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I once knew an Elissa (pronounced with a long E at the beginning). It's a pretty enough name, but the bearer kind of soured me on it (her niceness initially came off as fake, and in the end I was right).

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I do prefer the name to Alyssa which, though nice, is really popular among my generation (90s kid). However, my favorite among all three is Elisa (pronounced el-EE-sah).

While I do like the mythological background, it sounds like a variant of Alyssa. I prefer Eliza.

It's just kind of there, in a pleasant enough way. Elise, Elisa, Elsa, Elissa, Alyssa, Elisha, Alicia. I don't associate it with Dido myths, but it's an interesting etymology.

This message was edited 8/30/2019, 11:03 PM

I agree with you, it's way better than Dido.
And it's a nice variant for Alyssa. I prefer Alyssa though.
I say Elisa as -eesa and Elissa as -issa so I'm not sure that really substitutes. I like Elissa more than Elisa.

Any pronunciation I think it is pretty. Aesthetically, I love the way Elissa looks in comparison to Alyssa.

Despite the classic origin, it doesn't have the feel of a classic name to me. It looks more like Melissa minus the M- to me. I'd rather see Dido used, though I understand you don't find it all that usable.