The Origins Of The Name Of England

How England Got Its Name And Who Did That When

Spoilers: It’s this guy

Colophon
The Origins Of The Name Of England
How England Got Its Name And Who Did That When
By: Ruben Dijs
Supervised by: Ms. R. Vaessen
College Den Hulster
5HC
English
2019-2020

The Origins Of The Name Of England CDH PWS

Page: 1
Foreword
I chose this topic because England is my favourite (foreign) country. This is because I
speak the language and they have a lot of big cities. One of those cities is London
where I have been twice and I really liked it there. Recently I saw a picture about
somebody not getting why England is called England. The person ranted about the
Anglo-Saxon people being a small group of people. He found it unfair that the
Anglo-Saxons got to choose the name for the country. He also said that the Anglo
people were an even smaller group among the Anglo-Saxons. He asked the
question: “Why is England called England?”. I did not know it either and I wanted to
figure that out. This is the main reason I developed my research question.

I want to thank Ms. Vaessen for giving me good feedback on how to improve my
paper. I also want to thank my dad for walking through each paragraph and making it
better.

Fig. 1 A picture I made at Stonehenge.

The Origins Of The Name Of England CDH PWS

Page: 2
Table of contents
Colophon 1

Foreword 2

Table of contents 3

Abstract 4

1. Introduction 5
1.1 What is England? 5
1.2 Fun facts 5
1.3 Reading guide 5

2. Research 7
2.1 Hypotheses: 7
2.1.1 Sub question 1: How are countries named? 7
2.1.2 Sub question 2: What was the first country? 7
2.1.3 Sub question 3: Who names countries? 7
2.2: Sub questions 8
2.2.1: How are countries named? 8
2.2.2: What was the first country? 10
2.2.3: Who names countries? 11

3. Results 12
3.1 How is England named? 12
3.2 When was England named? 12
3.3 Who named England? 12

4. Discussion 13
4.1 How is England named? 13
4.2 When was England named? 13
4.3 Who named England? 13

5. Conclusion. 14
5.1 Discussion of Hypothesis. 14
5.1.1: How are countries named? 14
5.1.2: What was the first country? 14
5.1.3: Who named England? 14
5.2 Discussion of Results. 14

Literature and websites. 15

Attachments. 16

The Origins Of The Name Of England CDH PWS

Page: 3
Abstract
The entirety of the article is summarised here. If a more guided experience is
needed, it is recommended to read this after the conclusion.
The most common use for naming countries is politics. Ruling over a big territory with
multiple names for the same territory is not good. Rulers would want it to be one big
country. Take for example France around the time of Napoleon. When the French
conquered new territory, they made the new territory also part of France.
Rulers replaced the original name of the conquered country by the name of the
conquering country. For example Belgium became a new part of France.
How do countries get their names? There is a study dedicated to finding out what the
origin of a country’s name is: Toponymy. The four most common ways of naming
countries are by tribe or kingdom, naming after people, naming geographical location
and lastly by giving nicknames.
A country is defined by a nation with its own government, occupying a particular
territory. The first country is Iran. This is a country which had slower development
than other countries. The first Empire is Egypt. This was further developed than Iran
at the same time but was not yet a country.

The Origins Of The Name Of England CDH PWS

Page: 4
1. Introduction
1.1 What is England?
England is one of the countries that is located on the island of Great Britain. This
island is part of the UK. The UK consists of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Great
Britain is made up of England, Scotland and Wales. Great Britain is a geological term
while the UK is a political term. The full name of the UK is: The United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Northern Ireland​[1.1]
In this paper, whenever a connection with England is made, it will be referring to this
definition of England: meaning a small part of the UK.

Fig. 2 diagram of the British logistics. [1.1]

​

1.2 Fun facts

The UK has a Queen, which is why it is a monarchy. The queen is Elizabeth Windsor
and she is the longest reigning monarch in the world. Apart from England, she is also
the Head of State of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Commonwealth.​[1.2]
All swans that live on the Thames, are the property of the queen. They are counted
every year by special people: Swan Uppers. This is one of the weirder remaining
laws that were once made but are now obsolete. Another one of these odd laws is
that one can not act suspicious with a salmon. One can not shake a rug in the streets
of London. If one must shake the rug, it must be done before 8 A.M.

