[name]How[/name]? [name]Grace[/name] was a reference to divine grace, i.e. “the grace of G-d.” It’s pretty equivalent to [name]Faith[/name], but I’m not sure I see a parallel with Elegance…? The Puritans weren’t using it as a reference to ballerinas, they had a pretty villains-of-Footloose stance on dancing.
I agree too and I am internally gagging…its totally awful
Absolutely never do that to a little child.
I dislike it, and honestly, I agree with [name]Pam[/name]. My thoughts on many of the virtue names may be different than some. For example if I named a child [name]Grace[/name] ( which I love ) it would be more because I felt I had been given unmerited [name]Grace[/name] with the gift of the child. [name]Joy[/name], because the [name]Lord[/name] has given me great joy by blessing me with the child, and so forth… Not because I wish for the child to live up o the name. Sure I would hope to instil those as well as many other character qualities in my children, but realizing in the end the Child will be who she was created to be.
I said "to me’…what I mean is that to me [name]Grace[/name] is an essential part of Elegance…To me the quality of grace & gracefulness has nothing to do with God, but more to do with movement and the physical. So regardless of how the name [name]Grace[/name] was originally used or how it’s used by the parents who choose it, the way that I define [name]Grace[/name] (as a word & a name) is similar to the way I define Elegance…if that answers your question?
Forgeting names for a moment, there seems to be a lot of disagreement on the meaning of the word Elegance! Does it mean something different in the US then?? Like Taz, grace and elegance have the same/similar meaning for me (you can’t be elegant unless you have grace - that make sense?!). Again, grace has absolutely nothing to do with God/any other religious figure. I can assure you pam that a stripper named Elegance in the UK would not have a promising career based on name alone!! Interesting!!
I will be blunt here and I apologize if I offend people but you asked for opinions:
People are not born elegant, these are qualities that are cultivated and learned and to be perfectly honest, a woman who has developed these qualities is not likely to come from a family that would actually name her Elegance.
Personally I think someone named Elegance would be the opposite of elegant because it sounds like the name of a stripper, porn star or perfume. I Elegance was my name I would never use it.
There are a lot of arguments about the definition of elegance, Websters dictionary defines it as
[i]“a : refined grace or dignified propriety : urbanity
c : dignified gracefulness or restrained beauty of style : polish <the essay is marked by lucidity, wit, and elegance>”
Synonyms: class, classiness, courtliness, elegancy, fineness, grace, gracefulness, handsomeness, majesty, refinement, stateliness[/i]
I don’t think the words are used differently in the US and the UK. (I’ve lived in both countries, for whatever that’s worth.) Here’s a definition of “elegant” from the [name]Oxford[/name] English Dictionary that is pretty close to how I think of it:
“Characterized by refined grace of form (usually as the result of art or culture); tastefully ornamental.”
Now, exactly what we think of as elegance probably varies greatly depending on our personal taste. Somebody might consider diamond jewelry and fur coats to be the epitome of elegance; another might have been trained to think that restraint and simplicity is far more elegant; another might find elegance in innovative design that pushes the envelope, etc. etc. etc. ([name]One[/name] person’s “elegant” might be another’s “tacky,” and their own might be someone else’s “boring”!) But the point is that elegance is primarily about appearance and image – hence the “of form” in the OED definition. It’s not about your intrinsic goodness as a human being. (Though you might argue that no one can be truly elegant who isn’t also beautiful on the inside… and that may be true to a degree, but the people that we hold up as exemplars of elegance are not always all that nice, and some of the most admirable people on the planet are not particularly elegant at all.)
I have no idea how a stripper named Elegance would do in the US, to be honest. But a “stripper name,” as I understand it, often connotes aspirations to (physical) beauty or luxury. So something like [name]Desiree[/name] or [name]Cristalle[/name] or [name]Chanel[/name] (or even a posh-sounding surname that sounds soap-opera rich, like Carrington). Elegance, for many of us, is just too close to that vibe.
[name]Rule[/name] of thumb: if it would make a good perfume name, don’t use it for a child.
I’ve probably revealed all sorts of snobbish biases here. 
But you did ask!
Hey… My name is [name]Chara[/name] (pronounced [name]Kara[/name]). I think it sounds “elegant”, but I am biased, I guess!