Is the name Ciss or Cissie a real name

[ThrelfallYorky]

My grandmother, Elizabeth Ann, was always known as "Cissie", she'd been the eldest girl in the family, and it seems to have been a nickname for her as a sister. It was quite a surprise to find out what her real name was!

[Ladyhawk]

Thomas Roche's pension application 1943 says
date of birth 15th July 1869
date of marriage 5th Aug 1918
address Pearse Cottage ,Ferns
still married no children alive
died 1952
263
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1952/04485/4177439.pdf

http://mspcsearch.militaryarchives.ie/search.aspx

https://ireland-calling.com/lifestyle/participants-in-easter-rising-1916/
quote from article above
 “It’s been the subject of debate for nearly 100 years but now we have a definitive
List of names showing who really took part in the Easter Rising 1916"

http://www.militaryarchives.ie/fileadmin/user_upload/MSPC/documents-34/Veterans_of_Easter_Week_1916_with_recognised_military_service.pdf
No person named Cissie mentioned here but there are persons with surname Roche,
only one female named Julia from Clare
Thomas Roche Pearse Cottage, Ferns Wexford Ireland,
Michael from Wexford, Joseph, Seán Augustine, Thomas & Timothy all from Dublin

[Mowsehowse]

I have also seen "Cis" as a shorten version of Francisca.

Rob van Haastert

My mother had a cousin she always referred to as Cissy.
We called her Aunt Alice.... eventually I discovered her first name had been Francesca.

[Wexflyer]

Ciss is often a pet name for a girl in a family of boys = "sister"

We have a winner!

[geraldine96]

Thanks Wexflyer and mowsehowse, i think Wexflyer's interpretation of Cissie may explain the 'Cissie Roche' title that is connected to my family. i haven't been able to find any more information on the internet regarding our 'Cissie Roche'; I think I'll have to wait until I can go back to Ireland and read Helen Ashdown's book 'The Last Surrender'. There are 2 women called 'Cissie' in the South Wexford brigades of Cumman na Mban but they don't have the right surname. I wonder if the use of 'Cissie' has anything to do with sisterhood as in the IRB - the Irish Republican brotherhood - just a thought.....Thanks for your input, I appreciate the help. geraldine96

[Wexflyer]

I wonder if the use of 'Cissie' has anything to do with sisterhood as in the IRB - the Irish Republican brotherhood - just a thought.....

Oh, no, nothing to do with the IRB!
Cis/Cissie was a generic nickname for a sister. Nothing more. There was a Cis Roche in one of my families.

[johnsgirl]

I always thought it was a diminutive of Cicely or maybe Cecelia. Never quite understand these nicknames - why is someone called Margaret sometimes known as Peggy, for instance.

[MarionE2]

The Cissie in my family was really Mabel.

[Wexflyer]

I always thought it was a diminutive of Cicely or maybe Cecelia. Never quite understand these nicknames - why is someone called Margaret sometimes known as Peggy, for instance.

Ciss/Cissie may well be a diminutive for Cicely or Cecelia. But how many women were named Cicely or  Cecelia in 19th or early 20th Century Ireland? Not many.  By contrast, how many women were sisters? Very many. It follows that the overwhelming majority of those know as "Ciss/Cissie" were simply sisters.

As for Peggy, the derivation is: Margaret to Meggy/Meg, to Peggy/Peg.