What's so wrong about making up a new name for a baby, or choosing one that is uncommon?

[Elizabeth G.]

A made-up name can add unnecessary headaches to your child's life when people misspell it, mispronounce it, can't tell their gender from their name, and so on. It can also give the impression that they come from a lower-class and/or less educated background, which can cause people to make negative assumptions that they then have an uphill battle to overcome.

There's nothing wrong with uncommon names per se, but if the name is TOO uncommon (i.e. totally unfamiliar to most people) it can have the same problems as a made-up name.