# Why is there no Nussex? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 4, 2008, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-nussex/455295 "2008-07-04T15:04:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-nussex/455295/1 "2008-07-04T15:04:24Z")
There’s an Essex, a Sussex, a Wessex, and a Middlesex, but no Nussex. Why? ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-nussex/455295/2 "2008-07-04T15:09:17Z")
I thought Wessex was a fictional county in some author’s work. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-nussex/455295/3 "2008-07-04T15:10:22Z")
Probably for similar reasons that there is only Virginia and West Virginia, or that there is no West Carolina or East Carolina. Nobody set out to create a complete and matching set. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-nussex/455295/4 "2008-07-04T15:13:10Z")
[QUOTE=Paul in Saudi] I thought Wessex was a fictional county in some author’s work. [/QUOTE] Thomas Hardy wrote about Wessex in this manner. It still exists in relation to titles of Earls, Dukes etc. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-nussex/455295/5 "2008-07-04T15:21:26Z")
[QUOTE=Paul in Saudi] I thought Wessex was a fictional county in some author’s work. [/QUOTE] It was a real Anglo-Saxon kingdom, of which there were more than just the ‘sexes’. [This map](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:British_kingdoms_c_800.svg) might clarify things for the OP - there wasn’t a Nussex because Mercia was in the way. ---
**Author:** ![Kuboydal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@Kuboydal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kuboydal)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-nussex/455295/6 "2008-07-04T15:32:09Z")
Would you move to a town whose name sounded like ‘No-sex?’ ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-nussex/455295/7 "2008-07-04T15:45:18Z")
There is. It’s called Norfolk though. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-nussex/455295/8 "2008-07-04T16:00:09Z")
[QUOTE=aldiboronti] There is. It’s called Norfolk though. [/QUOTE] Isn’t that part of East Anglia? And north of Suffolk? ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-nussex/455295/9 "2008-07-04T16:03:37Z")
[QUOTE=Kuboydal] Would you move to a town whose name sounded like ‘No-sex?’ [/QUOTE] “…please, we’re British.” ---
**Author:** ![Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-nussex/455295/10 "2008-07-04T16:24:57Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] It was a real Anglo-Saxon kingdom, of which there were more than just the ‘sexes’. [This map](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:British_kingdoms_c_800.svg) might clarify things for the OP - there wasn’t a Nussex because Mercia was in the way. [/QUOTE] And, just to clarify things still further, Mercia was not “Nussex” because it (along with East Anglia and Northumbria) was settled by the Angles, not the Saxons. The “-sex” ending meant “Saxon” and was only applied to areas settled by Saxons. The remaining English kingdom, Kent, was settled by the Jutes. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-nussex/455295/11 "2008-07-04T16:26:06Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray] Isn’t that part of East Anglia? And north of Suffolk? [/QUOTE] Quite correct - the kingdom of the East Angles was formed from two separate groups in the region, simply the North Folk and South Folk. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2008, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-nussex/455295/12 "2008-07-05T03:00:45Z")
To complicate things still further, while I’m sure everyone already knows that there is a Saxony in Germany, there is also an Anglia–a small region at the base of the “neck” leading up to Denmark. In German, though, it’s called Angeln ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2008, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-nussex/455295/13 "2008-07-05T03:13:15Z")
I always thought that there _was_ a Nossex, but that they died out after the founding generation… ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2008, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-nussex/455295/14 "2008-07-05T03:26:08Z")
[QUOTE=Alive At Both Ends] And, just to clarify things still further, Mercia was not “Nussex” because it (along with East Anglia and Northumbria) was settled by the Angles, not the Saxons. The “-sex” ending meant “Saxon” and was only applied to areas settled by Saxons. The remaining English kingdom, Kent, was settled by the Jutes. [/QUOTE] Funny. They didn’t look Jutish. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2008, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-nussex/455295/15 "2008-07-05T06:37:01Z")
[QUOTE=Paul in Saudi] I thought Wessex was a fictional county in some author’s work. [/QUOTE] [This guy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Edward,_Earl_of_Wessex) would be interested in hearing more about that. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2008, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-nussex/455295/16 "2008-07-05T07:11:10Z")
[QUOTE=Scarlett67] [This guy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Edward,_Earl_of_Wessex) would be interested in hearing more about that. [/QUOTE] The title Earl of Wessex was revived for Prince Edward, though. Before that, Wessex meant either the ancient Anglo Saxon kingdom, or Thomas Hardy’s semi-imaginary region of southern England. It did not exist in any formal sense, and people still don’t say “we’re going to Wessex” or anything. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2008, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-nussex/455295/17 "2008-07-05T07:47:42Z")
[QUOTE=Spectre of Pithecanthropus] To complicate things still further, while I’m sure everyone already knows that there is a Saxony in Germany, there is also an Anglia–a small region at the base of the “neck” leading up to Denmark. In German, though, it’s called Angeln [/QUOTE] Don’t forget Jutland.