Message: "the meaning of the name Ivelisse"

the meaning of the name Ivelisse

by steven clarke(stevenc@projectrenewal.org) (guest)

4/10/2006, 11:01 AM

Just a guess here, but I seem to remember that name popping up in early medieval conmtexts like romances, gestes, etc.

I doubt that it is originally French, more likely a Latinized form of a Celtic name - I think this because of where I believe I've come across the name. I am an adult education teacher and I have a student whose firsty name is Ivelisse and she's alwsys been self-concsious of it becauxse no one she ever knew ever had that name, she always thought that her mother made it up.

The syllable "Lisse" is very common in German, names like Annelisse, etc. are still popular in Germany.

I'd appreciate some feedback, she's anxious and I'm curious, to get more data on the name

Thanks

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- Cleveland Kent Evans (clevelandkentevans) +1

4/10/2006, 12:55 PM

Ivelisse (also spelled Ivelis, Yvelisse, etc.) has been well-used among Hispanics in the USA and in parts of Latin America (especially Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic) since at least 1960. It seems to be a 20th-century creation blending Yvette or Yveline with the -lis or -is endings popular for feminine names in Latin America. There may be a literary or pop culture origin in Puerto Rico, but if so I haven't yet been able to discover it. There is an outside chance it's someone's reactivation of a rare medieval French name, but I haven't been able to find any references to it in French name books.

I'm surprised that "no one she ever knew" had the name, because it's not hard to find examples of accomplished Puerto Rican women on the web named Ivelisse. Here are a few:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivelisse_Echevarria

http://www.itl.nist.gov/div898/bios/aviles.html

http://www.artepublico.puertorico.pr/english/artistas/jimenez_ivelisse/index.htm#biografia

http://www.bu.edu/dbin/anatneuro/our_people/faculty/sanchez.php

- Lumia

4/11/2006, 4:03 AM

Yvelise

is used in France since 1951:

http://www.bebe-prenoms.com/pages/prenom-yvelise-20258.html

but, in Québec it is an ancient name attested by Jean-Claude Huriaux:

http://cafe.rapidus.net/jhuriaux/femmesy.html

Yvelise a combo of the root yv- (as in Yves or Yvain) and Élise.

Here you can see a poster about this name:

http://www.les-prenoms-en-bd.fr/drakkar.php?wpage=prenom.php%3Flibel%3DYvelise

I don't know why Yvelise (and the misspellings Ivelise, Ivelisse, Yvelisse, Ivelis, etc.) is used in Puerto Rico and among othe Spanish speaking communities, but it seems another example of use of foreign names (often misspelled), known via films, books or tv-shows. Perhaps a character in a French film?

Lumia
http://onomastica.mailcatala.com

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