I had a similar issue OP and I didn’t change it. Almost 3 years later I still don’t love his name but I feel more positive about it.
I am not going to say the name but it is one that is generally liked on Mumsnet. It’s a real biblical name but not an overly common one. I thought it would fit in to the “underused but everyone has heard of it” category but sadly not:
It gets mispronounced quite often and people grimace at it. I’d say half of the people we meet love it and the other half openly make negative comments. There are no negative connotations but in our quite working class area it maybe comes across as “too much” or like we are trying to be fancy.
The main reason I didn’t want to change it was that I was simply embarrassed to. I liked the name and picked it while pregnant but told nobody.
When he was born and we revealed it, a lot of family went very quiet. My mum didn’t openly say so but it was clear she hated it. I offered a nickname to make it a bit more palatable but I still use his full name. People have clung on so tightly to his nickname that they even try to correct me when I say his full name so now I wish I’d not introduced the nickname.
I couldn’t bare to change it and “admit” that we had chosen a bad name, and then have to listen to everyone tell us how relieved they were because they hated it and how they’re much happier he has a normal name.
I think it’s that deep down I do like the name and if we still lived in a more international city like where we spent our 20s, nobody would even bat an eyelid. (It’s not a particularly “foreign” name but it’s perhaps used more often in other countries).
The amusing thing is, the half of people who love his name are absolutely baffled when we tell them about the negative reactions we get and insist it’s a very normal name.
Using his full name regularly has helped me as I have kind of got used to it and he likes it. It’s obviously too late to change it now but I am still regretful overall. I myself grew up with a “three in every class” kind of name and I wonder if I should have just given him a top 10 name.
Another thing that’s helped me is realising that - although in one way naming a child is a massive decision - names are not really that big of a deal overall.
i used to teach and every year I’d come across names I’ve never heard of and would struggle to pronounce at first but by the end of the first week, I had mastered it and never never again thought any more of it. I would see unusual names (imagine “Prince” or “Baby” or “Rain”) and while I may have noted them with a minor eyebrow raise when I lay eyes on them, soon they would become normal to me and I’d forget they weren’t common names. Then I’d be chatting to next years teacher about them and I’d see a minor eyebrow raise and think “oh yeah. I forgot that “Nettle” isn't a common name. Names are just names and you associate them with the person.
When I think of people I work with and have worked with, especially in offices abroad, there are so many names that are way “weirder” than what I’ve named my child but nobody thinks anything of it. It’s just their name. Pretty much everyone just wants to make sure they say it right then moves on and never thinks of it again.
It feels bigger in my head because I am so sensitive to everyone’s reactions but I think people struggle to mind their own business when it comes to babies and toddlers. As an adult, people will just accept it and not spend more than a split second thinking of it. I also think people usually grow into their names.
Personally I do kind of wish I’d changed it but there was also no other name I loved that seemed to fit him. He does have a very common middle name so he can always use that one day if he hates it when he grows up.