Another who thinks it really depends on the name. My kids both have unusual names although we didn't 'make them up' One is a shortening of a traditional family name Xander (which yes is his 'offical name' on his birth certificate - some people call him Alexander, thinking Xander is his nick name) Our daughters name is based on a traditional Indian name which meant something to both DH and I - but with differnt spelling as we felt the traditional Arya would be mispronounced in Australia as ARE YA instead of ar REE yah so she is Ariya. Both DH and I have very traditional names and although I was all for an Ethan and an Emma DH was very keen on something unique and now I couldn't imagine them any other way. Having said that, as a teacher I have taught in a class with 3 Jacks, 2 Daniels and 3 Joshua's and it was a little much. Now yes this year they possibly won't all be in the same class but last year I had to resort to calling them by their last names as 4 of them had the same initial as well!

Finally I do agree unique doesn't have to mean weird. there are some traditional names that have gone out of fashion and would now be considered unique... So the question really is... is the name you are thinking of - a traditional one spelt differently, a unique name, or a traditional name that has gone out of fashion :-)

PS - both my kids LOVE thier names -only difficulty is finding cups etc with their name on it but thanks to the internet we can customise just about anything these days