I recommend that parents give their children ordinary-sounding first names and interesting middle names, and then call them by their middle name colloquially and let them use their first name for banal tasks such as government forms and job applications, or if they decide they don't want to stand out. :)

I really like that. In interviews they are Robert, and at home they can be Percival if they want.

So true...I was "Brett" growing up and to this day the number of "Brett"s I've heard of is less than a dozen.

As a kid I loathed it and promised myself I'd change to a nice "jim" when I was old enough. Not only was I a victim of bullying and felt my name made me stick out, but the kids would call me "Brat" while the adults used "Brent" or "Bret", and I truly thought the unusual name made it all worse.

As an adult I don't particularly like my name, but I do appreciate being unusual. When another "Brett" does show up in conversation or text, I take a second to realize it isnt about me. (The current US supreme court nomination has been less than fun in an extra way for me)

I cant imagine how different it must be to have a common name and default to assuming that your own name probably means someone else.

I used to sit next to a Bob Smith, and everytime he called someone new on the phone for work (we did that back in the day) he had to follow up with "no, for real".

In 4,5th,6th grade my plan was to change my name to the letter ‘X’ when I grew up. “ that’s soooo coool!” plays some mega man