Key Points
A large number of persons of Gujarati origin face the issue as it's a cultural norm to add 'ben' after women and 'bhai' after men's names as mark of respect..
Be it Dhirubhai Ambani, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, or state's first CM Anandiben Patel, the names are not complete without suffixes.iStock..
AHMEDABAD: Deepaben Shah, 49, a resident of Satellite and a health professional, recently made an application to the Regional Passport Office (RPO) and also approached local newspapers for name change..
"My parents had added 'ben' in my name - my mother's name also contains it, and my father's name has 'bhai.' Thus, all my earlier documents had my name as 'Deepaben' whereas the college onwards documents including Aadhar card has 'Deepa' as my name..
Due to such high number of applications added prompted the passport seva kendra (PSK) in Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Rajkot are empowered to make the necessary changes if the documents are in place..
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Passport offices overflowing with Gujaratis attempting to fix traditional 'suffixes' in their names
17, Jul, 23Officials at the RPO acknowledged that this linguistic practice stems from the region's speech patterns. However, it becomes problematic when the suffixes vary across the documents required for passports and visas. Wren Mishra, from RPO Gujarat, disclosed that they receive approximately 4,000 daily applications, of which around 1,000 pertain to name changes, alterations in birthplace, or adjustments in birth dates. Of these, approximately 800 requests involve the addition or removal of suffixes like 'ben,' 'bhai,' and 'Kumar.'