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Why don't more Americans change their names? It's very easy to do so, procedures are simple, and unless you have a felony there's few restrictions.
And there's a lot of people out there saddled with TERRIBLE given names.
So why is it so rare?
A major motivation for people changing their names is when they did something bad under their old name and don't want it to be the first thing people see when they Google their name (the right to be forgotten). The UK has specific legislation in place to prevent sex offenders from changing their names for precisely this reason. If one of my friends had their name legally changed (and not because they were coming out as trans; although even then...), my first thought would be "is there something you're trying to hide?" If I'm broadly typical in this regard, it suggests there might be plenty of people who have seriously considered changing their names, but chose not to because they're worried about what people might assume about them if they did.
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I'm guessing some of it has to do with the commitment and consistency bias. People want to appear consistent. If they've lived one way, they're likely to just continue living like that even if it's not beneficial. Same reason why many people can't admit to mistakes. Cognitive dissonance may be involved. They may think that their name, being part of themselves, is inherently wonderful, and it's society that is being shitty when discriminating against their name. Thus if they were to change their own name they would go against their belief in themselves.
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