Guidance

Toponymic guidelines for map and other editors, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Updated 14 May 2024

First edition: 2009. Most recent updates: 2024.

Prepared by the United Kingdom Permanent Committee on Geographical Names. First edition February 2009, updated May 2017, supplemented with further revisions as required. Most recent revision: May 2024.

1. Languages

1.1 General remarks

The English language is the only language relevant to the United Kingdom as a whole. In certain parts of the United Kingdom, other languages are locally relevant alongside English. These languages are Gaelic, Welsh, Cornish, Scots, and Irish – plus a number of more recently arrived languages such as South Asian languages^{[footnote 1]}.

2. The English language in the United Kingdom

2.1 General remarks

English is a Germanic language taxonomically located within the Indo-European family of languages. Its origins stem from the Anglo-Saxon colonisations of Britain, which took place following the final withdrawal of the Romans, accomplished by AD 410. These colonisations, cemented over much of Britain from the 5th century AD onwards, involved the following peoples:

• Angles, originating from the Schleswig and Flensburg area in northern Germany and settling in Northumbria (= much of England north of the river Humber), Mercia (= much of the English Midlands) and East Anglia
• Saxons, originating from Old Saxony (roughly the territory in northern Germany between the lower courses of the rivers Weser and Elbe), and settling in Wessex (= approximately present-day Somerset, Dorset and Wiltshire), Sussex and Essex
• Jutes, originating from Jutland (northern Schleswig in Germany and southern Jylland in Denmark), and settling in Kent and southern Hampshire

The Anglo-Saxon colonisations from the 5th century established the language that has come to be known as Old English. This was subsequently influenced by the Scandinavian invasions of the 8th-9th centuries, and then following the Norman invasions of the 11th century it was also heavily influenced by Norman French, developing into what has become known as Middle English (the language used by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century).

From the 15th and 16th centuries a grammatically simpler language began to emerge; this was the origin of today’s Modern English. The impact of Modern English was enhanced by the advent of the printing press; Johannes Gutenberg’s original mid-15th century German model was replicated in England by Thomas Caxton in (probably) 1476. The playwright William Shakespeare, writing just over 100 years later around the turn of the 17th century, wrote in this early variety of Modern English, and the Church of England’s Authorised King James Bible of 1611 was also published in this style.

Later, Samuel Johnson’s 1755 Dictionary of the English Language was a key factor in accelerating the process of orthographical standardization. The keystone of Modern English is its Germanic roots and its incorporation of Germanic, Greek and Latin vocabulary. The principal overall characteristics of Modern English are its flexibility and its capacity to adapt to changing circumstances.

Read more about the English language see the Wikipedia article entitled English language and also the English language guide.

2.2 Alphabet

The alphabet of the English language consists of 26 letters; 21 letters representing consonant sounds and 5 letters representing vowel sounds.

The five vowels in this inventory are: A a, E e, I i, O o, U u.

2.3 Spelling of English language geographical names

The orthography of the English language is standardized but can nonetheless be problematic. There are no fixed rules for the spelling of English language geographical names, except that individual words within a name will usually – but not always – begin with an upper-case letter. Spellings should be taken from the sources noted in Section 7 of this paper, particularly the sources in Sections 7.1 and 7.2.

2.4 Pronunciation of English language geographical names

The pronunciation of English language geographical names, and indeed of the English language in general, is not easy to indicate. The 26 letters of the alphabet are obliged to represent 44 different phonemes^{[footnote 2]}. Each name has its own pronunciation, and indeed there may be more than one acceptable pronunciation if local dialectal forms of English come into play. The spelling of a geographical name as found in the sources listed in Sections 7.1 and 7.2 of this paper may not be a wholly reliable guide as to its pronunciation.

3 The Gaelic language^{[footnote 3]}

3.1 General remarks

Gaelic (Gàidhlig) is a Celtic language taxonomically located within the Indo-European family of languages. It forms part of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic languages, along with Irish and Manx. Descended from Old Irish, Gaelic has probably been spoken in Scotland since Roman times. From an initially widespread geographical and social distribution in Scotland, Gaelic began to decline from the 13th-14th centuries, often the victim of the advance of Middle English into Scotland^{[footnote 4]}.

