Why England called by 4 names : England, Great Britain, British and United Kingdom?

Question

And, when should I use these names are appropriated in my English Grammar?

Example : My mp3 harddisk player is made in England? UK? GB? or British?

Answer 1

England is one individual country. Beware: never call a person from Scotland or Ireland or Wales an "Englishman". It is Scot, Irish and Welsh, respectively.

United Kingdom: when you refer to all four countries, England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales; only geographically and politically.

Great Britain: This was formed during colonisation where UK ruled close to 80% of the landmass. Use this for usage with non-living things, e.g., Great Britain pound, Great Britain Sterling, Great Britain Royal Army.

British or Brit (colloquial) People in Britain are referred to as British. e.g., British muslims.

Answer 2

From an earlier answer I have given...

OK then quite simply...
England is the largest country within Great Britain and The United Kingdom.

Great Britain =
England (country, capital = London)
Wales (a principality, capital = Cardiff)
Scotland (country, capital = Edinburgh)

UK =
England
Wales
Scotland
Northern Ireland (a province known as Ulster, capital = Belfast)

Commonly known as The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Because I was born in England my nationality is English, but because England is part of Great Britain I am also British...thankfully there isn't another name for us being born in the United Kingdom! (although I expect quite a few people could come up with some choice words for us all)

Answer 3

Phew . . . that took a long time for someone to get the correct answer (Sarch_uk) i was going nuts then. Especially at the comment 'England is England and Wales'. I mean what the hell??

They are called constituent countries. Plus the 'British Isles' as a geographical feature also includes the republic of Ireland but it is only a name for the collection of islands and isn't anything to do with ownership or government.

And 'British' just means someone/something from Britiain - like English

Answer 4

There is something wrong with all of the foregoing answers,

Great (geographical not political) Britain comprises 3 constituent countries - England, Wales, Scotland.

United Kingdom is Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The person who stated that their nationality is English is wrong, the nationality of english, welsh, scottish and northern irish people is British.

Answer 5

First of all it was called plainly England. When Scotland annexed to England they became Great Britain. It was later on called United Kingdom when Wales joined Great Britain. Well I think in your example its actually England, but its better off U.K.

My mp3 harddisk player is made in England.

But

My mp3 harddisk player is from U.K.(read as abbreviation not the full double word).

You can call people from the U.K. English or British if you want to it works the same.

Answer 6

England is well England. United Kingdom refer to Scotland and England. Great Britain includes Northern Ireland as well as Scotland and United Kingdom.

Answer 7

England is England and Wales, Scotland once were independent kingdoms plus Northern Ireland, now they're all in the UK (United Kingdom), or also known as Great Britain. Never tell a Scotsman that he's English - you'll not survive it! ;-)

Greetings from Germany

Answer 8

Well done, Sarch. One little thing I'd add - well, two actually.

The United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland is our official full name - UK for short.

And the "Great" is used in its original sense, i.e., size. "Little" or "Lesser" Britain bear no relation to the countries in existence today, and aren't used any more.

Answer 9

England by itself is ONE country but because of imperialism, United Kingdom (UK) is still commonly used and are consist of a few "countries": England, Scotland, Wales...etc.

Answer 10

united kingdom includes england, wales, ireland, scotland. it is different