A Gazette is never withdrawn • Going back is a fresh change • Aadhaar allows two

Changing Your Name a Second Time, or Reverting to the Old Name, in Uttarakhand

For people who have already changed a name by Gazette and want to change it again, or go back: what happens to the first notice, when a correction notice will do, what the limit on Aadhaar updates means, and how to carry two changes on your papers for life.

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Written by the Documentation Desk Team, UttarakhandNameChange.com • Reviewed by Advocate Vipin Chauhan • Updated October 2026

Quick answer

Changing your name a second time needs a fresh Gazette notice, from the present name to the new one. A published Gazette is never withdrawn, so going back to the old name is done the same way. First check if a correction notice will do, and count your Aadhaar name updates, which are usually limited to two.

A woman in Uttarakhand holding two Gazette name change notices side by side with her Aadhaar card — A published Gazette is never withdrawn, so a second change or a return to the old name is a fresh notice, and both notices are kept for life.

People change a name for a marriage, a faith or a new start, and some later think again. Others find the first change came out wrong. Changing your name a second time is allowed. It is also harder than the first, since every office now reads two steps. This page explains what changing your name a second time involves, and when it can be avoided.

We prepare Gazette notifications, and a second one is ordinary work for us. We would still rather you did not need it. That a Gazette cannot be withdrawn, the six months for a correction notice and the limit on Aadhaar updates are as the other pages of this site set them out. For a mistake in a published notice, read gazette corrigendum for a name change.

The basics

What Is a Second Change?

The first notice. It said: I, known as A, have changed my name to B. It stays in the Gazette for good.
A second change. A new notice: I, known as B, have changed my name to C.
Going back. The same, with C being A again: I, known as B, have changed my name to A.
What it is not. A cancellation. Nothing is struck out. The record simply grows by one more step.
What follows. Every paper that was moved to B is moved again.

The Gazette is a diary, not a blackboard. You cannot rub out an entry. You can only write the next one.

Read this first

What Is Fixed, and What Is Not?

What is settled and what is not about a second change of name
Point	Position
Withdrawing a notice	A published Gazette cannot be withdrawn or reprinted
A mistake in the notice	Corrected by a correction notice, asked for within six months of publication
A further change	A fresh application, with a fresh affidavit, newspaper notice and charge
A limit on Gazette changes	We know of no fixed number in the guideline. The department decides each application
Aadhaar	The usual limit on name updates is two in a lifetime, with an exception process beyond
Other offices	Each applies its own rules to a second request, and some look harder at it

So the Gazette itself is the easy part of a second change. The hard parts are Aadhaar's limit and the patience of a dozen offices that have each already changed your name once.

Sort it first

What Are the Four Reasons People Come Back?

The first notice came out wrong

A spelling, a missing word, a wrong father's name in print
Not a second change at all
A correction notice, if within six months

A change of mind

The new name did not suit, or the family objected
A fresh notice, forward or back
The one case worth thinking over twice

A new event

A marriage, a divorce or a remarriage after an earlier change
Often settled on a certificate or a decree, with no Gazette
Read the pages on those first

An office that would not accept the first

The notice named an old form the office does not hold
A fresh notice naming both earlier forms
Only after the refusal has been read

Only the second and fourth are a true second change. The first is a repair, and the third usually needs no Gazette. Most people who ask us for a second notice turn out to be in the first or the third.

Find your row

Which Case Is Yours?

Cases of a second change of name and the route for each
The situation	Route	New Gazette?
The published notice has a slip, under six months old	A correction notice	No
The slip is older than six months	Ask the department. Failing that, a fresh notice	Likely
You want a different name altogether	A fresh notice, from the present name	Yes
You want the old name back	A fresh notice, from the present name to the earlier one	Yes
A surname taken at marriage, and now a divorce	The decree of divorce, in most offices	Usually no
A Gazette that was never used on any paper	Nothing to change back. Take advice on a fresh notice	Perhaps
An office refused the first notice	Read why an office refuses a Gazette first	Sometimes
A name changed in childhood, and a new choice as an adult	A fresh notice, in your own right	Yes

A fresh Gazette is the plain answer in three rows of eight. In the rest there is something cheaper to try first.

Step by step

How Do You Plan a Second Change?

This is the general method. Do the first four steps before you spend anything.

Step 1: Ask what is wrong with the present name

A slip in the first notice, a change of mind, or a new event such as a marriage. The answer decides the route.