The Origins Of The Name Of England CDH PWS

Page: 5
1.3 Reading guide
In the first chapter, information is given about the ways of naming countries. With
each method multiple examples of countries are given. These examples consist of
one country with a more obvious toponymy and one example that goes a little deeper
and is not that obvious.

The second chapter describes how researchers define the word “Country”. The
chapter will also state the first country and how it originated. Since many empires and
countries are quite similar, the difference between empires and countries is stated in
this chapter as well. Just as the first country is stated in this chapter, so will the first
empire be stated.

The third chapter contains information about some people who named countries.
Often these people were quite influential. In this chapter it is also stated that
countries are most often named by other people from outside the country.

The answer to the main question: “Why is England called England?” is stated in the
conclusion. The way to do that is by reconstructing every sub question. The word
“Country” in sub questions one and three is replaced by the word “England”. In sub
question 2, replacing the word “Country” with “England” does not work. In the
conclusion the question: “When was England named?” will be answered.

The Origins Of The Name Of England CDH PWS

Page: 6
2. Research
2.1 Hypotheses:
2.1.1 Sub question 1: How are countries named?
Without doing research I have found some ways in which people named countries,
for example: The Netherlands.
This country is located for more than 50% under sea level. This means it is very low.
Since “low” and “nether” have somewhat the same meaning. That is why my country
is called The Netherlands.
In that example I concluded that sometimes countries are named after their
Geological location. I also concluded that some countries are named after a tribe or
population. Germany is a good example of this. Germany is derived from the
“germans”. This was a group of people who populated germany.
I expect England falls under this category. Maybe England is derived from the
“angles”. The Angles were a group of people who inhabited England along with the
Saxons.

2.1.2 Sub question 2: What was the first country?

There could not have been countries before language existed, from the moment
there was language, there could have been words for places they often went to. For
example: “Cave”, “Hunting grounds” etc. I think the Romans or the Greek named the
first country because they were a big group of people at an early time. If not one of
those two, it could have been the Mayans. Because the Mayans were a very smart
group of people and had bigger cities at an earlier stage of civilisation, I presume
they named the first country. This could have been a country that does not exist
anymore.

2.1.3 Sub question 3: Who names countries?

In general I think the ruler decided on a name. If a new ruler got the title of king
because it was passed down to him, he would keep the name. If a king got the title
through battles, I think the king would give your country a new name. If the people
were not pleased by a new name, the old name was kept.
About england:
My presumption is that England was named because they needed to identify
themselves during political meetings. They were using difficult terms to include
everyone in “England”. Since that was unbearable, they named themselves England.
If not through politicians, then it could have been from ancient times. If the people
who lived there named themselves Angles already, why not name your country
England while you are at it.

The Origins Of The Name Of England CDH PWS

Page: 7
2.2: Sub questions
2.2.1: How are countries named?
There is a study dedicated to the origin of words: Etymology. A part of that
study is the origin of place names. That study is called toponymy, aiming to find the
origin of the names of countries. Often the names of countries are acknowledged
worldwide.​[2.1]
Sometimes there is a problem with the origin of a name. Due to mistakes in
translation with visitors and tourists, there are some misnamed countries or in some
cases: countries have more than one name. (i.e. Holland and The Netherlands or
America and The USA. Also, when countries gain independence, they sometimes get
a new name which other people don not accept or use.)
In ancient times, when villages were far apart, areas that were of importance
were given names. If cavemen went to a place for hunting, they had names for that.
As the villages grew, and more people settled, the term country was invented. There
was no use in naming uninhabited places because no one had any reason to go
there. That was until people discovered wheels and ships. They went exploring and
found islands, countries and whole new continents. When it came to name those,
there was not one way to do so. But when one looks further into it, one finds that
there are four common ways to name places.​[2.2]

