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Elwen is derived fron the Anglo-Saxon Elfwin of Alfwine, meaning Elf friend. (I though everyone would know that).
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But that would be
Elwin. My guess is that somehow the form picked by the Camerons has been corrupted, perhaps due to phonetic spelling at some point in its history. However, one could translate the
wen component as OE
wēn, 'supposition, opinion, thought, idea' or 'hope, expectation', and if they found it in a book then the author may have chosen the spelling for this reason.
As for the component
wen meaning 'woman', that's true in Sindarin but not English. The similar component in Éowyn's name is OE
wynn(e) ('joy, delight, happiness, etc.') and is non-gender-specific.