As a teacher, I'd just like to put in my twopenn'orth.
1. Give your child the full name, so that he/she has the choice of using the full name or the short or nickname version.

2. If you choose a name which may be pronounced in several ways, let the teacher know which one you are using. eg Sean, Aaron, Michele, Megan, Gawain. The same if you choose Irish, Gaelic or Welsh names in a part of the world which does not recognise the spelling rules. Some of us recognise the Cusack's names now, but not all of us. Our fault. When I first came here, there was another Penny, from Florida, who posted under another user name, and I pm'd her about the confusion. She told her given name was Penelope, but her teacher had commented about it, mispronounced it, and she had dropped it entirely for the short form. And one of our staff went on a literacy course where the tutor, speaking of Harry Potter, pronounced Hermione as Hermeeown. Don't let others' idiocy cramp your style, but support your child with it.

3. Avoid at all costs such coinings as Cherry Orchard, Pearl Button (real examples) or other things of that sort.

Otherwise, I would read a lot of stories, and choose a name that belonged to a character with the right sort of characteristics, and hadn't picked up anything negative since. eg, I used to like Gareth, until I had to teach a child of that name who was utterly unlike the Arthurian hero.

Penny