Same Name as Another Person: Mistaken Identity in Records in Uttarakhand
For people who find another person's loan, notice, land or police entry against their own name, because the two share a name: where namesakes get mixed, what tells two people apart on paper, how each office is asked to separate them, and when a change of name is worth thinking about.
Having the same name as another person is not cured by changing anything in your name. Write to the office that mixed the two of you, show what sets you apart, such as your father's name, date of birth and PAN or Aadhaar, and ask for the records to be separated. No Gazette is needed for that.
The hills have few surnames and many people. A village may have three men called Mohan Singh Rawat, and a district hundreds. Offices that search by name sometimes pick the wrong one. Having the same name as another person then means a loan refused, or a notice at the door. This page explains what having the same name as another person leads to, and how it is put right.
We prepare Gazette notifications for people who change a name. This is not that, and we say so at the start. The time allowed for a credit record to be corrected is from the central bank's published framework. The rest is general knowledge of how records are matched. For a name that is in fact written wrongly, read name spelling correction.
Why Do Namesakes Get Mixed?
- Few surnames. A handful of family names cover most of a hill district. Given names repeat as well.
- Search by name. A clerk, or a computer, looks up "Mohan Singh Rawat" and takes the first result.
- Thin records. An old record may hold a name and a village, and nothing else to check against.
- Loose matching. Systems built to catch one person under several spellings will also catch several people under one.
- No second look. The person affected is rarely told, and finds out when something is refused.
Nobody has done anything wrong to bring this about. Two people were given an ordinary name. A record that should have asked one more question did not.
What Tells Two People Apart?
| Identifier | How strong | Where it is found |
|---|---|---|
| Aadhaar or PAN number | Decisive. No two people share one | The cards, and records that quote them |
| Father's or husband's name | Strong. The oldest way records separate people | School, land, voter and court records |
| Date of birth | Strong, where both records hold it | School certificates, identity papers, credit records |
| Address, house or plot number | Useful, but people move | Identity and land records |
| Mother's name | Useful where the fathers share a name too | Birth and school records |
| Photograph, signature, fingerprint | Final, where an office will compare them | Identity papers and the office's own file |
Every cure on this page is the same act: putting one of these beside the name. The name alone will never separate you from the other man. Something in this table will.
Where Does It Happen?
| Record | What goes wrong | Who puts it right |
|---|---|---|
| A credit report | Another person's loan or default sits on your file | The credit bureau and the lender |
| A bank account | A credit, a recovery or a freeze meant for another reaches you | The bank |
| A land record | A field is entered under the wrong man of that name | The tehsil |
| A court or police paper | A summons, a notice or a verification report names the wrong person | The court or the police, with a lawyer's help |
| The voter roll | One of two is struck off as a duplicate | The electoral office |
| A pension or benefit | A payment goes to the other, or is stopped as a duplicate | The paying department |
| An exam or a result | Two candidates of one name, in one centre | The examining body, by roll number |
The first four do the most harm, and each has a section below. Read name change in voter ID and name change in pension and family pension records for the others.
What Kinds of Mix-Up Are There?
Something of his is put on you
- A debt, a case, a default
- You are refused a loan, a job or a passport
- Ask for his entry to be taken off your record
Something of yours goes to him
- A payment, a field, a certificate
- You find out when it does not arrive
- Ask for it to be traced and restored
The two of you are treated as one
- Two records merged, or one deleted as a duplicate
- Both are harmed, and neither knows the other
- Ask for the records to be split, each with its own identifiers
In none of these is your name wrong. That is why a correction form, a spelling affidavit or a Gazette does nothing. The entry about who you are is what needs mending.
Which Case Is Yours?
| The situation | Route | Gazette? |
|---|---|---|
| Another person's loan is on your credit report | A dispute with the bureau and the lender | No |
| A bank has acted against your account for another's dues | The branch, then the bank's grievance officer | No |
| Your field is recorded under a namesake | The tehsil, on the father's name and title papers | No |
| A notice or summons meant for another reaches you | Show your particulars. See a lawyer if it goes further | No |
| A police report mixes you with another man's case | Re-verification, with your identifiers | No |
| Your name was struck off the voter roll as a duplicate | The electoral office, with identity papers | No |
| A payment meant for you went to a namesake | The payer and the bank, at once | No |
| You want a different name so as to stand apart | A change of name by choice | Yes |
A Gazette appears in the last row alone, and that row is a choice, not a cure.
