I walked away for a while, to let the vitriol pour out of my mouth.
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Originally Posted by Greg Hancock
But I would ask why you did not chose Kender instead of halflings? We did want to have a diminutive culture as they are quite popular in fantasy genres, but even mighty D&D has the right to create races similar to but not exactly like other races.
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Because "Kender" was another horrible renaming of Halflings...
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And if we are using straight elves, should they not have the magical and cultural attributes to reinforce the race? They lack special vision, magic use, oneness with the environment, immortality... if we did call them elves, we would likely be called on for not depicting them accurately.  (Dwarves? Well, we are only seeing the first continent! .... Just kidding!)
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No, naming them differently invites people to say "well, those are just Elves with some unpronounceable name". Naming them the same damn thing invites people to see how much different you can make the race while having those few traits in common with the stereotype. At least, that's how I've always viewed it.
I guess to explain it simpler: Naming them different invites comparison, as they have very similar features. Naming them the same thing doesn't invite comparison (as they then aren't "like Elves", they are friggin' Elves!); it only allows you to showcase how
your Elves are new, shiny, and different.
Because it's sad to say there is a lot in a name nowadays. Elves do have a lot of connotations that you speak of, but people are, for the most part, going to see your Not Elves as Elves anyway, so don't give them the false hopes of a different name with the same traits. It's more likely they'll get hung up with the similarities, rather than see the differences.
At least that's how I see it.
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I thought you didn't want one? 
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I don't. It just takes them a step closer to that oh-so-annoying nerd sex fantasy.