In Tolkien’s The Silmarillion, the Elves all originated in Middle-earth at Cuiviénen, but the Valar requested them to join their own land in Valinor. Some Elves decided to go, but others stayed and that created the first split among the Elves. There ended up being many divisions of the Elves, so I wanted to create this Sankey diagram to show all the splits.
The Elves started out as three groups (Vanyar, Noldor, and Teleri) and the chart shows their group sizes proportionally, with the Vanyar being the smallest group and the Teleri being the largest. The Vanyar are also known as the Light-elves or Fair-elves and have golden hair so they are represented with gold; the Teleri are lovers of the sea and sometimes known as Sea-elves so they are represented with blue; and the Noldor who are known as the Deep-elves are represented with green, mostly to use a color that is aesthetically a good fit with the other two hues, but also the Noldor are also known as the Elves of the Earth and were the best craftsmen.
For a summary of the Sundering of the Elves, check out Tolkien Gateway’s page: Sundering of the Elves.