Adding a surname legally in India when all documents only have a single name

**Title:** Adding a surname legally Hi everyone,

I wanted to ask if anyone here has gone through the process of **adding a surname legally in India**.

For privacy, I’m using a **made-up example name here**, not my real one.

Let’s say my name is **Pooja**. In all my documents — **passport, Aadhaar, 10th marksheet, etc.** — my name is just *Pooja* with no surname. My father’s name is something like **Aman Kumar Sharma**.

Now I want to **add “Sharma” as my legal surname**, so my name becomes **Pooja Sharma** across all documents.

The main reason is that having a single name has been quite inconvenient, especially while **booking international flights or filling out forms** where they require both first name and last name. Sometimes I have to repeat my name or use **FNU/LNU**, which gets awkward.

However, I’m getting **conflicting information** about the process:

* Some people say I need to update it through the **birth certificate first**, then Aadhaar and other documents.

* Others say it requires a **name change affidavit + newspaper publication + gazette notification**.

* Some say it can be done directly when **reissuing the passport**.

So I’m really confused about the **correct or easiest process**.

Has anyone here done something similar — **adding a surname when you previously only had one name in all documents**?

* What steps did you follow?

* Which document did you update first?

* Did you have to do the full gazette notification process?

Any guidance or personal experiences would really help. Thanks!