Step 2: If it is a slip in the notice, look at the date

A correction notice is asked for within six months of publication. That is not a second change.

Step 3: List every paper already changed to the present name

Aadhaar, PAN, the bank, the passport, the degree. Each will have to be changed again.

Step 4: Count your Aadhaar name updates

The usual limit is two in a lifetime. A second change may spend the last one.

Step 5: Fix the final name, and sleep on it

This is the name for the rest of your life. A third change is far harder than a second.

Step 6: Publish the fresh Gazette notice, from the present name

With the earlier name shown as well, where offices still hold papers in it.

Step 7: Update the papers in the same order as before

Aadhaar first, then PAN, then the rest.

Step 8: Keep every notice, for life

Both Gazettes, both newspapers, both affidavits. Together they are the chain from your first name to your last.

The real limit

What Does the Limit on Aadhaar Mean?

The usual limit on name updates in Aadhaar, as reported from the identity authority's guidance, is two in a lifetime.
A person who changed A to B has used one. Changing B to C, or back to A, uses the second.
A spelling corrected years ago counts as well. Many people have used one update without thinking of it as a name change.
After two, a further change goes to an exception process handled above the level of the centre. Nobody should plan on it.
Aadhaar is the paper most other offices follow. A name that cannot reach Aadhaar cannot easily reach the bank or the passport.
So before a second Gazette, find out how many updates you have used. Ask at an Aadhaar centre.

This is why the second change should be the last. Read name change in Aadhaar card, which sets out the limit and the kinds of update.

For life

How Do You Carry the Chain of Papers?

After two changes you have papers in three names: some never updated from A, some in B, and the new ones in C.
No single paper links A to C. The first notice links A to B, and the second links B to C.
Any office that holds a paper in A will want both notices. Keep them together, with both newspapers and both affidavits.
The second notice can itself show the earlier name beside the present one, as an alias. That saves carrying two papers to every counter.
Ask for that wording when the notice is drafted. It cannot be added afterwards.
Keep certified or clearly printed copies in two places. In twenty years these will be the only proof of who you were.

Read alias name in a Gazette notification, which explains how two earlier forms are shown in one notice, and how to download a Gazette copy.

A common question

What About a Gazette You Never Used?

Some people publish a notice and then change nothing: not Aadhaar, not the bank, not a certificate.
Their papers all still read A. On paper they are who they always were.
There is nothing to change back, and no office to visit.
The notice stays public all the same. Anyone who searches the Gazette can find that A declared a change to B.
For most people that never matters. It can matter where identity is examined closely: a passport, a visa, a court case, a job with verification.
There a fresh notice from B to A closes the question on paper. It is a matter of judgment, and worth a lawyer's view.

Do not sign anything that says you have never changed your name. You declared a change in public. Say so, and say you did not act on it.

The second round

How Do Offices Look at a Second Change?

Aadhaar. Counts the update, and may send a later one to the exception process.
PAN and the bank. Follow Aadhaar. They will ask for the new notice, and may ask to see the first.
The passport office. Reads the whole history, and asks about other names used. Give both notices.
Boards and universities. Many change a certificate once, under their own rules. A second request may be refused.
Employers.A service record is changed through the proper channel each time.
Lenders and credit records. Three names on one file can split it. Tell the lender, and check the credit report afterwards.

A second change is lawful, and the offices know it. What slows them is doubt about why. A plain, true reason, stated the same way everywhere, serves best. Read name mismatch in a CIBIL credit report and name change in passport.

Often no Gazette

What About Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage?

A woman's name can change twice or three times in a life, without any change of mind: at marriage, on divorce, on remarriage.
Each of those has its own proving paper: a marriage certificate, a decree of divorce, a second marriage certificate.
Offices commonly accept those papers by themselves, with no Gazette.
A Gazette comes in where she wants a name those papers do not explain, or where an office insists.
Aadhaar's limit still applies. A surname taken at marriage and dropped on divorce is two updates.
So a woman who is unsure about taking a surname should know that going back is not free.

Read name change after marriage, name change after divorce, name change after remarriage and is a name change compulsory after marriage.

A special case

What About a Name Changed in Childhood?

