I changed my name in Brooklyn this morning. Or rather, filed a petition to have my name changed. Every resource told me Brooklyn for some reason demands a ton of documents not required by statute and THEY SURE DID. Had to go home and get a bank statement. But it's all handled now.
If you look at the New York City Civil Court building in Brooklyn, you will see a 1 block line waiting to get in. I waited in that line this morning. It moved super fast. I was in in about 10 minutes (~9:30AM, wanted to get there at 9; didn't).
Everyone I interacted with was super nice and helpful. Security was nice. The cashier was sure to call me June which required quite a bit of speed reading of my petition. The name change desk was extremely pleasant. So if you're scared about the whole process, it's not bad at all!