name change dilemma visa/passport

We live in LA but I have a work friend who goes to SF every two weeks, and she offered to take care of in person processing for us as a favor. Mine went through fine but my husband's is hung up because his birth certificate says his (fake) name is John Jacob Jingleheimer III, and his passport is missing the "III."

To issue the visa, the passport agency wants him to sign the affidavit relinquishing all use of the name on his birth certificate. (The official status on his app is "pending.")

So here's the questions:
1) If he signs the affidavit to get the visa, does that have lasting legal implications for his legal status and financial documents, or is it confined to visa purposes only? He does not want to legally change his name to lose the III, because that is his real name, and JJJ2 (his father) is still around and it will cause other confusion.

2) If he did decide to change his name, can he just overnight the docs to the Visa agency, or do they have to be walked in in person? We cannot tell from the website.

3) I realize he could just change the passport, but it's not in his possession (since our friend has them both in SF) and I can't tell if he would need to start the app over again with the new passport. This sounds like it could take weeks to make happen...

As you know, Travisa never answers their phone...

We are still trying to purchase air tickets and get gone for March 1, so we need to figure out the fastest way to make this happen!

Any and all suggestions/referrals welcome. Thanks!