Parents sometimes change a child's name, by Gazette or simply at school.
The child grows up and wants another name, or the first one back.
As an adult, that person applies in his or her own right, from the name the papers carry today.
In the record it is a second step. In Aadhaar, an update made for a child counts against that child's limit.
School and board certificates are the difficulty. They carry the name of the day, and boards have their own rules on changing them.
Where the childhood change was never taken to the board, the certificates may already carry the name now wanted.

Read minor name change in Uttarakhand and CBSE and ICSE marksheet name correction.

Central route

How Does the Central Gazette Route Work the Second Time?

The steps are the same as the first time. Three things differ: the name you start from, how the earlier name is shown, and the copy of the first notice that goes with the file.

Step 1: Start from the name you hold now

The notice runs from the present name to the new one. The form is signed in the present name.

Step 2: Decide how the earlier name is to be shown

Where some papers still carry the first name, the notice can name both earlier forms. Ask before you draft.

Step 3: Make a fresh affidavit

Stating the present name, the new name, and that this is a further change. Sign before a notary.

Step 4: Publish a fresh newspaper notice

In a daily local leading newspaper. Keep the original newspaper.

Step 5: Type the form and sign the undertaking

Two typed copies of the specimen, signed in your present name with two witnesses, and the undertaking.

Step 6: Prepare the CD, photographs and certificate

The same text on a CD in MS Word, two self-attested photographs with identity proof, and a certificate that both copies match.

Step 7: Pay the charge on BharatKosh again

Commonly Rs 1,100 for an adult. The first payment does not carry over.

Step 8: Send the file yourself, with a copy of the first notice

To the Controller of Publications, Department of Publication, Civil Lines, Delhi 110054.

See gazette name change in Uttarakhand and gazette name change time and fees.

Which one

Which Gazette Should You Use?

A chain of two notices is easiest to follow when both are in the same publication. Aadhaar, PAN and the passport are the reasons to prefer the Gazette of India.

Step 1: Use the same Gazette as the first time, where you can

A chain in one publication is easier for an office to follow.

Step 2: Prefer the Gazette of India for Aadhaar, PAN and the passport

They are central records.

Step 3: If the first was a state notice, ask if the second should be central

For an office outside the state.

Step 4: Contact the Roorkee press only if a state notice suits you

Take the contact from govtpress.uk.gov.in and ask if a private change of name notice is being accepted.

Step 5: Download both notices

From egazette.gov.in or gazettes.uk.gov.in, and keep them together.

To weigh the two, read Uttarakhand Gazette vs Gazette of India.

Avoid this

Which Mistakes Do People Make?

Common mistakes with a second change of name
Mistake	What to do
A second Gazette for a slip in the first	Ask for a correction notice in time
Not counting Aadhaar updates	Ask at a centre before you start
Signing the second form in the first name	Sign in the present name
Leaving the earlier name out of the second notice	Show it, where papers still carry it
Throwing away the first notice	Keep both, for life
Hiding the first change from an office	Declare every earlier name
A Gazette after divorce where the decree would do	Try the decree first
Changing again in a hurry	Decide the last name slowly
Expecting the first notice to be cancelled	It never is. The record adds a step

A typical case we handle: a young woman in Dehradun changed her name by Gazette from "Kiran Rawat" to "Kyra Rawat". She updated Aadhaar and her bank account. A year later she wanted "Kiran" back, since her degree and her job offer were in that name. We asked first how many Aadhaar updates she had used. One, the change to Kyra. A fresh notice from Kyra Rawat to Kiran Rawat was published, and Aadhaar updated a second and last time. Her degree had never been changed, so it needed nothing. She keeps both notices together. This is an illustrative example of the type of case we handle, not a named client review.

When you do not need us

For a slip within six months, which a correction notice settles, and for a surname dropped after divorce, which the decree usually settles. We are useful where a fresh notice is in fact the answer, and we will tell you if it is not.

Coverage

Which Areas of Uttarakhand Do We Cover?

All 13 districts: Dehradun, Haridwar, Pauri Garhwal, Tehri Garhwal, Rudraprayag, Chamoli, Uttarkashi, Nainital, Udham Singh Nagar, Almora, Bageshwar, Champawat and Pithoragarh. The Gazette file is prepared on WhatsApp. Send the first notice and tell us what you want now.

Dehradun HaridwarRoorkeeRishikeshHaldwaniRudrapurKashipurNainital Almora PithoragarhKotdwarMussoorie

Changing Your Name a Second Time: Frequently Asked Questions

What does changing your name a second time involve?+

A fresh Gazette notice from your present name to the new one, and then every paper updated again. The first notice stays on record.

