I'm not sure a thing in the Berman era can be called obscure, if it was name-dropped in at least eight episodes back then, which the Daystrom Institute was (aka, Daystrom Technological Institute).In fairness, while the Daystrom Institute was first established in TNG, modern Trek has made it way more prominent than it was in the Berman era. We never saw it before, but we've had five episodes in part set there now between PIC and LD -- and that's not counting Daystrom Station.
It was so obscure during the Berman era and has become so prominent in PIC and LD that I think a casual fan could be forgiven for thinking it was created for the Kurtzman era.