Other than the fact that The Ring of Air might be seen as an artifact of Manwe, Lord of Airs, Greatest of the Valar, my theory is that Elrond seems to be the weakest in personal power compared to Galadriel and Gandalf, so he was given the greatest ring in order to be on par with them.
By the way, the Rings were not named before the galley proofs. HoMe Vol 9, pg 111. So, all of this was kind of an afterthought on Tolkien's part.
--Imladrien
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