Can a Gazette notification be cancelled or withdrawn?+

No. A published Gazette cannot be withdrawn or reprinted. A mistake in it is corrected by a later notice, and a change of mind by a fresh change of name.

Can I go back to my old name?+

Yes, by a fresh notice changing your present name to the earlier one. In form it is a second change of name.

Is there a limit on how many times a name can be changed by Gazette?+

We know of no fixed limit in the guideline. Each change is a fresh application, and the department decides on it. The practical limits lie elsewhere, above all in Aadhaar.

How many times can the name on Aadhaar be changed?+

The usual limit, as reported from the identity authority's guidance, is twice in a lifetime. After that an exception process applies, which you should not plan on.

I have not changed any paper since my Gazette. Do I need a second one to keep my old name?+

Your papers still carry the old name, so nothing has to be changed back. The notice remains public, though. Ask a lawyer if a fresh notice is worth having for your case.

My first Gazette has a spelling mistake. Is that a second change?+

No. Ask for a correction notice, within six months of publication. That keeps it to one change.

More than six months have passed since a mistake in my Gazette. What now?+

Ask the department. Where a correction notice is no longer taken, a fresh notice to the right spelling is the way, and that is a second change.

Will offices be suspicious of a second change?+

Some look harder. A passport office and a bank read the whole chain. Clear papers for both steps answer most questions.

I changed my name for numerology and it did not suit me. Can I change it again?+

Yes, in the same way. Decide the final spelling with care this time. Each change uses up patience at every office, and may use an Aadhaar update.

I took my husband's surname by Gazette and am now divorced. Do I need another Gazette?+

Often not. The decree of divorce is commonly accepted to go back to a maiden name. Read our page on a name change after divorce.

My parents changed my name when I was a child. I want a different one now. Is that a second change?+

In the record, yes. You apply as an adult, in your own right, from the name your papers carry today.

Do I pay the Government charge again?+

Yes. Each notice is a separate publication, with its own charge.

Which name do I sign the second form in?+

Your present name, which is the old name for the purpose of the new notice.

Do old papers in my first name become useless?+

No. They remain true records of their date. Both notices together link them to your present name.

Do you prepare a second Gazette?+

Yes. We ask first if a correction notice would do, since that is simpler and keeps the record to one change.

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Written and reviewed by

Who Wrote and Reviewed This Page?

This page is written by the Documentation Desk Team of UttarakhandNameChange.com, the team that prepares Gazette files for people across Uttarakhand.

It is reviewed by Advocate Vipin Chauhan.

That a published Gazette cannot be withdrawn, and that a correction notice is asked for within six months, are from the Government's change of name guideline as the other pages of this site set it out. The limit of two name updates in Aadhaar, and the exception process beyond, are as reported from the identity authority's guidance and set out on our Aadhaar page. We did not re-read either source for this page. We know of no fixed limit on the number of Gazette changes, and did not find one stated. The rest is from our own work: the four reasons, the chain of papers, a notice never used and how offices respond. A lawyer should be asked where an unused notice or a third change is in question.

Last reviewed October 2026 • UttarakhandNameChange.com is a private documentation consultancy and is not a Government body or a law firm. This page is general information, not legal advice.

Verify it yourself

Official Sources

Department of Publication: Change of Name and Public NoticesThe change of name guideline, including correction notices.
e-Gazette, Government of IndiaWhere both notices can be found and downloaded.
Unique Identification Authority of IndiaLimits on updating a name in Aadhaar.
Uttarakhand GazetteState notices.
Passport SevaRe-issue of a passport after a change of name.

Quick summary

A Second Change of Name: The Short Version

A Gazette is never withdrawn. A mistake in it is corrected by a correction notice within six months. Any other change, forward or back, is a fresh notice from your present name. Before you start, count your Aadhaar name updates, which are usually limited to two, and list every paper already changed. Have the second notice show the earlier name too. Update the papers in the same order, and keep both notices for life. Make the second change the last.

To find out if you need a second notice at all, send your first one on WhatsApp 9540005064, and we will reply in working hours.

You Cannot Rub Out a Gazette. You Can Only Write the Next One.

Send your first notice on WhatsApp. We tell you, free, if a second is needed at all.