I want to name a new character using a letter that's not on my keyboard - i.e. ? - which I can do here using ALT+164. However in the character creation screen, that combo gets "164" entered into the name, with the ALT being ignored. Is there a console command to rename afterwards, or am I stuck with an alternate spelling? The same issue will apply to accented vowels from most European languages when using a US keyboard.

Every time I use "setplayerrace" or "showracemenu" after creating a character, the game always has me rename the character.

But that is where entering the ALT combo doesn't work. I need a different console command or external method.

Can you copy the name from somewhere else and paste it?

Only if you can tell me where the "Paste" button is on that screen. Attempting to use CTRL+V is likely to enter a "V"

These Unicode Characters (basically an Extended ASCII set) is not supported by the base game. I have never seen a text entry in the game with an accent mark on it.

There is this mod on the Nexus that allows Unicode, but not exactly sure what it does and how much it allows this in the game.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/637/?