I have a rare name and I’ve always loved it. It never really occurred to me that there was another option. I do think it’s too bad when Dopers (or anyone) discourages a parents from considering a rare name because of some frivolous reason like ‘your kid will have to tell everyone what it means’ or ‘they’ll have to spell it for people.’ So what? I might avoid a completely made-up name or a contorted unique spelling for that reason and it’s true there can be a fine line between creativity and total pretentiousness. But I think an uncommon name is kind of a gift, and you know what people say about variety. Having to spell or explain your name can be annoying, but it’s not a kiss of death or something that guarantees you’ll have your parents.
My last name is very rare and also unusual. It starts and ends with vowels, but is all consonants in the middle. It looks kind of weird and confusing,but sounds much more simple than it looks. I kind of like having a different name, even though new people hardly ever know how to pronounce it.
I love my name. My first name was chosen for its ironic self-deprecation, and my surname is (1) a reminder of an important lesson, and (2) ironic self-deprecation. The whole name also sounds like a high-class French hooker’s, too. This amuses me.
I agree with Marley. I always wonder about parents who just give their kid any old common name. A weird name is a great conversation starter, so that’s like a +1 to social at character generation. Don’t you want your kid to have the best stats - I mean, start - in life?
I had a rare first name, spelled normally (Lydia). I got tired of being called Linda, even by people who you would think would pay attention (salesmen, temp recruiters…) and changed it to something more unusual. At least now when people mispronounce (and they do 99% of the time) it’s in a phonetic way.
I don’t see anything wrong with given your child an unusual name, but I think you should spell it logically (admittedly, my name violates that apparently, but I did it to myself).
Yep, mine’s a variant so it’s “Your first name?” “Gwendolen-G-w-e-n-d-o-l-E-n” and it’s a gamble whether it will get typed in correctly.
My father picked the spelling so that none of the letters would go below the line — I like my name in general and I don’t mind the variant spelling because it’s an endearing compulsion behind it.
Nobody ever gets my last name right. It starts with a ‘V’: B? no, ‘v’; ‘T’?; I’ve been saying okay, ‘V’ as in ‘Victor’ my entire life. Nobody ever gets my middle name right either. Luckily it doesn’t come up often. And lastly, people always spell my first name wrong. It’s a trifecta, I tells ya.
My last name is Slavic, and most people don’t even try to pronounce it (I don’t know why; it is actually not that difficult). I have to spell it every single time anyone ever asks for it. But I don’t care. I had the opportunity to change it when I got married; my husband’s last name was one of the top 10 most common surnames in America. But I kept my name because I love it.
My first name is Jan, and the main issue I run into there is that people assume it’s short for something like Janet or Janice. It’s not. Very, very occasionally I get someone who simply insists on calling me “Janet” even after being corrected several times. Usually it is an elderly person who does this.
I love my first name too, by the way. I was very glad not to be in the platoon of Heathers or Jennifers in my graduating class.
Wow, that actually sounds like a pretty fun thing to try; writing stuff in such a way as to always avoid doing that.
I never get anybody else’s mail.
My name used to be extremely rare in the States, but common in the UK. I was 35 before I met somebody else with my name, and that was a little kid who was at my office on Take your Rugrat to Work day; he ran into my cubicle on a scavenger hunt wearing a “Hi! My name is ___” sticker and I said “No way!”
It’s really weird seeing characters on TV with my name, or in books or movies. It never used to happen. It was even used as the name for a chicken in one episode of Portlandia.
Also, since my name was completely unknown when I was in school, I never had a nickname.
My last name is rare, and basically a curse word in English.
Kids would tease me and call me this word. I was like a hockey player from 3rd grade on. Throw off the gloves and start beating the shit out of anyone who said it. All the damn time. It really bothered me, and kids knew it. I swore I would change my name when I got to be an adult.
I dreaded my son getting into 3rd grade or so when the name/word association would probably kick in, and he would get picked on. Never happened. Good thing, too, cause he’s not exactly the warrior Dad is. More lover than fighter. 
An older boy called my 14yo daughter this word last month. A hard right jab brought blood and tears to his face, and her friends had to hold her back. She’s not a delicate flower, and stands up to anyone who messes with her friends.
A chat with the principal ended with everyone agreeing that Older Boy would be best served by keeping his fool mouth shut, lest he get the same again. 
My first name was very rare when I was a kid, but trendy now. Unfortunately the unusual way may parents decided to spell it (using the Russian version) makes it look, at a glance, like another, similarly popular name. So I finally lived through the teasing of having a weird name, but no one ever pronounces it correctly because of the odd spelling. GAH!
My name is a mess.
I go by a nickname, and always have. Only the nickname is made up, and nobody gets it right or can spell it. In many places (incl English) it actually means something in that language, which is confusing. I think because it’s short and sort of makes sense as a sound, it’s a word in several languages. One place it short (masculine), and I am neither short nor male, which amused people. In another it sort of means “demure”, which I am also not. So sometimes I just go by Maria if I’m abroad and it gets too confusing. Maria always works.
My surname is also confusing. It’s Dutch. There are many ways to spell it in Dutch, so that doesn’t help. In other languages it can be pronounced nor written, mainly because of an unusual diphthong. When my real name is called out (like at the airport) I never notice it’s me, because my first name doesn’t “feel like me” and my surname is mispronounced so badly I can’t make it out.
Because my surname was so tedious I took a stage name in the UK. The stage name works, but just adds to the whole name confusion.
Last time I went to vote, I got there and my (passport) name wasn’t down. So leaned over to look at the list and saw they had my nickname first, and then my stage name. How they got this I cannot understand. I thought they got my information either from the university or my landlord, both of whom have my passport name. I have literally no idea where they would come by that information. Ask around? Read local reviews? 
It’s annoying, but nothing insurmountable. My nickname combined with my stage name I love. The name in my passport just…isn’t me. But I would personally name kids something pretty & simple that works well in many languages.
What made you change your mind about changing the name, then?
“Bobot” caused me quite a bit of grief in grade school. Like Louis CK says, kids can take the most normal sounding name, and find a way to make fun of it. 
What’s wrong with Bobot? Sounds like robot? Robots are awesome!
The “t” is silent; it rhymes with “hobo”.
My name is extremely unusual, and I like it. I got teased about it some, but nothing hurtful. I’d probably never give any kid of mine a common name, and I might even spell one weird (but not TOO weird).
Also the clown…
Sorry! >.>
Yeah, my name is really Brynda. Or, as I usually say “Brenda with a y.” I am pretty over it. It is a pain in the butt to spell it all the time.