Aiwendil makes persuasive points. Nevertheless, it makes sense to nolderize and modify the earlier personage in order to avoid confusion or debates about reincarnations ala Glorfindel. I think we all know that JRRT simply reused a name he liked and had never worked out all of the etymology and progressions respective to his later refinements of Telerian and other tongues and naming customs.
Also, since the Sindar were prevalent if not predominant among Turgon's people, could not the earlier Legolas be attributed to a Sindarin house, and then one might say that the Gray-elves of Middle-Earth were not so strict about the reoccurrence of names.
As for Legolas of Mirkwood, we know nothing positive about his maternal lineage or when he was born. It seems fair to say he was chosen for the Fellowship because he was representative of Elves as they still existed and to some degree flourished in Middle-Earth in the Third Age; even though technically an Eldar, in LoTR his Eldarin nature is at best downplayed. So, I've always assumed that he also would have had Laiquendi or Nandorin ancestors as well, though not necessarily Avari. Also, while he was unimaginably ancient by our reckoning, he was not among those that had seen the happenings of previous ages. So, again, I have assumed that at the oldest he belongs to the generation of Elrond's children, or perhaps even later, such that he might be only a mere thousand or so years old at the time of Fellowship, where he remarks on how even in his time he had travelled very little, especially not anywhere near the extent of Aragorn in his then roughly 90 years.
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The hoes unrecked in the fields were flung, __ and fallen ladders in the long grass lay __ of the lush orchards; every tree there turned __ its tangled head and eyed them secretly, __ and the ears listened of the nodding grasses; __ though noontide glowed on land and leaf, __ their limbs were chilled.
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