My name is Alice and my best friend at Uni (then Bridesmaid) is also Alice, We used to work together too, teachers couldn't cope and it just got worse, read on! :o
I hated it but then my maiden name started with an A, so I could have been AA, alcoholics Anon, Automobile Assoc etc! Instead my parents chose to use my middle name from birth, which is Louise. This caused confusion, the world cannot cope with you using your middle name! J.Edgar Hoover was lucky that his first initial wasn't A! 
Unfortunatly hyphening would create Ali-Lou and its won't take long for someone to put "yar" on the end of that, making my teenage years more difficult. So I didn't. Just in case. :o Both my parents used their middle names, and as mine was a family name too, saw nothing wrong with this arrangement before anyone goes down the "Louise Alice" route! Its just an old fashioned method for when you were named after your parents etc etc!
Unfortunatly due to this naming arrangement and the time I was at school just as pop songs such as "Alice, whats the matter?" and "Who the f**k is Alice?" :(
In hindsight I quite like it and not using my first name, although a bind at the doctors and hospital, it does help me filter junk mail and cold calls! So long as your child can spell it and it isn't too "not dull" then any name is fine!
Alys is the welsh spelling and although it might seem cool/fun/interesting, differant spellings for the sake of it can cause unneeded hassle to! My married name is four letters but I have to spell it, pretty much every time and people still get it wrong!