Many people often face problems because of initials in their names. Earlier, this was not a big deal since most things were handled manually, and people understood name variations easily. But with computerisation and online records, it has now become important to maintain the same name format everywhere.
Our names appear on many official records such as passport, PAN, Aadhaar, and bank accounts. These further extend to credit cards, insurance policies, hotel memberships, and flight loyalty programs. When the name doesn’t match across these systems, it can lead to confusion and even rejections. For example, people face issues while making insurance claims or completing KYC when the name in the bank account differs from the name in the policy.
Things became more complicated after Aadhaar came into the picture, as it soon became a key document for everything. Different systems have different name fields — some accept only first name and surname, while others need first, middle, and last names. Because of this, I now have multiple versions of my name floating around: Kishore TK, Kishore T K, Kishore Thirukumar, and Kishore Thiru Kumar.
Recently, I faced an issue when trying to link my Marriott account with KrisFlyer. KrisFlyer, being an international airline program, uses the full name exactly as in the passport. However, when I created my Marriott account, I had used only my initials. Both names must match perfectly for linking, so it didn’t go through. Changing it now is a headache, because if I expand my name in Marriott, it may cause issues with my Amex account, which is already linked under the short name.
Have you ever faced similar name mismatch problems? How did you manage to fix them or live with them? It would be interesting to know how others are handling this growing issue in the digital world.
Our names appear on many official records such as passport, PAN, Aadhaar, and bank accounts. These further extend to credit cards, insurance policies, hotel memberships, and flight loyalty programs. When the name doesn’t match across these systems, it can lead to confusion and even rejections. For example, people face issues while making insurance claims or completing KYC when the name in the bank account differs from the name in the policy.
My Experience
In my case, my full name (for example) is Kishore Thiru Kumar, but in most documents like school records, Aadhaar, and my driving license, it appears as Kishore T K. The first time I realised the issue was when I applied for a PAN card at 18, where I was required to give my expanded name. Later, while applying for a passport, I again had to use the full form of my name.Things became more complicated after Aadhaar came into the picture, as it soon became a key document for everything. Different systems have different name fields — some accept only first name and surname, while others need first, middle, and last names. Because of this, I now have multiple versions of my name floating around: Kishore TK, Kishore T K, Kishore Thirukumar, and Kishore Thiru Kumar.
Recently, I faced an issue when trying to link my Marriott account with KrisFlyer. KrisFlyer, being an international airline program, uses the full name exactly as in the passport. However, when I created my Marriott account, I had used only my initials. Both names must match perfectly for linking, so it didn’t go through. Changing it now is a headache, because if I expand my name in Marriott, it may cause issues with my Amex account, which is already linked under the short name.
What’s the Solution?
The ideal solution is to use the expanded name everywhere, just like in the passport. But in reality, that’s a huge task — it means updating every document, ID, and account, from mobile numbers to insurance policies. So, I’ve decided to keep it simple for now: I’ll continue using initials in most places and retain the expanded name only in my passport and PAN card and where it is required, on a case to case basis, I will evaluate and decide.Have you ever faced similar name mismatch problems? How did you manage to fix them or live with them? It would be interesting to know how others are handling this growing issue in the digital world.
