Posted on by mypapit

The confusion between United Kingdom, Great Britain, England and Ireland

The confusion between United Kingdom, Great Britain, England and Ireland

I’ve always pondered myself with this questions, what’s the different between United Kingdom, Britain, Great Britain, England and Ireland? While the last two may be easily distinguished as separate entity, the former are a bit confusing to an average non-brit like me.

Britain is usually a term used to refer United Kingdom and Great Britain, and if the word Britain can be use for both, why do we often heard people refer “the british islands” as United Kingdom and sometimes Great Britain? Is there any differences? Hmm, actually it is. United Kingdom is not the same as the Great Britain.

So what does United Kingdom means? I’ve put in my wild guess that “United Kingdom” means the “united kingdom” of England and Ireland, since they occasionally had the same king but are different countries. To prove it, I’ve dig up some references, I found out that the full name of United Kingdom is “The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, yeah, am I right!? bzztt.. damn, I was partly right, Ireland wasnt part of the “United Kingdom”, Ireland has its own government and sovereignty even with an elected female president. Only 1/6 of the Ireland is part of United Kingdom.

So United Kingdom consist of England and part of Ireland, but uh-oh not quite, the term Great Britain does not refer only to England, but also Scotland… yeah, grab Braveheart DVD and you’ll understand. Uh oh not quite, Great Britain also includes Wales (wth?),.

To sumarise it,


United Kingdom = England  +  Scotland + Wales + Northern Ireland
               = (Great Britain)  +  Northern Ireland

Union Jack

The source of confusion often lead by media that always refer “the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Island” as just Britain, and of course the sports event, where we can see that United Kingdom “isn’t so united” at all, when the participants of Northern Ireland would compete under the flag the Republic of Ireland instead of under the UK flag, and of course the usual England vs Scotland stuff, and even where there’s a reference to Great Britain in sports even, Scotland often compete independently.

Heh, I guess they deliberately compete as separate entities to ensure the odd of bringing the trophy home to UK increases.

lol.

OK that’s enough, end of the story.

Source :
The United Kingdom or Great Britain?
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Great Britain
British Isles

11 Replies to “The confusion between United Kingdom, Great Britain, England and Ireland”

  1. Pingback: The confusion between United Kingdom, Great Britain, England and Ireland – made easy | Diaghe's (B)Log

  2. Actually this is why theres a difference.

    Great Britain is the main island (England, Scotland and Wales) but the United Kingdom is Great Britain and Northern ireland. Its got nothign to do wiht Ireland. The full anme of the UK is…

    The United Kingdom Of Great Britain And Northern Ireland

  4. United Kingdom consist of England
    ข้ากลับมาแย้ว

  6. Where are you from?

    I would hazard a guess that you are from a former colony of the Great British Empire.
    More specifically the country containing the first British Colony.
    i.e. the United States of America

    You have also left out when The United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland play under the same banner in rugby as the British and Irish Lions, and also at golf.

    In addition you are all probably wondering why the Welsh Flag does not appesr on the Union Flag, its because Wales came under England for the Act of Union.

    I would just like to say that the correct flag for St Patricks Day is the St Patricks Cross and not the Tri-Colour of the Republic.

  7. As I read some years ago:

    1. British Isles – Islands of Great Britain, Shetland Islands, Isle of Man, Island of Ireland. The couries in that group- England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Republic of Eire.

    2. Great Britain – The large island where the countries of England, Scotland, and Wales are situated. ‘Great’ is added to differentiate its namesake which is in France/Germany.

    3. England – one of countries of the Island of Great Britain.

    4. United Kingdom – England, Scotland, Wales, and Nortern Ireland.

Comments are closed.