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Comment by samwillis | Hacker News Reader

There is a significant chance that Northern Ireland will hold the referendum on independence that they are entitled to (part of the Good Friday agreement) at some point in the not too distant future. And if they do, there is a significant chance they will vote for independence or joining the south.

If that happens, what happens to the UK? Does it just become "The United Kingdom of Great Britain", dropping "and Northern Ireland". Or do we stop using "The United Kingdom" as it sort of ceases to exist in its own right and revert to just "Great Britain"?

This is a debate the UK government will want to avoid at all costs. I'm amazed they are even considering talking about the ".gb" domain, it bring up difficult topics.

It's sort of schrodinger's domain, don't check on it and it both exists and doesn't exist at the same time!

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The kingdoms that are united are England and Scotland. It was originally:

the United Kingdom of Great Britain

then after Ireland was formally annexed:

the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

then after (southern) Ireland broke off:

the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

How about Wales?

Apparently, Wales was formally a part of the Kingdom of England in 1707 when the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland combined to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. The subsequent union with the Kingdom of Ireland in 1801 created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

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

Per Wikipedia, the "United" came with Ireland, not Scotland.

> The United Kingdom has evolved from a series of annexations, unions and separations of constituent countries over several hundred years. The Treaty of Union between the Kingdom of England (which included Wales, annexed in 1542) and the Kingdom of Scotland in 1707 formed the Kingdom of Great Britain. Its union in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Most of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which formally adopted that name in 1927.

There were similar debates prior to the Scottish independence referendum. I think the takeaway back then was that Scotland could leave the nation and actually stay part of the monarchy (similar to how Australia, Canada,... still view the King as their head of state), but the UK could keep its acronym and just rename itself to be the United Kingdom of [whatever remains of it].

One day it might become the United Kingdom of England and Wales.

No- UK always meant GB and (parts of) Ireland; Wales has been part of the Kingdom of England for far longer, nearly 500 years. Though the chances of Welsh secession would increase if NI and Scotland leave!

Nowadays however Wales is not normally thought of as part of England, so I suspect that if everyone but the two of them leave the Union they’ll have to come up with a name other than Kingdom of England.

Where it’s heading is United Kingdom of the City of London and England.

Not Britain?

They may as well. I was making a different implication, which is that the Square Mile calls the tune, the rest of London and England have no choice but to dance along, and that everyone else will bugger off soon enough.

It's not the City that is holding the reins - it's Tufton Street, which is in Westminster.

Fair enough... The United Kingdom of 55 Tufton Street, banks in British Empire-related tax havens, the City of London and England

There are Cornish separatists, once one domino falls, others will follow. England also has a north south cultural divide.

It would become the United Kingdom of England and Scotland. Though maybe they would acknowledge Wales for once.

Northern Ireland's departure would probably correlate with Scotland's, so more likely it'd be the United Kingdom of England and Wales. Catchy.

At that point Wales is probably ready to call it a day as well.

Part of the problem is as the empire is shrinking London and England becomes more dominating. Each piece leaving reinforces this so I think if Northern Ireland and Scotland leaves Wales will do so too. And perhaps even smaller pieces although that doesn’t look likely today.

Another factor is that Scotland stayed last time as border trade is the most important for Scotland. Not that UK is crashing it’s more likely they would leave.

"United Kingdom of Great Britain" is a lot catchier than "United Kingdom of England, Scotland, and — by the way — Wales" :)

Just Britain, these days ... if that.

"United Kingdom of not so great Britain"

Great Britain is the island, if it’s only Northern Ireland leaving all of the Great Britain island would still be in.

Fun fact: there is, in fact, a Little Britain—Brittany (Bretagne) in France, across the Channel from England.

it was just called "Kingdom of Great Britain" before 1801 when it only included England Scotland and Wales

.gb it is then...

should be .kgb

So outside of the UK people often falsely use GB, UK and England synonymously (sorry Wales). Similar to how people call the Netherlands Holland, although that is just one part.

I think at some point people should just accept that the meaning has decayed completely and GB/UK/England means the lower half of the island on the right (up to Scotland). Maybe introduce "BI" for "British Ilses"? Unfortunately, .bi is already taken as a TLD.

You'd still have Scotland and Wales there.

Scotland is planning another independence vote in a year or so. After Brexit there's a good chance it'll pass this time.

"A good chance" doing a lot of work in that sentence.

Not really. It almost passed last time, and one of the major reasons people voted against it was because it was unclear what that would mean for their status in the EU. That's no longer a concern thanks to brexit.

in the surveys in 2014 the EU was at around reason #7

underneith things people cared about (such as currency and pensions)

Currency and pensions have been heavily devalued as well.

Yes, really. But I doubt we'll agree on that. There was a short time when 'yes, go independent' was on top, but it seems to me to be less popular again [1]. Not by much, I'll grant, but when the tories lose the next election, and Labour stop the current government policy of "screw Scotland, just because", I expect normal service to be resumed.

If the Scots vote for it, of course, they should have that right. I'm not trying to say they shouldn't have their say, I'm saying their position isn't one likely to lead to separation in the near future. IMHO.

[1]: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Wiki_Sco...

Since Scotland shows a simmilar interest, it might become The United Kingdom of England and Wales.

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