What to call the 'British Isles'?

[Bellbeaking]

British Isles (including Ireland as well) is just fine, since their original inhabitants were the Britons, and they are the main ancestors of modern Irish and British.

British have a considerable Germanic (Anglo Saxon) input, but still, a great part of their ancestry comes from Britons.

Yes there is no problem referring to Britain this way as they descend from Britons(beaker/celt mix). But Irish are Gaels rather than Britons from an ethno-linguistic perspective. They are closely related though which causes confusion for many people. I don't think Brythonic was ever spoken in Ireland.

This might be outdated but you get the idea

[Dawnbringer]

The Avalonian Isles.

Avalonia was a Paleozoic Microcontinent which crustal fragments underlie the majority of Britain and Southern Ireland.





Unfortunately Scotland was part of the much larger continent Laurentia at the time, but the important thing is that parts of both the crust of Britain and Ireland were a part of Avalonia. That makes it fair as a collective name for the Isles.

[alnortedelsur]

Yes there is no problem referring to Britain this way as they descend from Britons(beaker/celt mix). But Irish are Gaels rather than Britons from an ethno-linguistic perspective. They are closely related though which causes confusion for many people. I don't think Brythonic was ever spoken in Ireland.

This might be outdated but you get the idea

Then, looking at that graphic, Gaelic-Brithonic Isles would be more right, I guess.

[TheOldNorth]

England has a germanic identity and our population dwarfs all the "celtic" populace combined. Celtic isles is probably the worst name out of the lot.

so what? I'm going by heritage, history, and culture over the majority of land, I think all those things trump a 'germanic identity' and 'the english outnumbering the celtic cultured peoples'

[Ayetooey]

so what? I'm going by heritage, history, and culture over the majority of land, I think all those things trump a 'germanic identity' and 'the english outnumbering the celtic cultured peoples'

You claim to be going by heritage, history and culture yet you're ignoring the heritage, history and culture of the vast majority of the isles inhabitants. Population of Ireland/Wales/Scotland isn't even 25% of Englands. I'd rather name us the Germanic isles or the Anglo-Saxon isles if it's going to be like that; it'd be more relevant considering we're all speaking English here.

[floooos]

North Atlantic Isles

[Creoda]

British Isles is correct. That was the original geographical designation given to the island group by Greco-Roman cartogrphers. There's no reason to change an established geographical name based on nationalist feelings 2000 years later. Besides, the independent Irish identity is secure now, regardless of the term.

A lot of English and especially Scottish don't like to be called British either.

[TheOldNorth]

You claim to be going by heritage, history and culture yet you're ignoring the heritage, history and culture of the vast majority of the isles inhabitants. Population of Ireland/Wales/Scotland isn't even 25% of Englands. I'd rather name us the Germanic isles or the Anglo-Saxon isles if it's going to be like that; it'd be more relevant considering we're all speaking English here.

English is very loosley germanic in classification, Latin and Greek words together outnumber the germanic words, and the grammar is somewhat influenced by early brythonnic, the English people are only somewhere between 25-60% anglo-saxon with most of the 40-60%ers being centered in east anglia, England may not speak celtic, but they sure as hell ain't purely or even near purely germanic in nature...

[PaleoEuropean]

Britons are too diverse to be called anything but British

[Mingle]

British Isles is correct. That was the original geographical designation given to the island group by Greco-Roman cartogrphers. There's no reason to change an established geographical name based on nationalist feelings 2000 years later. Besides, the independent Irish identity is secure now, regardless of the term.

Another thing to note is that the Pre-Gaelic inhabitants of Northern Ireland were called 'Cruthins'. The words 'Cruthin' and 'Britain' are most likely cognates. So a group of people in ancient Ireland referred to themselves as 'British' (with their own different pronunciation of it).

Also, I don't really see a problem with an entity expanding its definition based on how massively influential it is. The term 'Africa' originally only referred to part of North Africa and the term 'Asia' only originally referred to a portion of West Asia before these terms expanded their definitions. 'India/Bharat' only referred to the northwestern portion of India originally. And 'Europe' originally only referred to Thrace if we go back far enough yet I don't see any Irishmen protesting over being called 'European'. Heck, even the term British has changed definition. Originally, it only referred to Brythonic people and it wasn't until significantly after the English conquest of the land that they embraced the term for themselves. The term 'British' like the term 'European' has lost all ethnic context, so if the Irish are called British, then its from a purely geographic perspective without any threat to their identity.

Also, I never heard of any Brits protesting the name "Irish Sea" even though some of the UK's islands like the Isle of Man are in the Irish Sea.

I'm not sure if the term 'British Isles' was popularized by imperialists, but it doesn't really matter anymore since the term 'British Isles' is seldom used to stake territorial claims as you said.

A lot of English and especially Scottish don't like to be called British either.

Besides Scottish separatists, this seems hard to believe. Sure, they may consider themselves Scottish/English first and British second but that doesn't mean they don't like to be called British.