Georgia registers your marriage against your passport, so every other paper has to name the same person in the same spelling. A divorce decree that says Muhammad when the passport says Mohammed, or a translation with one letter off, can hold up a registration that is otherwise ready. Here is where mismatches hide, which country fixes each one, how your name is written in Georgian, and how to correct an error on the certificate.
Quick summary
- The registrar identifies you from your passport, so a name spelled differently on a divorce decree or a translation can hold up the registration.
- Georgia does not correct documents from other countries, so a misspelled divorce decree is fixed, then apostilled or legalized, in the country that issued it.
- A passport showing your name in Latin letters needs no translation, while every other foreign document needs a notarized Georgian translation.
- The marriage record is written in Georgian and each of you signs it, so check both names before you sign rather than after.
- An error made at registration is corrected by the agency for GEL 20 within 15 calendar days, or GEL 85 within 5.
- At registration you can take a common surname or combine surnames, and your passport keeps the old name until your home country updates it.
On this page
How the Registry Checks Names on Your Documents
The registrar identifies each of you from your passport, and the rest of the paperwork has to point back to it: the witnesses' IDs, proof that you are in Georgia legally and, if you were married before, proof that the marriage ended. A name that differs from the passport breaks that chain, because nothing on the page says the two versions are one person.
The check matters most for a divorce decree or a former spouse's death certificate. It has to prove a fact about you, that your earlier marriage has ended, and Georgian law refuses a registration while either partner is still married to someone else.
Common Name Mismatches on Marriage Documents
Most mismatches come from a name crossing between alphabets or changing over the years. The last column matters most, because it tells you where the fix has to happen.
| Mismatch | Example | Who fixes it |
|---|---|---|
| Two spellings of the same name | Mohammed on the passport, Muhammad on the divorce decree | The country that issued the decree |
| Accents dropped or spelled out | Müller on the decree, Mueller on the passport | The country that issued the decree |
| Extra or missing names | A middle name, patronymic or father's name on the decree but not the passport | The country that issued the decree |
| Surname changed since the document was issued | A decree in a married surname, a passport back in the birth surname | The country that recorded the name change |
| A slip in the Georgian translation | One letter different between the translated decree and the passport | A translator and notary in Tbilisi, with a new translation |
| An error in the Georgian marriage record | A name misspelled in the record at registration | The Public Service Development Agency, by correction |
Names to compare before you book
- Your full name on the passport data page, letter for letter, including any accents
- The same name on the divorce decree or death certificate, and on its apostille or legalization
- Any middle name, patronymic or father's name that appears on one document but not another
- A surname that changed after the decree was issued, and the document that changed it
- Your witnesses' names on the passports or ID cards they will bring
- The Georgian translation, once it is done, against the passport before the notary certifies it
Different Name Spelling on Your Passport and Divorce Decree
A foreign divorce decree reaches Tbilisi with an apostille or legalization from the country that issued it, plus a notarized Georgian translation. If it spells your name differently from your passport, the fix belongs to that same country. Article 82 of Georgia's Law on Civil Status Acts (opens in a new tab) says the registry makes no changes, corrections or additions to civil records registered abroad.
The safer fix is a corrected or reissued decree in your passport spelling. Where the issuing country cannot reissue it, ask for an official document stating that both spellings belong to you. Either one then goes through the same apostille or legalization and notarized Georgian translation as the decree itself.
A decree issued in a married surname, next to a passport back in a birth surname, needs the record of that change beside it. In some countries the decree itself restores the old name; elsewhere it is a separate record.
Fix a misspelled decree before you fly
A misspelled divorce decree found at the counter in Tbilisi cannot be fixed in Georgia, because only the issuing country corrects its own document and the apostille or legalization has to go on the corrected copy. Compare the decree with your passport letter by letter while you are still at home, where the fix does not cost a second trip.
How Foreign Names Are Written in Georgian
Georgian has its own alphabet, and the marriage record and certificate are filled in Georgian. Your name goes into them in Georgian letters, rendered by sound from the Latin spelling in your passport.
The Latin line in your passport is what the registrar works from. The agency accepts a foreign passport without a Georgian translation when it shows your personal data in Latin letters, and the same goes for a foreign witness. A passport printed only in another script needs a notarized Georgian translation first.
Every other foreign document, the divorce decree included, gets a notarized Georgian translation. Georgia has no sworn translators: a translator with a diploma signs the translation, and the notary certifies that signature, vouching for the accuracy only when the notary knows both languages. The translator decides how your name is spelled in Georgian.
A translation cannot repair a mismatch. It renders the document as it stands, so a decree that says Muhammad still says Muhammad in Georgian, just in Georgian letters.
From our Tbilisi team
Use one translator for every document, and give them your passport data page first. Two translators can write the same Latin name differently in Georgian, and we would rather catch that before a notary certifies both versions than pay for a new translation after.
Checking the Names on Your Georgian Marriage Certificate
The marriage record is where a spelling error becomes official. The registrar explains the legal bars to marriage, then each of you reads the record and signs it. If neither of you reads Georgian, bring someone who does and have them spell both names back to you, letter by letter, before either of you signs.
Marriage certificates have been issued electronically since 1 June 2021, with a paper copy on request, and they are filled in Georgian. To use one at home, most countries want a translation of the certificate, and that is where a name can drift a second time. The translator turns the Georgian back into Latin letters, and a name that went in as Jonathan can come back out as Jonatan, so hand over both passports with the certificate.
How to Correct a Name Error on a Georgian Marriage Certificate
An error made at registration is fixed in Georgia, by the agency that made it. Article 79 of the law lists an error made at the moment of registration as a ground for correcting a civil record, and Article 81 gives the agency 15 calendar days to decide the application.
You apply for the correction of a civil status record (opens in a new tab) as a person named in it. The standard correction costs GEL 20 and takes 15 calendar days, and the fast one costs GEL 85 and takes 5.
An apostille belongs to the copy it was placed on. If the certificate was already apostilled or legalized with the error in it, the corrected certificate needs its own, at GEL 30 on the 8th working day up to GEL 150 on the same day.
Fees for fixing a name problem in Georgia
- Correction of the marriage record, 15 calendar days
- GEL 20
- Correction of the marriage record, 5 calendar days
- GEL 85
- New apostille or legalization on the corrected certificate
- GEL 30 to 150
- Agency translation of the certificate
- GEL 30 per page
- Notary certification of a new one-page translation
- GEL 11
- Standard correction and an apostille on the 8th working day
- GEL 50
The notary figure is GEL 6 for the translator's signature plus GEL 5 to register the act, before VAT. The translator's own fee comes on top.
Changing Your Surname at Registration
Some mismatches are planned. Under Article 53 of the law, you can take one of your surnames as a common surname, or one or both of you can combine your own surname with your spouse's, unless a surname already has 2 parts. You can also each keep your own.
Whatever you choose goes into the Georgian record. Your passport keeps the old name until the surname change goes through in your home country, and until then the certificate, with its apostille and translation, is the paper that explains why the two names differ.
From our Tbilisi team
We ask couples to settle the surname before the day, not at the registrar's desk. The choice goes into the record you both sign, and changing your mind afterwards is not an error the agency can correct.