What's in a name: Itsy or Etsy?

It's amazing what you can uncover when a family member moves. I've been trying to gently nudge my aunt into looking for boxes she inherited from my grandmother. I had hoped it would contain family pictures, letters and records, anything really. And sure enough, it did! In fact, I hit pay dirt and found one of the marriage certificates I've been searching for forever - my paternal great-grandparents'.

The great thing about new records is that they tend to have new information and clues that you can use to uncover even more new records. And that's exactly what happened with this sought-after marriage certificate; I found out that in addition to Texas, North Carolina and Virginia, my great-grandparents also lived in Pennsylvania (Philadelphia to be exact)!

US World War I Draft Registration Card - Garfield Cross

Who knew! My dad had never heard that his grandparents lived in Philadelphia, and I had found nothing indicating that either. So I had never searched for Garfield and Florence in Philadelphia. But after finding this clue, I did so and found this WWI Registration Card, something for which I also had been looking (well, WWI records for all my relatives).

While the record was great to have, what was really interesting is the name that was listed on it:  Itsy (first name) Garfield (middle name) Cross (last name). "Itsy" Where did that come from? I thought maybe it was a military term? Nope. A misspelling? Of what. A typo? It's pretty clearly printed. 

I also tried to search for it as a historical first name or family name, but to no avail. Mostly because "itsy" is a word and because of "Etsy." Which leads me to my next find. As I searched for other records under the name Itsy Cross, I found this:

US WWI Draft Registration Card - James Etsy Cross

John Etsy Cross living in Robertson County (Franklin) Texas! The same county Garfield Cross grew up in. He was born in 1890, so he even could be a sibling of my great-great grandfather (because really, how many black Cross's were living in Robertson County, TX in the late 1800s....not many).

That's it. That's all I have. I just think it's too much of a coincidence - Itsy and Etsy listed as a given name for two African-American men with the surname Cross, who were both born in the same county in Texas. 

But search as I may, I've been unable to make any headway into the names. So I'm hoping someone will read this and give me some hints. :)