Royal baby's name

[Abby Normal]

Romans called it Britannia which I believe was a form of the earlier Greek word for it.

Kingdom of Great Britain came from when England (and wales) and Scotland United.

[Abby Normal]

The term "Great Britain" dates back to mediaeval times, to distinguish the island of Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) from the Kingdom of Brittany in France: "Grande Bretagne" vs "Bretagne".

Hi sam
I thought it was the other way round. People started to refer to Brittany as lesser or little or minor Britain to differentiate it from Great Britain?

[Robert]

"The Greco-Egyptian scientist Ptolemy referred to the larger island as great Britain (μεγάλη Βρεττανία megale Brettania) and to Ireland as little Britain (μικρὰ Βρεττανία mikra Brettania) in his work Almagest (147–148 AD)."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Britain

[MrBarnett]

"The Greco-Egyptian scientist Ptolemy referred to the larger island as great Britain (μεγάλη Βρεττανία megale Brettania) and to Ireland as little Britain (μικρὰ Βρεττανία mikra Brettania) in his work Almagest (147–148 AD)."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Britain

What happened in 1707 was that two kingdoms - England/Wales and Scotland - combined to become the single kingdom of 'Great Britain' i.e. covering the whole of the larger of the two main islands comprising the British Isles. It was a political change not a geographical one.

[Sam Flynn]

Hi sam
I thought it was the other way round. People started to refer to Brittany as lesser or little or minor Britain to differentiate it from Great Britain?

I'm pretty sure that the Kingdom of Brittany had first claim on the name "Bretagne", given that in reality the "Kingdom of England" was in operation over here at the time. If it had been the other way around, England/Scotland/Wales would have been "Britain" (no need for the "Great") and Brittany would have been officially called "Petite Bretagne", which it never was.

We're talking about the 15th Century, by the way, when the French language and culture were still influential at the English court, and relations with the various French duchies and kingdoms were politically important. I doubt that the francophone English politicians would have been so insensitive as to dub the Kingdom of Brittany as "Little Britain", especially given that the latter had existed for many centuries, and that the word "Britain" hadn't been used to describe England/Scotland/Wales as an official entity since the time of the Romans. Indeed, the true (United) Kingdom of Great Britain wouldn't arrive until the 18th Century, so there was quite a while to wait on that score.

[Sam Flynn]

"The Greco-Egyptian scientist Ptolemy referred to the larger island as great Britain (μεγάλη Βρεττανία megale Brettania) and to Ireland as little Britain (μικρὰ Βρεττανία mikra Brettania) in his work Almagest (147–148 AD)."

At the time of Ptolemy, of course, Brittany didn't yet exist.

[Abby Normal]

At the time of Ptolemy, of course, Brittany didn't yet exist.

They should have just stayed with Albion and saved all the confusion. : )