The first and most used method of naming countries is by their tribe, ethnic
group or kingdom. Take Germany as an example. Germany was named Germany
because the germania tribe lived in that area around 100 BC. There was not yet a
way to refer to the place where the Germans lived except “east of the river” or “in the
direction of those mountains”. For that reason, the place where the Germans lived
got the name Germany. [2.3]​
The second way most countries were named is by humans, and specifically
men. Some are not that hard to decipher. Taking the Philippines as an example, it
becomes clear that the islands were named in honour of King Phillip III.​[2.4] ​But Israel,
the country in which jewish is the most practiced religion, is harder to originate. Israel
is another word for Jacob in hebrew. Jacob was believed to be one of the patriarchs
of the jewish people. The most obvious example one can think of would be Columbia.
This country had been named by Venezuelan revolutionary ​Francisco de Miranda
after its discoverer Christopher Columbus in 1798.​[2.5]
Another way of naming a country is by geographical location. This is a method
used less often but it is still one of the major four. Norway is a great example of
naming countries by geographical location. Norway means “northern way” and was
named this by the Anglo-Saxons. The reason for that is that no matter how far one
sailed north, one would always end up in Norway. Another example is Australia. Its
origin goes back to the ancient Greeks. The Greeks theorised there would be country
“somewhere south”. They called the piece of land: “Terra australis incognita”. The
word “terra” means land, the word “incognita” means unknown and the word

The Origins Of The Name Of England CDH PWS

Page: 8
“australis” means Southern. That is why the big piece of land on the south of the
world is called Australia.
The last way of naming countries is nicknames. These names were either
used to let people know where one was going or were a derivative of a story. Take
for example Cyprus. If one were to translate this name, it would result in: “Island of
copper”. This term was used in the 1400’s because there was a large amount of
copper in the island. Later, when people started to inhibit the island, it was more
commonly called Cyprus. Another great example is Singapore. Singapura means
“lion city” in sanskrit. The story goes that the adventurers who discovered the island
fought off a group of lions to get on shore. Since lions were never found anywhere
near the island or on the malasian mainland this story has been rejected. It was far
more likely that the adventurers saw a malasian tiger.

The answer to the first question is given in this paragraph.

Almost every country is named by naming it after a tribe, ethnic group or kingdom or
after men. If it is not named by one of those two methods, it is usually by nicknames
or geographical location. Obvious examples are everywhere and even the countries
with names that are not very clear, are easily decipherable. Despite this there are still
countries with names that still have to be deciphered.

Old countries often have names that are hard to decipher because the
language is lost over the years. But what is the first country?

The Origins Of The Name Of England CDH PWS

Page: 9
2.2.2: What was the first country?
In order to answer the question: What was the first country? we first have to
define what a country is. A country is a nation with its own government, occupying a
particular territory. The word “Empire” is also often used to describe countries. The
difference between a country and an Empire is that a country is a nation with its own
government and an Empire is a bigger group of states or countries ruled over by a
single government. Because countries and Empires are so alike, there is some
disagreement about what is the first country.
Due to the ever changing climate, the forming of the sahara desert forced
tribes that lived in Northeast-Africa closer to the nile. Trading became easier due to
the reduced distance and soon a monetary system emerged. Around 6000 BC the
tribes evolved from a hunter gatherer society to a grain grinding society. The tribes
also became a more centralised society. Soon after this the collective of tribes and
villages became the Empire of Egypt.
The oldest country, however, is Iran. This country is a derivative of the old
Persian Empire. Archeologists have found objects that were made by humans
300,000 years ago. By the ancient Greeks it was referred to as Persia, which means
land of the Persians. Since the most interaction the Greeks had with Iran was with
the Persians, the name persisted. Even after the Greek/Persian wars.
The oldest city is Luxor. This is a city in the Empire of Egypt and was its
capital during its thrive. This shows that Egypt was further along than Persia before
Egypt became a country. The importance of the city started as early as 2100 BC,
when the town grew into a thriving city. Montohotep II who united Egypt after the
troubles of the first period of war, brought stability to the lands as the city grew in
publicity. This shows that Egypt was further along than Persia before Egypt became
a country. The name Luxor can almost be directly translated to: “The three castles”.
This refers to the three temples which were built there at the time.

Who names places? Did visitors call Luxor “the three castles” because it was
easy? Or did the builders of those castles name it this way because the city would
get more publicity? Who names countries?

