I disagree completely. I think the rarity of traits should not be visible at all. Like you, I find myself often picking traits based on their rarity. I think we should have to play the game a few times to figure out how rare each trait is. I think this would affect two things:
1. I would pick traits based on current need or perceived utility.
2. Over time, I would realize that there are some traits I should pick whenever I see them, because I'm unlikely to get that option again.
As a side note, it seems to me that some of the "rare" traits appear over and over again and don't seem very rare at all. Rare should mean that I'm unlikely to see it more than a couple of times in a game, whereas I often seem the same rare traits as options every time I level up. Perhaps we should only get three trait options at each level, rather than five.