# United Kingdom?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom/601290
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 30, 2011, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom/601290 "2011-10-30T17:29:12Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2011, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom/601290/1 "2011-10-30T17:29:12Z")
Why isn’t it the “United Queendom and Northern Ireland” right now? There have always been queens around, haven’t there?
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2011, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom/601290/2 "2011-10-30T17:32:53Z")
Because the realm ruled over by a monarch is a kingdom, regardless of the monarch’s gender. As it must be: Monarchs come and go, but the land remains.
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2011, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom/601290/3 "2011-10-30T18:35:52Z")
“Queendom” isn’t a word.
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### Author:  [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2011, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom/601290/4 "2011-10-30T18:40:30Z")
> [@Alessan](#):
>
> “Queendom” isn’t a word.
[Queendom](http://www.google.co.uk/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1280&bih=862&q=queendom&gbv=2&oq=queendom&aq=f&aqi=g1g-m1g-S8&aql=1&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=2023l6940l0l14676l8l8l0l1l1l0l184l911l1.6l7l0)
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### Author:  [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2011, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom/601290/5 "2011-10-30T18:48:58Z")
In addition to what they said, “and Northern Ireland” is misplaced. It’s not (a) the United Kingdom of Great Britain (b) and Northern Ireland, but rather the United Kingdom of (a) Great Britain and (b) Northrn Ireland.
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### Author:  [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2011, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom/601290/6 "2011-10-30T18:50:09Z")
> [@njtt](#):
>
> [Queendom](http://www.google.co.uk/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1280&bih=862&q=queendom&gbv=2&oq=queendom&aq=f&aqi=g1g-m1g-S8&aql=1&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=2023l6940l0l14676l8l8l0l1l1l0l184l911l1.6l7l0)
Perhaps the English translation of Queensryche? 😃
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### Author:  [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2011, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom/601290/7 "2011-10-30T19:56:34Z")
> [@Alessan](#):
>
> “Queendom” isn’t a word.
Freddy Mercury disagrees from his grave.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2011, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom/601290/8 "2011-10-30T20:52:51Z")
> [@](#):
>
> In addition to what they said, “and Northern Ireland” is misplaced. It’s not (a) the United Kingdom of Great Britain (b) and Northern Ireland, but rather the United Kingdom of (a) Great Britain and (b) Northrn Ireland.
Well, it was already a United Kingdom before Ireland, too: United England and Scotland.
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### Author:  [@Kiwi\_Fruit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiwi_Fruit)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2011, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom/601290/9 "2011-10-30T21:21:03Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> Well, it was already a United Kingdom before Ireland, too: United England and Scotland.
Well, the United Kingdom of Great Britain (i.e. England, Wales and Scotland) and Northern Ireland.
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### Author:  [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2011, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom/601290/10 "2011-10-30T22:37:54Z")
> [@Kiwi\_Fruit](#):
>
> Well, the United Kingdom of Great Britain (i.e. England, Wales and Scotland) and Northern Ireland.
Yep. In 1603 King James VI of Scots became King of England (of wshich Wales was a part) as well – a personal union of crowns of two different nations. He himself referred to his domains as Great Britain, which spread slowly. 104 years later his great-granddaughter’s Government made it official, uniting the two Kingdoms in a single United Kingdom of Great Britain. The shorthand for this, though, was “Great Britain”, not “United Kingdom”. The King of England and then of Great Britain was separately King of Ireland through this entire period.
93 years later in 1800 under George III, the Irish Parliament was induced to unite with Great Britain in a new United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, which now used the shorthand of “United Kingdom.” When Ireland regained home rule in 1922, six of the nine Ulster counties in the northeast voted to remain part of the U.K. \*“Unionists”) and the realm name was modified by adding the “Northern” before Ireland to so indicate.
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### Author:  [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2011, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom/601290/11 "2011-10-31T01:40:17Z")
But just to confuse matters the UK is often referred to as Great Britain or even just Britain.
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### Author:  [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2011, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom/601290/12 "2011-10-31T01:42:42Z")
Wouldn’t it be a little awkward to change the name of a country just because of the gender of its monarch?
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2011, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom/601290/13 "2011-10-31T01:49:34Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#):
>
> But just to confuse matters the UK is often referred to as Great Britain or even just Britain.
First sentence of the wikipedia page:
_The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain)_
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### Author:  [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2011, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom/601290/14 "2011-10-31T01:50:01Z")
Useful [del]Venn[/del] Euler diagram to understand what is what from the British Isles to England.
> **[The Great British Venn Diagram @ Things Of Interest](https://qntm.org/uk)**
>
> So I guess a lot of people are in some doubt as to what the difference is between England, Great Britain, the British Isles and the United Kingdom. Here I present a handy-dandy Venn diagram to explain this.
>
>
>
> The republic of Ireland and the United...
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### Author:  [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2011, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom/601290/15 "2011-10-31T12:20:41Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#):
>
> Useful [del]Venn[/del] Euler diagram to understand what is what from the British Isles to England.
>
> [http://qntm.org/uk](http://qntm.org/uk)
What an excellent visual explanation of our situation.
Nice one !
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### Author:  [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2011, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom/601290/16 "2011-10-31T13:04:25Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> First sentence of the wikipedia page:
>
> _The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain)_
And Great Britain. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2011, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom/601290/17 "2011-10-31T14:26:56Z")
> [@Polycarp](#):
>
> It’s not (a) the United Kingdom of Great Britain (b) and Northern Ireland, but rather the United Kingdom of (a) Great Britain and (b) Northrn Ireland.
Actually it could be either. I think it’s intentionally ambiguous. The actual union is between England and Scotland, not between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland was never a kingdom.
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### Author:  [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2011, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom/601290/18 "2011-10-31T15:11:35Z")
> [@Acsenray](#):
>
> Actually it could be either. I think it’s intentionally ambiguous. The actual union is between England and Scotland, not between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland was never a kingdom.
1. There were two Unions, as detailed in my post above.
2. My comment was in response to the erroneous name-clipping in the OP:
> [@dolphinboy](#):
>
> Why isn’t it the “United Queendom and Northern Ireland” right now? There have always been queens around, haven’t there?
1. As for Northern Ireland never having been a kingdom, tell that to the Dal Riada.
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### Author:  [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2011, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom/601290/19 "2011-10-31T15:46:54Z")
> [@Polycarp](#):
>
> 1. As for Northern Ireland never having been a kingdom, tell that to the Dal Riada.
I know you’re probably joking but Dal Riada only ever encompassed a small part of what is now Northern Ireland, primarily what is now Co. Antrim.
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### Author:  [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2011, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/united-kingdom/601290/20 "2011-10-31T17:49:01Z")
> [@Polycarp](#):
>
> 93 years later in 1800 under George III, the Irish Parliament was induced to unite with Great Britain in a new United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, which now used the shorthand of “United Kingdom.” When Ireland regained home rule in 1922, six of the nine Ulster counties in the northeast voted to remain part of the U.K. \*“Unionists”) and the realm name was modified by adding the “Northern” before Ireland to so indicate.
While everything you’ve said is correct, and summarises the situation very well, it could be misunderstood to mean that each county had a vote as to whether to remain in the Union or join the Free State, and that 6 of them individually chose to remain in the Union.
Whereas in fact there was a single vote, on the question of whether those particular 6 counties would collectively join the Free State, and the decision was made to rejoin the UK.
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