How Do You Have the Two Separated?
This is the general method. Each office has its own form for a dispute.
Step 1: Get the wrong record in your hands
A credit report, a notice, a land extract, a bank letter. Something on paper that shows the other person's entry against you.
Step 2: Find what in it is not yours
A father's name, a date of birth, an address, an account you never held.
Step 3: Gather your own second identifiers
Aadhaar, PAN, your father's name on a school certificate, your date of birth, your address proof.
Step 4: Write to the office that holds the record
Say plainly that there are two people of this name, and which entries are not yours. Attach the proofs.
Step 5: Ask for the two to be separated, in writing
Not for your name to be changed. The record is wrong about who you are, not about what you are called.
Step 6: Follow the office's own dispute channel
A credit bureau, a bank, the tehsil and the police each have one.
Step 7: Keep the reply, and a copy of the corrected record
The mix-up tends to return, at the next loan or the next verification.
Step 8: Use your full particulars on every new form
Name, father's name, date of birth and a number, wherever the form allows.
What About a Credit Report?
From the central bank's framework of October 2023 on correcting credit information, as the bureau and reports set it out.
- A credit file is built from what lenders report, matched by name, date of birth, PAN and address.
- A lender that reported a loan without PAN, years ago, left the bureau to match it by name and date. That is where a namesake's loan lands on your file.
- Get your own report. Reports say each bureau gives one free full report a year.
- Dispute each account that is not yours, with the bureau and with the lender named on it, giving your PAN.
- The framework gives the lender and the bureau 30 calendar days in all to resolve a complaint.
- Beyond that, the complainant is entitled to compensation of Rs 100 for each day of delay.
Keep the date you complained and the reference number. Read name mismatch in a CIBIL credit report.
What About a Bank Account?
- A bank acts on account numbers, and seldom mixes two customers inside itself.
- The trouble comes from outside: an order to recover dues, or a lien, sent to the bank in a name and little else.
- A branch that finds one customer of that name may act on the account without asking if there is another.
- Write to the branch the day you find out, with your Aadhaar, PAN and father's name, and ask to see the order it acted on.
- The order will name a father, an address or a number. Where those are not yours, the bank has no business with your account.
- A payment sent to you that reached a namesake is traced through the payer's bank, by the account number it was sent to.
Read name change in bank records and UPI name mismatch, on money sent to the wrong person.
What About a Land Record?
- Land records have always dealt with namesakes. Each holder is written with a father's name for that reason.
- A mix-up comes where the father's name was left out, or where two cousins share a grandfather's name as well.
- At a mutation after a death, the wrong "Mohan Singh" among several may be entered as heir.
- The tehsil corrects the entry on the title papers, the family's record and the father's name.
- Ask for the correction as soon as an extract shows it. A wrong entry that stands for years starts to look like a claim.
- A search of charges on a property can also bring up a namesake's mortgage. The father's name and the plot settle it.
Read name correction in khatauni and land records, encumbrance certificate name mismatch and father’s name change and correction.
What About a Notice, or a Police Report?
- A summons or a notice names a person with a father's name and an address. Read those lines before anything else.
- If they are not yours, say so to whoever brought it, and show your identity papers. Do not sign for a paper addressed to another.
- If the particulars are close enough to be confused, or the matter is a criminal one, see a lawyer the same day.
- A police verification for a passport or a job can come back adverse on a namesake's case at the same station.
- Ask the office that sought the report what it says, and apply for a fresh verification with your father's name, date of birth and address.
- Keep whatever clears you. The next verification, years later, may meet the same namesake.
We are not a law firm, and this is not advice on any notice. Read name mismatch in police verification and character certificate, wrong name in an FIR and name wrong in a court order.
How Do You Stand Apart on Paper?
- Give your PAN wherever a form has a place for it. A record with a number is not matched by name.
