How Many Spellings Can A Name Take In India?

I was pleasantly thrilled on seeing politicians battling out on national televisions the issues arising out of the different ways in which a name is spelt or recorded in certificates!

Wow! At last the tyranny of wrong spellings got noticed. I wouldn’t get researchers from the leading political parties along with the 9 pm anchors to discuss my woes, so let me do it myself.

I am Sujeet Mishra and all around I am spelt (including my transfer orders, house allotment orders, training orders, voter id card, etc.) differently as “Sujit Misra”, “Sujeeth”, “Sujith” and combinations thereof.

Life would have been simpler, if not for the fact that my marriage certificate spelt me as “Surjeet Mishra”, though the register entries were correct. Getting the spellings changed is a hassle, and sometimes not worth the effort. Being posted in West Bengal, coming to Lucknow and standing in a queue with a variety of affidavits (Have you tried buying a stamp paper and getting an affidavit made?) to get the name changed was not worth the effort and the money. I was married and my wife was happy enough with me ignoring the certificate.

The litany of woes continued as I got married to Vandana and her name also cycled between “Bandana”, “Vandana” and “Vandna” with combinations of “Misra” and “Mishra”. I am still battling to get my wife’s name to be changed from the university she had enrolled-in a few years ago for a research program. The university had taken her name from her Class X certificate and not from her more recent identity papers, and she was a “Sharma” in Class X! So right royally, her university identity card (2012 vintage) and her passport, both made after our marriage carry different surnames.

My son’s birth certificate shows his name differently to what he does, because of which it became a problem to get his passport made.

It would have been easy on us if my father-in-law, a retired government officer, didn’t present us with his repertoire of names—”Omprakash Sharma”, “Om Prakash Sharma”, “Om Prakash” or just “Omprakash”.

Adding to the confusion is my father’s name, who also retired from the central government. While his parents named him as “Yogeshwar Prasad Mishra”, his high school certificate renamed him as “Yogi Prasad Mishra”. So, the family documents indicate that my father is Yogeshwar, and both his service records and my certificates have him named as Yogi Prasad Mishra. The confusion of names still continue across all the bank, property and service records.

Unfortunately, the tyranny of spellings doesn’t end here. My mother is Shakuntala Mishra, but across the records she is identified as “Shakun” and “Shakuntala”!

It is amusing to my kids when I have to ask both my parents and my wife regarding the ‘correct’ spelling which is to be used.

Imagine the confusion that occurs, when we need to give our name, along with our parents’ name and our spouse name in full!

On a serious note, getting a name change on the certificates or on the ids has always been an uphill task and hence, many simple people like my father and my father-in-law who grew up in small towns and villages finally chose to live under a name which a faceless clerk gave!