I think I asked the same question a while ago, and there were many different answers that I got. When finally I found a wonderful essay on the ages of a few of the characters that are often debated and aren't really known, Legolas was on the top of the agenda.
It isn't really known how old he is and in the books, he can come off as either very young or old for an elf. There are lots of mixed messages. The script writers probably gave him the age 2,931 years because it is neither here nor there. I think they just rolled dice to come up with that number IMHO.
I have read where he is around 400 when the fellowship starts, to the extreme end of the spectrum where he was born in the first age and had a hand in the war of the ring(and many others), being one of the lords under the command of Thranduil that rode under the banner of Mirkwood. That's where the myth about his brothers come in. It isn't officially said that he has got brothers or sisters, but many Legolas fans like to think so.
I think that of all the characters that are featured in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Legolas is the most vague one. You don't know who his mother is, you don't know if he has brothers or sisters, and you have no clue what role he plays in the hierarchy of Mirkwood, only that he is the Prince. And a really good archer.
If I can find the address to that essay, I will post it promptly.
~~Daegwenn
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"And still of a winter’s night, they say, when the wind is in the trees,
When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
When the road is a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
A highwayman comes riding—
Riding—Riding—
A highwayman comes riding, up to the old inn-door.
Over the cobbles he clatters and clangs in the dark inn-yard.
And he taps with his whip on the shutters, but all is locked and barred.
He whistles a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord’s black-eyed daughter,
Bess, the landlord’s daughter,
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair"
Highwayman
Alfred Noyes
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