Everyone has good points. Hard as it may be to let a favorite name go, I'd let go of any really unusual sounding names. It's difficult standing out as a transracial family all the time. Having a name, pretty or masculine as it may be, that society assigns a racial connotation to, sets them up to be unfairly judged before even walking in the room - in school as a kid and in the workforce as an adult.
I went digging in old threads and found a thread that I posted a while ago basically discussing the same things about names.
naming children in transracial families, it may help to get some more insight to read what people said there.
All in all, I don't think what your friend said was racist. Rude, perhaps. It's also an insight into what society will think of the name. He at least gave you points to ponder, as well as the input you've received here.