Elise was one of the first names that came up as a topic of conversation when I was growing up. My girlfriends and I were budding name nerds. They all loved
Elise and I guess I was supposed to agree. It had everything going for it: it was known, but not overly used; it had a connection to Beethoven (fur
Elise); it was "cool."
But my passive aggressive tendency was already well established by then. My reaction to
Elise was: no. Too easy to love. Too expected. I began to see it as an insipid name -- one I'd find on a complainer.
That early reaction has stayed with me I'm afraid. I've never been able to warm up to simpering
Elise. Sorry.
That said, everything is relevant. If my choice is
Elise or a here-today-gone-tomorrow trendoid then
Elise would suddenly start to look pretty good.