The English have been known by many names throughout
their history, some good and some bad. Found below is an account of how the
English became known as such, followed by some names the English are known by in
other parts of the world and then a list of regional names which the English
call one another.
HOW THE ENGLISH WERE NAMED
Back in the day when the English ran around in
loincloths and branded wooden clubs the Romans came to visit. The Romans found these
Island people an amiable bunch so much that they decided to stay on for a few
hundred years.
The Romans knew England then as Albion but they
changed it's name to Britannia and it's people's name to Britons after the
Roman Consul, Brutus of Troy, soon after their invasion in AD 55.
Since then the word British has come to mean anyone
from Great Britain, but it's origins at first pertained just to the English.
In AD 410, the last Roman left England but the
celebrating was short lived as quite soon after the Saxons came a calling.
Truth be told the English didn’t mind these Germanic
people as they had a very similar culture to theirs and lived in tribal
colonies much as the English did, and of course, best of all, they weren’t
Roman!
The two cultures worked together, conducted business
together and married one another, leading to the Saxon people naming these
island people Angles after their homeland of Angelin in Saxony in Germany,
which led to the combined cultures being known as Anglo - Saxon.
In 1066 the Normans came to stay after they’d killed
the English King and put their Norman King on the throne in his place.
This king was William the Conqueror and was the first
man to rule over the whole of England. He called his new country Angleterre (Land
of the Angles in French) and it's people the Anglais.
However not wishing to lose their identity or their
Germanic / Saxon roots, the Angles changed these new French sounding names to
the more Germanic sounding England for the country and English for it's people
and language.
The word Angle has gone on to become the stem word for
the name Anglia, which went on to be the new Latin word for England and the
word Anglo, which even to this day pertains to anything English, for it's
people, culture or language.
NAMES OTHER NATIONALITIES HAVE FOR THE ENGLISH
Since those early days several names have been
attributed to the English.
Times of war seemed to have conjured up a few
nicknames that have lasted the test of time, including the name Redcoats, a
name attributed to 17th century soldiers owing to their bright red jackets and
the more common names of Limey given to British sailors and Tommy given to WWI
soldiers.
The term Limey was first coined by people of the
Caribbean and goes back to the practise of giving sailors lime juice to stave
off scurvey, a condition caused through lack of vitamin C, which was rife on
long sea voyages.
The name Tommy was given to WWI British soldiers after
military sign up papers used the name Tommy Atkins as an example to help them
fill in their forms.
The name Pom means ‘Product of Mother England but
upon realising that there were just as many prisoners sent to the antipodean
colonies from Scotland, Ireland or Wales then went on to mean ‘Product of the
Motherland’ and was attributed to the Brits by the Australians and New
Zealanders during the time of the transportation of convicts to British penal
colonies there.
The names Sais or Sassenach is a name used by our
Celtic brothers in Scotland, Wales and Ireland and means Saxon, as that is the
name of the race from which the English are derived.
Names coined for the English by our European neighbours
are Rosbif by the French, which simply pertains to our love of roast beef, the name Inselaffen used in Germany, which means Island
Monkeys, which despite the reference to monkeys the term is not derogatory,
quite the reverse actually, as the term comes from the German's amazement at
how agile British builders are when climbing ladders and scaffolding on
building sites.
The Arabic people call the English Angrez, a word
which comes from the French Anglais and means white English people of Anglo
- Saxon origin.
In Thailand the English are known as Angrit another
word that stems from the French Anglais.
REGIONAL NAMES THE ENGLISH HAVE FOR THE ENGLISH
All over England the different towns, cities and
counties have their own regional names for their people, most of which are
quite elemental once you realise the root of the word.
Brummies - Is the name attributed to people of the
City of Birmingham. The name comes from the Old English name for the city,
Brummagen, which has led to the city being known as Brum and it's people as
Brummies.
Carrot Crunchers - Is the name attributed to the people
from the county of Norfolk due to it's large carrot producing history.
Clay Heads - Is the name for people from the city of
Stoke - on - Trent, so called owing to the city being the centre of the British
ceramics industry for the last three hundred years.
Cockneys - Is the colloquial term for people from the
East End of London, so named because some working class children asked an upper
class gentleman the question ' do cocks neigh' ? - Meaning do cockerels make
the same noise as a horse -
The upper classes then went on to use this term for
the working class population of London's East End. It was meant as a derogatory
term to humiliate the uneducated but today is worn as a badge of pride.
Donkey Lashers - Despite the harsh title this is
actually a fun name that is attributed to the people of Blackpool, a holiday
resort in the north west of England. The name stems from the Victorian practice
of riding donkies on the beach, a beloved past time still favoured on English
beaches to this day.
Geordie - is the name attributed to the people of
Tyneside in north east England. The word is a derivative of the man's name
George, as it was the most common name for boys in that area.
Londoners - Is the correct title for people from the
capital, remembering that Cockney is only attributed to people from the East
End.
Mancs - Is the name for someone from Manchester and is
just a shortened word for Manchester, although they are probably better known
as Mancunions today.
Manx Men - Is the name for someone from the Isle of
Man, which comes from the word Manx, the official name of the Isle of Man.
Monkey Hangers - Is a term attributed to the people of
Hartlepool in north east England. This term derives from a legend that says
during the Napoleonic wars of the 17th century a boat sailed into the town’;s
harbour and a monket disembarked.
The people of Hartlepool had never seen a Frenchman
before and thought that the monkey was a Frenchman so they promptly had him
arrested, tried and put to death by hanging as an enemy of the state.
Norfolk Dumplings - Another name for people from the
county of Norfolk which takes it roots from the area's local delicacy of stew
and dumplings.
Overers - Is the name used by people from the Isle of
Wight in reference to the English, so called
because England is over there.
Pots / Potters - is another name for the ceramic
making people of Stoke - on - Trent. A few decades ago they had also been known
as Potheads, but that term has been discouraged in recent years for obvious reasons.
Scousers - Is the name attributed to people primarily
from the City Liverpool and the Mersey side area in general and comes from the
Norwegian word lobskaus, which was the name of a stew that was made and sold at the quayside of Liverpool docks.
The stew became known as scouse and the people who
made it, sold it and ate it all became known as scousers.
Woollybacks - In recent years the name woollyback has
come to mean anyone that lives in a sheep rearing area, but the name's roots
actually come from Liverpool and is the name the city gave to anyone who lived
in Liverpool, but was not originally from Liverpool.
The name comes from the dockers who loaded woollen
bales onto ships which would leave a thin layer of wool on their backs. This
job was done by many who lived and worked in Liverpool docks but who did not
actually originate from Liverpool.
The official term today is generally only attributed
to people from the Wirral Peninsular, which is situated on the opposite bank of
the River Mersey from Liverpool.
Yam Yams - Is the name for people of the Black Country
in England's midlands, so called because of their coloquial saying for I Am,
which is yam.
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