Kerala is now officially ‘Keralam’ as Union govt notifies name change

Kerala is officially ‘Keralam’ with effect from August 25 after the Union Home Ministry notified the new name of the southern state and brought the Kerala (Alteration of Name) Act, 2026 into force. The notification comes just ahead of Onam, which is the traditional harvest festival of Kerala and one of the state’s most widely celebrated festivals.

In a gazette notification issued on Tuesday, August 25, the Home Ministry said, “In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (2) of Section 1 of the Kerala (Alteration of Name) Act, 2026, the Central government hereby appoints the 25th day of August, 2026, as the date on which the provisions of the said Act shall come into force.”

President Droupadi Murmu had earlier this month given her assent to the Kerala (Alteration of Name) Bill, turning it into law. The Lok Sabha passed the Bill on August 11, followed by the Rajya Sabha on August 12. Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai said during the Rajya Sabha debate that the Kerala Assembly had passed a resolution in 2024 urging the Union government to change the state’s name to Keralam.

“The Bill provides that the State of Kerala will be known as the State of Keralam, and hence there is a proposal to rename Kerala to Keralam,” Nityanand Rai said.

The Kerala government had forwarded the Assembly’s resolution to the Union government in June 2024. Subsequently, President Murmu referred the Bill to the state legislature for its views, following which the Assembly adopted a unanimous resolution agreeing with the proposal.

The name-change process was initiated after the Kerala Legislative Assembly passed a resolution on June 24, 2024, seeking to replace ‘Kerala’ with ‘Keralam’, the name used in Malayalam. The Union Cabinet approved the proposal in February 2026, after which the legislative process moved forward.

The Kerala (Alteration of Name) Act provides for the change of the state’s name to Keralam and makes the necessary consequential amendments to the Constitution. The legislation was introduced in Parliament after the state legislature’s views were obtained under the constitutional procedure for altering a state’s name.

The change means that the name ‘Keralam’ will now be used officially in place of ‘Kerala’ in relevant government and constitutional references. The change follows the Assembly’s resolution that the state’s name in Malayalam is Keralam.