So, I'm reading the Sims Wiki (wouldn't recommend it, honestly), and someone has written in several places that you shouldn't change a Sim's name in SimPE because "it may not update all references correctly". Admittedly I don't know much about coding, but I'm not sure this is actually a problem. Even if it's the case that not everything gets updated correctly, the game calls Sims by their ID number and not by their name, right? If the name was used for anything important, having two Sims with the same name would be really bad. But if the names in question are attached to the same ID, I don't see why your Sim being called Joe Shmoe in some places and Joseph Shmoseph in others would matter.

Does anyone more computer-savvy have any thoughts on this?

No risk, sims are only recognised by their Nid or GUID in game but there may be a couple of minor quirks, novels and perhaps a couple of other things can hold the author's name which won't change but that's going to do any real harm.

I noticed that sometimes if you get an error pop-up, if the sim has been renamed in SimPE then the error log will give their old name (which can sometimes make it a bit confusing if you are trying to troubleshoot a problem). Also some mods or debug cheats might show the old name too. You can rename sims using the FFS Debugger (batbox) which will prevent those problems, but they are really not of any consequence.

Yeah, I noticed that changing surnames with the Last Name Copier can sometimes have strange results, too. I had to change sim's surname and whenever an object error popped up pertaining to this specific sim, which was rare, but the odd error does happen if the game comes across a problem, it would refer to them by surname in the error log. Fortunately, it did update correctly after they age transitioned, so it's minor. I still prefer to use the Last Name Copier though, as you don't have to leave the game to change a name.

I think you're right -- I don't think there's any risk in the "Big Fiery Ball Visible From Space" sense. I sometimes think we TS2 Simmers get a bit too obsessed about corruption, though that's maybe just because I've never [yet!] lost a 'hood that way myself. I think the main risk is that we -- the players -- get mixed up. By the way, in my experience it's the first name, not the surname that gets mixed up. So Joe Shmoe might become John Shmoe, which could indeed be confusing to the player, especially if Joe's dad just happened to be called John!

Due to an error in HP's name mod, I had/have a few female townies whose first names were different in SimPE to what they were in game. For example Frankie Hollins (a Bluewater townie) was called Freya Hollins in SimPE. It was however very easy to fix with the Sim Manipulator. I posted how to do it in a recent WCIF thread.