Alternative names for Northern Ireland

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There are a number of alternative names used for the region of the island of Ireland which remained part of the United Kingdom following the secession of the twenty-six counties which formed the Irish Free State in 1922 (now the Republic of Ireland). The region, known officially as Northern Ireland was made up of six counties, four of which had Protestant and unionist majorities. It may be worth pointing out that now four of the six counties have Catholic and nationalist majorities (Armagh, Derry, Fermanagh and Tyrone). Several other names are used, however, both amongst unionists and those with other political viewpoints such as nationalists (those who promote a United Ireland peacefully) and republicans (typically used to refer to more hardline nationalists; while mainstream republicans declare themseleves committed to exclusively peaceful means, dissident republicans argue for the use of force to achieve a United Ireland). The significant differences in political views between the sides is reflected in the variations of names for the region.

Contents

1 Names

1.1 Legal name
1.2 Political names

1.2.1 Unionist associated names
1.2.2 Nationalist associated names

1.3 Other names

2 See also

Names

Legal name

The official and legal name of the region is "Northern Ireland". This is despite the fact that Malin Head in the Republic of Ireland actually extends further north than any of Northern Ireland. The legal name is used by both the British and Irish governments, internationally by governments around the world, and by most of its inhabitants. Some nationalists, however, reject the name "Northern Ireland", as they believe it distinguishes the region from the rest of Ireland.

Political names

Unionist associated names

Colloquially, "Ulster" has often been used. This is the Anglo-Norse form of the province of Uladh (pronounced "Ull-oo") (Irish Uladh and Old Norse ster, meaning "province," yields "Uladh Ster" or, in English, "Ulster"). This term is disliked by some nationalists because the whole of the Province of Ulster consists of nine counties - three of which are in the Republic of Ireland. Some unionists argue that because Ulster's size has changed much over the centuries, Ulster can be applied to Northern Ireland alone. Indeed, the Government of Northern Ireland once tried to change the official name of the country to Ulster, but this was vetoed by the UK Government.

Nevertheless, the term was used officially in the Royal Ulster Constabulary (since superseded by the Police Service of Northern Ireland), and is also used in the names of the Ulster Unionist Party, the University of Ulster, BBC Radio Ulster and other organisations.

The Province is also sometimes used, referring directly to the status of Northern Ireland as a "province" of the United Kingdom. This also, however, could be obliquely used to refer to the province of Ulster; and since no other constituent part of the United Kingdom is known as a province, a less controversial usage is "the region".

Nationalist associated names

Nationalists in the region and their supporters abroad commonly refer to it as The North of Ireland, The North-East or The North. This can be used to implicitly deny British sovereignty by placing it into the rest of Ireland, at least linguistically. It does, however, contain the same geographic anomaly as it does not contain Ireland's most northerly point.

The Six Counties is another popular name among republicans, as it can portray the region as a mere collection of Irish counties, rather than a legal political entity. Some also reject the claim of the Republic of Ireland to have inherited the tradition of the Irish Republic of the Anglo-Irish War, because it excludes the northeast, and refer to the Republic variously as "the Free State" or "The Twenty-Six Counties".

The Occupied Six Counties is a phrase sometimes used by more extreme republicans, especially since the arrival of British troops, but originally employed simply to suggest the illegitimacy of the British presence. This is sometimes rendered as The Occupied Zone or The OZ.

Other names

In the Republic of Ireland, people typically refer to the region simply as "the North", though Northern Ireland is becoming more popular in the media, by politicians and by the general public. The North isn't usually meant in any political sense, however, but is merely a statement of the geographic reality in respect of the island of Ireland as a whole.

Similarly, and more commonly, in Northern Ireland, "the South" is sometimes used as a shorthand term for the Republic of Ireland.

Obviously this explanation does not hold for parts of the Republic such as County Donegal giving rise to the joke that while further out in a boat on Lough Foyle, "the South is north, and the North is south".

A colloquial name for Northern Ireland which has grown in popularity in recent years is Norn Iron, particularly when talking about the football team.

Northern Ireland is called Tuaisceart Éireann or Tuaisceart na hÉireann in Irish and Norlin Airlann in Ulster Scots.