The family didn't like the vulgar connotation of Baals (Balls) so they changed the pronunciation to connotate a blasphemous follower of a false god (Baʿal's)?
Growing up, there was a family up the street named "Ball." They were The Balls. They were so proud of their name that they had vanity license plates with their last name on it. Somehow this seemed like a good idea to them. They got pretty offended when people made comments about their license plates. Somehow people were supposed to just know.
I've been to SUNY Purchase (a college in southeastern New York) a couple of times. Once they let the students name a dorm. Now when you drive around there is a great sign that says