This very uncommon name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational surname deriving from the place called Sisland near Loddon in Norfolk. The place is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Sislanda", and as "Sigeland" in the Norfolk Curia Rolls of 1206, and is so called from the Olde English pre 7th Century personal name "Sige", a short form of any of the various compound names with the first element "sige", victory, such as "Sigeheah", "victory-high", or "Sigeweard", "victory-lord", and "land", estate, landed property; thus, "Sige's land". Locational surnames were used particularly as a means of identification by those who left their birthplace to settle elsewhere; regional dialectal differences and varying standards of literacy subsequently gave rise to variant forms of the original name, such as, in this instance, Sis(e)land, Siz(e)land, Sys(e)land, Sissland and Cisland. Recordings of the surname from Church Registers include the following marriages: John Sysland and Mabell Goose, at North Elmham, Norfolk, on December 22nd 1605; Margaret Sizeland and Richard Adams, on November 21st 1631, at South Creake, Norfolk; and John Sizeland and Anna Franke, at Eaton Socon, Bedfordshire, on June 24th 1687. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of (John?) de Sislond, which was dated 1254, in the "Valuation of Norwich", Norfolk, during the reign of King Henry 111, known as "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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