What's in a name change? More discretion than you might imagine.

And most of that discretion is left to a judge, who must approve a proposed new name during the naturalization process or in a court-requested name change.

Changing your name for fraudulent purposes, to benefit from someone else's notoriety or celebrity status or to something inappropriate, offensive or ridiculous, would be questioned and could be prohibited by the judge, says Shawn Saucier, spokesman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

"We'd try to talk to them about it to find out their reasoning," Mr. Saucier says. "If someone came to us and said they wanted to change their name to Tom Cruise and if they were trying to be mistaken for Tom Cruise [the actor], that's something we'd bring to the judge's attention."

A man running for sheriff in Wisconsin who changed his name to Andrew Jackson Griffith now is being sued by actor Andrew Samuel Griffith, aka Andy Griffith, who played Mayberry's sheriff Andy Taylor in "The Andy Griffith Show." He lost the election, too.

The vast majority of the time naturalized citizens are asked to reconsider a proposed new name only when the name they've chosen unintentionally could be considered ridiculous or offensive. Literal translations of some foreign names sometimes sound silly in English and some shortened foreign words have negative connotations in English.

Keith Anderson, deputy clerk for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, works naturalization ceremonies as part of his duties and has seen a gradual increase in the number of people changing their names, with most simplifying or Americanizing a name.

He practices pronouncing the names before naturalization ceremonies and will even ask the people for help with the especially difficult ones. Also, before handing out naturalization certificates, he apologizes in advance for any mispronunciations.

Working judicial naturalization ceremonies is one of the more pleasant aspects of his job.

"It's one of the few times you get to see everyone leaving your courtroom smiling," Mr. Anderson says. "People are so excited and happy."