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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.

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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:

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

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

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

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