The Origins Of The Name Of England CDH PWS

Page: 10
2.2.3: Who names countries?
England became a United country in 937. Before that, England was not one
country. Instead it was a collection of smaller kingdoms. When the king lost land to
the north due to Danish invaders, the Danish formed their own country in the North
and the East. This is the reason that many villages in that area have danish names or
names with danish words. After many battles, King ​Alfred the Great​ of Wessex
became king of the whole of England, and the old kingdoms (America,
Northumberland​, etc.) just became provinces, called "Earldoms" governed by an
"​Earl​". Soon after Alfred died, the king of Denmark ruled England. This Danish king
(Part of the Angle tribe) conglomerated the smaller kingdoms into: Engla land. This
later became what is now known as England.
Other countries were named the same. Take Germany for example, it is found
that it was named 100 BC. Back then, in the Roman Empire, the words “Germanic”
and “Angla” were already used for the tribes that lived north of Rome. Since the
Germans did not yet have a name to refer to the places where they lived, other
people had to make up names for them. Tribes that occupied large pieces of land
never had the need to make a name for the place that they live. This was because
the people never had to refer to them all. This is because the cultural differences that
those people had within the villages was big enough to not identify with them. So
instead of naming the big part of land they occupied, they named the villages. In their
eyes all the villages were not one big country. Instead they were a lot of smaller
countries. When other people needed to refer to them all, other people needed a
name. When the Romans explored further north, they needed a name for the area
there. Julius Caesar named the place that the Germans occupied “Germany”. The
“Germans” had already named their country “Deutschland” already which means
“land of the people”.
There are also countries that were given a new name over time. Greenland
was named “Greenland” by the Icelander: Erik Thorvaldsson. It was said that he was
exiled from Iceland for murder and sent to another island. He set out to explore the
island northwest of Iceland. When he settled there, he named the place “Grœnland”.
This translates to “Greenland”. He did this because he thought that it would attract
more settlers. There were already people living on the island. These were the Inuit
tribe (What one would now call Eskimos). This tribe called the island: Kalaallit Nunaat
since 2000 BC. This means the Land of the Kalaallit.

The Origins Of The Name Of England CDH PWS

Page: 11
3. Results
To get the results. The sub questions need to be modified. The word “Country” Has
to be replaced by: “England”. Sub question 2 is an exception. The discussion about
the first country gives the results of when they were named. That is why the results
are when England was named.

3.1 How is England named?

England is named after a tribe. This tribe is called the “Angela” tribe. The Angela tribe
originated from the danish “Anglia Peninsula”.

3.2 When was England named?

England was named in 973. After England had a war with Denmark, the Danish
named the country Engla land. It was named after the danish place of origin: The
Anglia Peninsula.

3.3 Who named England?

England was named by King ​Alfred the Great​ of Wessex. After the Battle with the
Danes in 973, the Danish called the land Engla land. King Alfred named it officially
England

The Origins Of The Name Of England CDH PWS

Page: 12
4. Discussion

4.1 How is England named?

England derives from the Angla tribe. This tribe originally lived closer to Denmark.
They got the name Angla because the part of Denmark where they lived was called
the angeln peninsula. So England is a place named after a tribe, named after a place.

4.2 When was England named?

England was named in 937. This happened after a battle with Denmark. The Danes
won and named their newly acquired territory “Angla Land”. After King Alfred the
Great of Wessex drove them away, he named his newly acquired territory England.

4.3 Who named England?

England became a United country in 937. Before that, England was not one country.
Instead it was a collection of smaller kingdoms. When the king lost land to the north
due to Danish invaders, the Danish formed their own country in the North and the
East. This is the reason that many villages in that area have danish names or names
with danish words. After many battles, King ​Alfred the Great​ of Wessex became king
of the whole of England, and the old kingdoms (America, ​Northumberland​, etc.) just
became provinces, called "Earldoms" governed by an "​Earl​". Soon after Alfred died,
the king of Denmark ruled England. This Danish king (Part of the Angle tribe)
conglomerated the smaller kingdoms into: Engla land. This later became what is now
known as England.

The Origins Of The Name Of England CDH PWS

Page: 13
5. Conclusion.
5.1 Discussion of Hypothesis.

5.1.1: How are countries named?

I expected that some countries are named by geographical location. I also suspected that
some countries are named by their tribe. I suspected it right but could not think of more
options. However, when I started my research, most of the etymology was understandable. If
I would have looked up some names I would probably decipher them myself.

5.1.2: What was the first country?

I expected that either the Romans or Greek made the first country. I was wrong. I also
thought that it might have been the Mayans. That wasn’t right either. The first country is Iran.
I could not possibly have thought of this because I thought that the Middle-East was in a later
stage of civilization at the time of the Romans. After finding out that that wasn’t true, the
Middle-East became a valid option and the first country could have been there. That was the
right assumption. Because I made the hypothesis Before doing any research, I could not
have made that guess before.

5.1.3: Who named England?

