For men in Germany and the Netherlands, there are several etymologies possible for this name. The first is that it is a variant of the Frisian name Ane 2 via its variant form Anje or Anjes. The second is that it is a masculinization of the feminine name Anja. And lastly, there are also cases where this name is a combination of a name starting with An- (such as Anton) with a name that starts with Jo- (such as Johannes).
For women in Germany and (predominantly) the Netherlands, the name is usually a combination of a name starting with An- (such as Anna and Antonia) with a name that starts with Jo- (such as Johanna).
Cisa is mentioned in several medieval manuscripts dating back to the 12th to 14th centuries, among others the Codex Monac (circa 1135), the Codex Emmeran (circa 1135) and Melchior Goldast's Suevicarum rerum scriptores. All of these texts go back to the Excerptum ex Gallica historia, a first-century BCE record of a Swabian military victory over Roman forces.
In said Excerptum ex Gallica historia, Cisa is identified as a goddess of the Suevi who was venerated in modern-day Augsburg, Germany. Her feast day, the so-called "dies Cize", was celebrated on the 59th day after the first day of August, meaning September 28 and involved games and merrymaking.
19th-century scholar Jacob Grimm suggested that Cisa may be the same figure as Tyr's unnamed wife, mentioned by Loki in the 13th century Poetic Edda poem Lokasenna.
Furthermore, Grimm proposed a connection between Cisa and the "Isis" of the Suebi attested by Tacitus in his 1st century CE work Germania based on the similarity of their names, if not their functions. He also referenced a record of a pagan Duke of Swabia named Esenerius who established a chapel in his castle in Kempten with a venerated image of Cisa. Grimm theorized that Cisara, Augsburg's former name, might be interpreted as *Cisae ara, "Cisa's altar".
18th-century librarian Christian August Vulpius, however, believed Cisa (or Ciza, as he called her) to be a Sorbian fertility goddess and "a kind of Ceres for the Vindelici", who offered her grain, crops and cereals at her altar in Augsburg on her feast day.
In German and Yiddish, the name has also been encountered as a diminutive of names that contain the Germanic element frid meaning "peace". In those cases, the name is basically a German and Yiddish variant of Friedl. It should be noted, though, that it appears that the name is strictly feminine in Yiddish.
Known German bearers of this name include the former soccer player Friedel Rausch (b. 1940), the luger Friedel Tietze (born after 1908, died after 1953) and Frieda "Friedel" Adler Bergman (1884-1918), the mother of the Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman (1915-1982). In the Netherlands, a known bearer of this name is the singer Roxeanne Hazes (b. 1993), a daughter of the popular singer André Hazes (1951-2004). She carries the name as a middle name, which was given to her in honor of her maternal grandmother Friedel van Galen-Mak (c. 1946-2009).
Known bearers of this name include the Austrian alpine skier Friedl Pfeifer (1911-1995) and the Austrian children's book author Friedl Hofbauer (1924-2014).