Alternative names for Northern Ireland

Many people inside and outside Northern Ireland use other names for Northern Ireland, depending on their point of view.

Notwithstanding the ancient realm of Dál Riata which extended into Scotland, disagreement on names, and the reading of political symbolism into the use or non-use of a word, also attaches itself to some urban centres. The most famous example is whether Northern Ireland's second city should be called “Derry” or “Londonderry”.

Choice of language and nomenclature in Northern Ireland often reveals the cultural, ethnic and religious identity of the speaker. The first Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, Seamus Mallon, was criticised by unionist politicians for calling the region the “North of Ireland” while Sinn Féin has been criticised in some Irish newspapers for still referring to the “Six Counties”.

Those who do not belong to any group but lean towards one side often tend to use the language of that group. Supporters of unionism in the British media (notably the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Express) regularly call Northern Ireland “Ulster”. Some nationalist and republican-leaning media outlets in Ireland almost always use “North of Ireland” or the “Six Counties”.

Government and cultural organisations in Northern Ireland, particularly those pre-dating the 1980s, often use the word Ulster in their title; for example, the University of Ulster, the Ulster Museum, the Ulster Orchestra, and BBC Radio Ulster.

Although some news bulletins since the 1990s have opted to avoid all contentious terms and use the official name, Northern Ireland, the term “The North” remains commonly used by broadcast media in the Republic, to the annoyance of some Unionists. Bertie Ahern, the previous Taoiseach, now almost always refers to “Northern Ireland” in public, having previously only used “The North”. For Northern Ireland's second largest city, broadcasting outlets which are unaligned to either community and broadcast to both use both names interchangeably, often starting a report with “Londonderry” and then using “Derry” in the rest of the report. However, within Northern Ireland, print media which are aligned to either community (the News Letter is aligned to the unionist community while the Irish News is aligned to the nationalist community) generally use their community's preferred term. British newspapers with unionist leanings, such as the Daily Telegraph, usually use the language of the unionist community. However the more left-wing Guardian recommends in its style guide using “Derry” and “Co Derry”, and “not Londonderry”. The division in nomenclature is seen particularly in sports and religions associated with one of the communities. Gaelic games use “Derry”, for example. Nor is there clear agreement on how to decide on a name. When the nationalist-controlled local council voted to re-name the city “Derry” unionists objected, stating that as it owed its city status to a Royal Charter, only a charter issued by the Queen could change the name. The Queen has not intervened on the matter and thus the council is now called the Derry City Council while the city is still officially Londonderry. Nevertheless, the council has printed two sets of stationery - one for each term - and their policy is to reply to correspondence using whichever term the original sender used.

At times of high communal tension, each side regularly complains of the use of the nomenclature associated with the other community by a third party such as a media organisation, claiming such usage indicates evident “bias” against their community.

Unionist / Loyalist

• Ulster, strictly speaking, refers to the province of Ulster, of which six of nine historical counties are in Northern Ireland. The term Ulster is widely used by the Unionist community and the British press as shorthand for Northern Ireland. In the past, calls have been made for Northern Ireland's name to be changed to Ulster. This proposal was formally considered by the Government of Northern Ireland in 1937 and again in 1949 but no change was made.

• The Province refers literally to the historic Irish province of Ulster but today is used as shorthand for Northern Ireland. The BBC, in its editorial guidance for Reporting the United Kingdom, states that the Province is an appropriate secondary synonym for Northern Ireland, while Ulster is not. It also suggests that people of Northern Ireland should be preferred to British, and the term mainland should be avoided in reference to Great Britain in relation to Northern Ireland

Nationalist / Republican

• North of Ireland or North-East Ireland – to emphasize the link of Northern Ireland to the rest of the island, and so by implication playing down Northern Ireland's links with Great Britain.

• The Six Counties – language used by republicans e.g. Sinn Féin, which avoids using the name given by the British-enacted Government of Ireland Act 1920. (the Republic is similarly described as the Twenty-Six Counties.) Some of the users of these terms contend that using the official name of the region would imply acceptance of the legitimacy of the Government of Ireland Act.

• The Occupied Six Counties. The state of Ireland, whose legitimacy is not recognised by republicans opposed to the Belfast Agreement, is described as “The Free State”, referring to the Irish Free State, which gained independence (as a Dominion) in 1922.

• British-Occupied Ireland. Similar in tone to the Occupied Six Counties this term is used by more dogmatic anti-Good Friday Agreement republicans who still hold that the First Dáil was the last legitimate government of Ireland and that all governments since have been foreign imposed usurpations of Irish national self-determination.

• Fourth Green Field. From the song Four Green Fields by Tommy Makem which describes Ireland as divided with one of the four green fields (the traditional provinces of Ireland) being In strangers hands, referring to the partition of Ireland.

Other

• The North – used to describe Northern Ireland in the same way that «The South» is used to describe the Republic,
• Norn Iron (previously rendered Norn Irn ) – is an informal and affectionate local nickname used by both nationalists and unionists to refer to Northern Ireland, derived from the pronunciation of the words Northern Ireland in an exaggerated Ulster accent (particularly one from the Greater Belfast area). The phrase is seen as a light-hearted way to refer to the province, based as it is on regional pronunciation. Often refers to the Northern Ireland national football team.

NOTES AND MEANINGS

Sinn Féin – is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for ourselves or we ourselves.

Huguenots – were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries.

MLAs – Members of the Legislative Assembly in Northern Ireland.

Bertie Ahern (born 12 September 1951) is a former Irish politician who served as Taoiseach of Ireland from 26 June 1997 to 7 May 2008.

The Taoiseach – is the head of government or prime minister of Ireland.

Royal charter –is a formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent used to establish significant organizations such as cities (with municipal charters) or universities.

First Dáil – in 1919 candidates who had been elected in the Westminster elections of 1918 refused to recognise the Parliament of the United Kingdom and instead assembled as a unicameral, revolutionary parliament called First Dáil.

Lough Neagh, sometimes Loch Neagh –is a large freshwater lake in Northern Ireland.

Lough Erne – is the name of two connected lakes in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland.

Slieve Donard – is a 850 m mountain in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is part of the Mourne Mountains and the highest peak in Northern Ireland.

Armagh (named after its county town, Armagh) is one of six counties that form Northern Ireland, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland.

Tyrone – is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland.

Cavehill – is a basaltic hill overlooking the city of Belfast in Northern Ireland.

Giant’s Causeway – is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption.

Glens of Antrim – is a region of County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It comprises nine glens (valleys), that radiate from the Antrim Plateau to the coast. The Glens are an area of outstanding natural beauty.

arable land –in geography and agriculture, is land that can be used for growing crops. It includes all land under temporary crops (double-cropped areas are counted only once), temporary meadows for mowing or market and kitchen gardens and land temporarily fallow (less than five years).

Belfast Lough – is a large, natural intertidal sea lough at the mouth of the River Lagan on the east coast of Northern Ireland.

Material for farther reading:

1. Levy, Patricia. Culture Shock! Ireland: A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette. Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company, 2006.