Use of !~* to keep a varchar column UNIQUE case-insensitive

Hello All,

Is there a sane way to do this?

I have a table with a column: "name VARCHAR(40) NOT NULL UNIQUE"

Two problems with this:

1)UNIQUE is case-sensitive
2)UNIQUE is whitespace sensitive

Has anyone come up with a way, or ways to trim leading and trailing
whitespace, then do a case-insensitive uniqueness check efficiently
and semi-elegantly?

If not, I can live with it...just hoping. :)

Thanks,
Don