Factual error: No British woman measures her weight in pounds only - always stones and pounds, or kilograms (a concession to the Americans but it sounds really odd to us Brits). Yes, in the American printing of the book it's always only pounds as well, but that's for the same reason, and still wrong.
Factual error: After all the running about at the end in the snow, no one's breath seems to be condensing.
Factual error: Bridget gets a screen notice ('One new email message') from MSN Hotmail. Hotmail does not give screen notices except for notices through MSN Messenger (which is not what Bridget gets).
Factual error: After Bridget arrives back in London from a visit to her parents, the camera pans away to reveal the train on which she is supposed to have travelled. You can tell from its distinctive yellow and white exterior that it's a Connex train, but these only run on the suburban commuter routes through south London to East Sussex, Surrey and Kent - nowhere near Mr and Mrs Jones's Cotswold home. Rail services from the Cotswolds are operated by First Great Western (grey high speed trains) and Thames Trains (navy blue exteriors) and terminate at Paddington in west London.
Factual error: One that only Londoners would notice or care about, but anyway: Bridget's flat is supposed to be in the trendy bit of Southwark, near Borough Market, i.e. south of the river. Right at the end, when she pursues Mark Darcy, the shop where she catches up with him is clearly in the City of London (the very distinctive Corporation of London bollards are all around, and the shop itself is on Threadneedle St, I think) - meaning that he's walked and she's run right across Southwark Bridge and up King William St in about thirty seconds...
Factual error: When Darcy leaves England and goes to New York City. He steps out of the terminal and a big banner reads Welcome to New York. Then he stops by a speed limit sign that said 15 miles per hour. Problem....that sign is red with white letters. The U.S. speed limit signs are not that color. Therefore, that airport was NOT in New York and they were saving money on production. I guess the banner helped.
Answer: Lots of times in book-to-movie situations and even in some remakes, the producers/writers/directors change names or events. It can be because of personal issues, legal ones or it can even be spur of the moment. it can also be unintentional,when they change it without the specific INTENTION to change it. I think in this case it was more likely that the character/or their name didn't have too much of an impact on the story line, so they didn't feel a pressing need to keep it the same.