What is the consensus on the origin of this surname? Cottle says first
name, from Latin Caecilius, adopted in Welsh as Sisyllt. Is that at all
plausible? Was it actually a Welsh first name? Surely the female Cecilia
(diminutive or pet-forms: Cesse, Cissot, Sissot, Syssot, Cesselot. Cisley
or Cisselly are found in the 16th century) is more likely, isn't it? There
wasn't a male form, was there?
John Briggs
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