 According to Movses Khorenatsi, the name of Sisakan -and subsequently Sisian- was derived from Sisak, a legendary ancestor of the Armenian princely house of Syuni.The Turkic name of Gharakilisa -meaning the "black church" referring to the town's 7th-century church of Saint Gregory- used between the 16th and the 20th centuries for the town, was kept until 1935, when the name Sisavan was restored.Finally in 1940, the town was renamed Sisian.