- Write your father's name in full, the same way each time. An initial for him helps nobody.
- Use one form of your own name on every paper. Three spellings of one man look like three men, and a namesake fills the gaps.
- Keep your date of birth the same across papers. It is the second thing a system checks.
- Read your credit report once a year, and a land extract when you visit the village.
- If a namesake lives in your own street, tell the bank and the post office. Small offices remember.
Read short name and full name difference in documents and date of birth correction.
What If You Choose to Change Your Name?
Some people, tired of being taken for another, add a surname, a middle name or a family name. That is a change of name by choice. It can help with new records. It does nothing to old ones, which still hold the old name and still need separating.
Step 1: Decide if you want a different name at all
Most mix-ups are cured by second identifiers. A change of name is a choice, not a need.
Step 2: Choose a name that sets you apart, and that you will keep
A surname, a middle name or a family name added. Count your Aadhaar updates first.
Step 3: Fix the exact spelling
The spelling that will go on Aadhaar, PAN, the bank and every later paper.
Step 4: Make the affidavit and publish the newspaper notice
Sign before a notary. Publish in a daily local leading newspaper, and keep the original newspaper.
Step 5: Type the form and sign the undertaking
Two typed copies of the specimen, signed in your old 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
Commonly Rs 1,100 for an adult. It is not refunded.
Step 8: Send the file yourself, then update every paper
Send it to the Controller of Publications, Department of Publication, Civil Lines, Delhi 110054. A new name on some papers and the old on others makes matters worse.
See gazette name change in Uttarakhand and adding a surname to a single name.
Which Gazette Should You Use?
If you do change your name, the new name has to reach Aadhaar, PAN and the bank first. Those are central, and the Gazette of India serves them.
Step 1: Ask which offices have mixed you up
A bank and a credit bureau are central. The tehsil and the police are the state's.
Step 2: Prefer the Gazette of India
It serves Aadhaar, PAN and the bank, where a new name has to reach first.
Step 3: A state office may accept a state notice
Ask it first.
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 the notice
Search gazettes.uk.gov.in and save the PDF.
To weigh the two, read Uttarakhand Gazette vs Gazette of India.
Which Mistakes Do People Make?
| Mistake | What to do |
|---|---|
| Asking for your name to be "corrected" | Ask for the two records to be separated |
| Arguing that you are the only one of that name | Show what sets you apart |
| Paying another man's dues to end the matter | Do not. It can be read as an admission |
| Signing for a notice addressed to someone else | Read the father's name and address first |
| Ignoring a wrong entry on a credit report | Dispute it the day you see it |
| Complaining by phone alone | Write, and keep the reference |
| Changing your name in a hurry | Old records still need separating |
| Using a new name on some papers and not others | All of them, or none |
| Throwing away the letter that cleared you | Keep it. The mix-up can return |
A typical case we handle: a schoolteacher in Pauri was refused a home loan. His credit report showed a defaulted tractor loan from a bank in Udham Singh Nagar. He had never been there. He asked us to change his name, to be rid of it. We told him that would not remove the entry, and that he did not need us. The loan had been reported years earlier without PAN, in the name of another Rajendra Singh Negi, born the same year. He disputed the account with the bureau and the lender, giving his PAN and his father's name, and it was taken off his file. This is an illustrative example of the type of case we handle, not a named client review.
What is a lawyer's job, not ours
A summons, a warrant or a recovery wrongly served, and any claim for the harm a mix-up has caused.
When you do not need us
For every mix-up on this page. The office that made it puts it right, on your identifiers. We are useful only if, after that, you still choose to take a different name.
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. A mix-up is put right by the office that made it. If you are thinking of a change of name, message us on WhatsApp first.
People Also Ask About Namesakes and Records
What if someone with my name has a bad credit record?
Dispute the entry with the bureau, giving your PAN.
How do banks tell apart two people with the same name?
By PAN, Aadhaar, date of birth and the father's name.
Can I be held liable for a namesake's loan?
No. Show that the particulars are not yours.
Should I change my name if someone has the same name?
Usually not. Second identifiers do the work.
Is a gazette needed to fix a mistaken identity?
