For legal reasons (i.e. TEP will be sued for copyright infringment), a new name must be devised that is still fitting for the game, and does not contain the word 'Elite' (the same is true for ship names and any other proper nouns that were created by DB in Elite). There have been several suggestions on a.f.e.p., but so far most of them have contained the word 'Elite', and so are out of the question. Other suggestions have included other pronouns such as 'Thargoid(s)' and so on.
As you can well imagine, the naming of TEP will be a tough process. Not only must the name sound good (i.e. it must be 'cool' and not too long or hard to remember), but it must also give an idea to the style of the game (i.e. it's open-endedness).
At this stage of TEP development however, it will be quite difficult to come up with an apt name because the general style of the game has not yet been defined with 100% certainty. Take for example 'Frontier: First Encounters'. If there were no alien contact in this game then the term 'First Encouters' would be misleading to say the least. The 'Frontier' part of the title is a throwback from FFE's prequel, 'Frontier Elite 2', and so, seeeing as TEP has no prequel (other than the comercial releases which cannot be counted due to legal reasons) then a totally original name must be concieved. But, a subtle name could be used which hinted at TEP's inspiration, e.g. 'Legacy of the Clique' or something (Clique being another word which basically means the same thing as 'elite' does. This would help market the game as old Elite fans will spot the similarity and make the connection, however, if this route were to be taken then a clear marking must be made some where in the documentation etc that TEP is in no way associated with the other versions released, otherwise Gametek, or whoever could claim that we are trying to market TEP as if it were an official sequel by using such a similar name.