India sees a surge of name changes

MUMBAI, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- An Indian man has joined tens of thousands of his fellow Mumbai natives in asking to change his name.

Mumbai was formerly called Bombay.

Arvind Ubale hopes to have his name officially changed to Aniket Ubale in about six weeks, DNAIndia.com reported.

"I have three namesakes in my own gully in Andheri's Aram Nagar," said Ubale, 20, who submitted the change of name form at the Government Central Press.

Once the new name is published in the weekly Maharashtra government gazette, Ubale will be able to change all of his official documents, the report said.

He isn't the only Mumbai resident who has submitted a form to change his name. The year 2006 saw 52,137 people apply to the Government Central Press to have their names published in the gazette.

On Jan. 2, the first working day of this eyar, the press received 286 name-change applications.