I hypothesized that England was named because they needed a name. I was wrong. It
comes from a king than united different small kingdoms under one name. This name
originally came from the danes. I did not think of that because I am not well informed about
the wars with England. All I knew was that England fought a lot. I was right about rulers
naming countries. In the hypothesis i meant to say the rulers of the country they were
naming. I learned that that is not always true. More often than not rulers of other countries
named the country they were trading of fighting with.

5.2 Discussion of Results.

The conclusions made can be substantiated by the research done. I only did Literature
research because an experiment could not be done. I am content with the amount of
research and have yet to find such a collection of facts as I combined. The results I have
found are all available but not yet bound together. I also had quite the problem of finding the
right sub questions. I found it easiest to first find the answer in its raw form and then form sub
questions explaining where i got the rest of the data from.

The Origins Of The Name Of England CDH PWS

Page: 14
Literature and websites.
[1.1]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNu8XDBSn10&t=221s

[1.2]
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2019/04/02/weird-british-laws/
https://list25.com/25-weird-british-laws-you-wont-believe-actually-exist/

[2.2.1]
[2.1] The New Oxford Dictionary of English p.633
[2.2] https://qz.com/1070266/the-name-of-a-country-can-only-really-mean-one-of-four-things/
[2.3] Schulze, Hagen (1998). Germany: A New History. Harvard University Press. pp. 4
[2.4] Liddell, Henry George & al. "Φίλιππος"
[2.5] Carlos Restrepo Piedrahita (February 1992). "El nombre "Colombia", El único país que
lleva el nombre del Descubrimiento". Revista Credencial (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 February
2008.

[2.2.2]
https://www.thoughtco.com/oldest-country-in-the-world-1435395
https://www.quora.com/Which-was-the-first-country-in-the-world
Z., T. (1928). "Il-Belt (Valletta)" (PDF). Il-Malti (in Maltese) (2 ed.). Il-Ghaqda tal-Kittieba
tal-Malti. 2 (1): 35. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 April 2016.
Muḥammad Jamāl al-Dīn Mukhtār (1990). Ancient Civilizations of Africa. ISBN
9780852550922. Archived from the original on 31 January 2017. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
Ernest Meyer, Karl, Blair Brysac, Shareen, Tournament of Shadows: The Great Game and
the Race for Empire in Central Asia. Basic Books (2006), ISBN 978-0-465-04576-1.

[2.2.3]
The sources that were used could not be found back. I forgot to write them down while i was
using them.

The Origins Of The Name Of England CDH PWS

Page: 15
Attachments.
Datum(yyyy/ tijd in tijd in
logboek mm/dd) minuten uren Datgene wat ik heb gedaan
20190613 - oriënteren op keuze/ werken aan PWS van ander vak
20191030 900 15 voordat ik engels had.
20191030 300 5 opzetten hoofdvraag met deelvragen
20191105 60 1 aanpassen hoofdvraag op criteria
20191219 120 2 hypothesen opstellen deelvragen 1 en 3
20191124 180 3 uitwerken deelvraag 1
20191127 120 2 uitwerken deelvraag 1
20191219 270 4.5 uitwerken deelvraag 3
20191224 360 6 uitwerken deelvraag 3
20191230 120 2 opstellen hypothese deelvraag 2
kritisch doorgelezen met vader en veranderingen gemaakt
20191230 300 5 aan zinsopbouw en informatie
20200102 240 4 Deelvraag 2 beantwoordt
20200104 240 4 Deelvraag 2 beantwoordt
20200105 180 3 Opzet uiteindelijke bestand
Verbeteren Subvraag 1/2 en Draft maken van inhoud
20200106 120 2 mogelijke vierde subvraag.
20200107 120 2 Alle criteria voldoen
20200110 90 1.5 titel en opmaak.
20200112 180 3 layout.
20200118 120 2 Proofreading met vader
20200119 120 2 proofreading met vader
20200120 120 2 verbeteren geproofreadde deel.
20200121 180 3 afmaken conclusie en discussie
20200122 180 3 Afmaken en delen. Proofreading met AI
20200122 60 1 bronnen terugzoeken die ik niet had genoteerd.
20200126 120 2 bronnen terugzoeken die ik niet had genoteerd.
20200202 180 3 geproofreadde versie verbeteren.
0 0 0
0 0
totaal 4980 83
nog te
doen: -180 -3

The Origins Of The Name Of England CDH PWS

Page: 16