letter for letter, or a two-credible-persons certificate that wasn’t in the format the office wanted. Once you know the specific defect, fix that one thing and resubmit; you don’t need to restart the whole application, and there’s no formal appeal to file for a straightforward correction. For a legal name change stuck at the Gazette stage, call the Department of Publication rather than MCD or NDMC, since the Gazette office is a separate authority that neither of them can chase on your behalf.

Example scenario

An illustration of how the rules above work in practice, not a client record.

Take Ananya, who found her MCD certificate listed her as “Ananya Sharama” instead of “Ananya Sharma” — a Rohini hospital typo from 1998 that nobody caught until she applied for a passport. She logged into mcdonline.nic.in, found her record under Search/Print Certificate using her registration number, and marked it as a minor correction under Correct details. The affidavit and her Class 10 marksheet were the only two documents the Action menu asked for. Three weeks later, the corrected certificate was sitting in her downloads folder. Not every case moves that fast. A pre-2008 record that isn’t fully digitised, or a first name changing entirely rather than one letter, takes a lot longer — but a clean spelling fix with a matching school record is about as painless as this gets in Delhi.

Birth certificate name change in Delhi: FAQs

Sources for this Delhi guide

• Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969: section 13 (delayed registration), section 14 (name entered later) and section 15 (correction of entries)
• Municipal Corporation of Delhi: Standard Operating Procedure for the Registration of Birth and Death System; mcdonline.nic.in
• New Delhi Municipal Council: online record correction and name inclusion services; eservices.ndmc.gov.in
• Department of Publication, Controller of Publications: Guidelines for Change of Name for Adult, Gazette of India Part IV; egazette.gov.in

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