Who are the English?

Question

If you were born in say Birmingham, do you acknowledge yourself as being born British or English? Or would you acknowledge your region and say your were a Brummie?

I'm a Northerner but I always tell people that I'm British born and bred, second to that I go on to say I'm a European. What do think?

Do we have an identity as British, English or something more regional?

Answer 1

Might one answer come from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which describes the English as :
"Invading Britain across the wide seas
From the East, when warriors eager for fame,
proud forgers of war, the Welsh overcame,
And won for themselves a kingdom."

I guess if you identify with that victory, you're English.

Answer 2

I think England has long been losing its cultural identity, as a consequence of being the seat of government for a united kingdom. As a result of that, it isn't even a nationality: you have to say "British" instead.

So, I think it's more meaningful to say, for example, that you're a Lancastrian, British and a European. Then everyone in the world knows something about you.

If you tell foreigners that you're English, it only tells them that you're not American but speak English anyway.

(By the way, I used Lancastrian as an example because I guess that if you were from Yorkshire then you'd have told us.)

Answer 3

Hampshire born, Surrey bred. English, British, European.

Answer 4

According to the English television, when a Welsh, a Scotish or a Northern Irish win a competition they say that such and such British has won.

If it is an English winning, that one will always be called English.

But see if any other British not being English looses, they'll say that Scotland lost or Wales lost.

Answer 5

Okay I live in Surrey so I class myself as English and very proud because I live in England. I also class myself as British because even though we live in England we are also part of the United Kingdom but first and foremost English. You are English too.

A question for those who get offended when we use the term "English" and not "British". The Irish call themselves Irish, the Scots call themselves Scottish, the Welsh call themselves Welsh so why is it bad calling yourself English?! It really gets on my nerves when people object. It's PC gone mad again. Okay then, let's scrap the words English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh and stop the arguing and say we are just British! That would be wrong too I suppose.

Answer 6

Every Welsh, Scottish, and English person is British. But not every British person is Welsh, Scottish, or English. This confusion arises mainly because Welsh, Scottish, and English describe regional sub-ethnicities, whereas British originally described anyone who held citizenship in Great Britain (UK sans Isle of Man, Northern Ireland, Channel Islands).

Today, all citizens of the UK describe themselves as British, although, again, this wasn't the original definition of the term.

Answer 7

I was born in Colechester to a Maltese mother & a Gaelic father. We travelled alot (nationaly & internationaly) & so I didn't spend much time in any one place so don´t feel like I really belong to any particular part of England, but I certainly do think of myself as English 1st & foremost (& am proud of it), then British, but I'm not sure I would casually call myself European unless the conversation called for it i.e. when talking about different cultures.

Answer 8

I am definitely English I was born in England. A Welsh, Scots or Irish person like to be known as such, they would not say they are British, nor would I. Because I am English and very proud to be.

Answer 9

I'm a British citizen though I've never lived there. For official purposes, I say I'm British, otherwise Canadian. My dad is English.

I find the people I know from the UK who are ethnically English call themselves English, and same goes for Scottish and maybe Welsh (haven't met many Welsh people). The people I know who are from the UK but not ethnically English, Scottish, or Welsh tend to call themselves British. (Or "Britsh Indian" etc.)

Answer 10

Unless born in Scotland, Ireland, Wales... inside these shores you are English... though the Cornish folk might argue that one:-)

I consider myself Anglo Irish (maternal side) blood line... but English by birth, since I was born in the heart of England in Northampton, as was my father's maternal line for generations before me. His paternal line was Quaker from the Oxford Banbury border, again, English.

Mum was English through many generations on her maternal side, but her dad came from county Cork in Ireland.

British is used to include England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland... under the Union flag.

The red cross on white background is the true English flag of St George, patron saint of England, which for some obscure reason, we are discouraged from celebrating in England!

You are English if born below the Hadrian's Wall and outside Scotland, however far north you are.

A true Brit is someone who has all the union blood lines... as I do, but still prefer to name the land of my birth as English... I also have French connections (which shows in my maiden name) from the time of William and the Norman invasion.