No. Only if you choose a different name.
How long does a credit bureau have to fix an error?
Thirty days, under the central bank's framework.
How is the 30-day limit split between the lender and the bureau?
Under the Reserve Bank's circular of 26 October 2023, the lender gets 21 days to send corrected information to the bureau, and the bureau gets the remaining 9 days to resolve the complaint.
Who pays the Rs 100 a day if a correction is late?
The lender pays if it fails to send corrected information within 21 days. The bureau pays if the lender was on time but the complaint is still unresolved after 30 days.
When is the compensation paid?
It has to be credited to the complainant's bank account within five working days of the complaint being resolved.
When is a credit complaint counted as resolved?
On the date the corrected credit information report is sent to the complainant's postal address or email ID.
Which law makes bureaus correct credit records?
The Credit Information Companies (Regulation) Act, 2005, read with the Credit Information Companies Rules, 2006, which allow 30 days in all.
Will I be told if someone checks my credit report?
The Reserve Bank's companion circular of October 2023 provides for SMS or email alerts when your credit report is accessed, and when a lender reports a default. Such an alert is often the first sign of a namesake's loan.
Thinking of a Change of Name to Stand Apart?
For the mix-up itself, write to the office that made it. That is the cure, and it costs nothing. If you still want a different name afterwards, tell us the name you have and the name you want. We will tell you, free, what it would involve on every paper, and if it is worth doing.
- 📞Call 9540005026
Mon to Sat: 9 AM to 6 PM - WhatsApp 9540005064
Send your scans here, it is the fastest way - ✉️Info@uttarakhandnamechange.com
- 📍Dehradun District Court, 47/9, Haridwar Road, Near Prince Chowk, Court Road, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, 248001
Same Name as Another Person: Frequently Asked Questions
What does having the same name as another person lead to?
Is this a name mismatch?
Do I need a Gazette or an affidavit?
What sets two people of one name apart?
Someone else's loan is on my credit report. What do I do?
What if they do not correct it in 30 days?
A bank has frozen or debited my account for another person's dues. What now?
The land record shows my field under a man of the same name. How is that corrected?
The police came with a notice meant for someone else. What should I do?
A police verification report came back against me for another man's case. What then?
Money meant for me went to someone with my name. Can I get it back?
Should I change my name to avoid all this?
If I do add a surname or a middle name, is that a correction?
Two of us in one village have the same name and father's name. What then?
Can the mix-up come back after it is fixed?
Do you take up disputes with banks or bureaus?
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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 credit information complaint is to be resolved within 30 calendar days, and that Rs 100 a day is payable for delay beyond that, are from the central bank's framework of October 2023 as a credit bureau's own page and reports set it out. That each bureau gives a free full report once a year is from reports. Everything else is general knowledge of how offices match records: why namesakes are mixed, what tells two people apart, and how a bank, the tehsil and the police are asked to separate them. We did not confirm any office's present dispute steps. This page is not legal advice on any notice or recovery. A lawyer should be seen at once where a criminal or a recovery paper is involved.
Official Sources
- TransUnion CIBIL: framework for compensationThe 30 days, and compensation for delay.
- Reserve Bank of IndiaThe framework on correcting credit information.
- Complaint Management System, Reserve Bank of IndiaComplaints against a bank or a credit bureau.
- Bhulekh, UttarakhandLand records, with each holder's father's name.
- Department of Publication: Change of Name and Public NoticesThe change of name guideline, for those who choose a new name.
Namesakes and Records: The Short Version
Sharing a name with another person is not a fault in your name. It is a fault in how an office matched its record. Get the wrong record on paper, find what in it is not yours, and write to that office with what sets you apart: PAN or Aadhaar, your father's name, your date of birth. Ask for the two to be separated. A credit bureau has 30 days. Keep the reply, since the mix-up can come back. Use your full particulars on every new form.
No Gazette is needed for a mix-up. If you choose to change your name afterwards, message us on WhatsApp 9540005064, and we will reply in working hours.
Your Name Is Right. The Match Is Wrong. Ask for That to Be Mended.
For the mix-up, write to the office that made it. For a change of name by choice, we are on WhatsApp.