Miami-Dade County Court Judge Carlos Guzman endured good-natured barbs from friends and family before promising to "work my tail off for you and this wonderful country" at his investiture.
Omar Ortega, a colleague of Guzman's at the Miami-Dade state attorney's office and now a partner at Dorta and Ortega in Coral Gables, said his friend's resume includes stints as an FBI agent, a teen haircut model and a orange-striped theme park character.
"My daughter got into a fight at preschool because she said she knew Tigger," Ortega said.
Maria Guzman, an assistant federal public defender in Orlando, relished her role as the older sister who objected when their parents said they planned to name him Javier.
"He is named from my very favorite sitcom of the time, The Flying Nun," she said. "There was a character named Carlos — true story."
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Milton Hirsch used the Bible from his investiture to administer the oath of office Friday.
"Don't worry, Barack Obama had this problem, too," Hirsch said when Guzman stumbled over the words.