Regular conflicts with England, and the Highland Clearance programme of the 18th century, hastened the decline of the language. A rich oral Gaelic tradition survived, however, and the language did achieve some recognition when the Bible was first translated into Gaelic in 1767. At that juncture some 20% of the population of Scotland was recognised as being monolingual in Gaelic; that figure has steadily declined to zero.

Despite more recent attempts at reviving the language, the 2011 census showed that only about 1.1% of the population of Scotland (58,000 people) speak Gaelic well, (a decline of 0.1% of the population since the 2001 census) and fewer than 2% of the population had any familiarity with Gaelic at all^{[footnote 5]}.

The present geographical distribution of the language is weighted heavily towards western Scotland, with the greatest concentrations in the Outer Hebrides (Western Isles) and on the islands of Skye and Tiree. Attempts to halt the decline in the use of Gaelic have included granting the language official recognition through the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act of April 2005^{[footnote 6]} and establishing the statutory Bòrd na Gàilidh, designed to secure the status of the language^{[footnote 7]}. Gaelic is today also promoted in education, in the media, and by the deployment of bilingual road signage and railway station names^{[footnote 8]}.

In 2001 the United Kingdom ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in respect of Gaelic.

3.2 Alphabet

The alphabet of the Gaelic language consists of 18 letters; 13 letters representing consonant sounds and 5 letters representing vowel sounds:

A a
B b
C c
D d
E e
F f
G g
H h
I i
L l
M m
N n
O o
P p
R r
S s
T t
U u

The 5 vowel letters denote 10 vowel sounds, the grave accent being used to indicate vowel length: A a, À à, E e, È è, I i, Ì ì, O o, Ò ò, U u, Ù ù. The acute accent has in the past also occasionally been used on vowels but this is no longer used in modern spelling.

3.3 Spelling of Gaelic language geographical names

For the rules concerning the spelling of Gaelic language geographical names, please consult the Ordnance Survey’s Gaelic origins of place names in Britain.

3.4 Pronunciation of Gaelic language geographical names

For the rules concerning the pronunciation of Gaelic language geographical names, please see Ordnance Survey’s Gaelic origins of place names in Britain.

Also of interest in this regard is the Wikipedia article Scottish Gaelic phonology.

4 The Welsh language

4.1 General remarks

Welsh (Cymraeg) is a Celtic language taxonomically located within the Indo-European family of languages. It forms part of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages, along with Breton and Cornish^{[footnote 9]}. It originated as Old Welsh in the 6th century AD, developed into Middle Welsh in the 12th century, and later gradually evolved into Modern Welsh – particularly with the publication in 1588 of William Morgan’s Welsh language Bible.

The arrival of English workers during the Industrial Revolution, coupled with the inferior legal status of the Welsh language vis-à-vis English, caused a drop in the number of people speaking Welsh as their first language, a decrease which lasted through much of the 19th and 20th centuries. But during the 20th century conscious efforts were made to revive Welsh, and in 1993 the Welsh Language Act established the principle that in the conduct of public business and the administration of justice in Wales the English and Welsh languages should be treated on a basis of equality.

The Act also established the Welsh Language Board (Bwrdd yr Iaith Gymraeg), a body with statutory powers to promote and facilitate the use of the Welsh language. The Board was abolished in 2012 as a result of the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011, which established the Welsh Language Commissioner and gave official status to the Welsh Language in Wales^{[footnote 10]}.

Most public organisations in Wales must comply with Welsh language duties created by the Welsh Language Measure^{[footnote 11]}. These will include duties to display bilingual signage, including road signs showing Welsh or bilingual placenames. The number of Welsh speakers has since stabilised, helped by the fact that since 2000 the teaching of Welsh has been compulsory in schooling up to the age of 16 and the growth of Welsh medium education.

In 2017, the Welsh Government launched a long-term strategy to increase the number of Welsh speakers to a million by 2050. ^{[footnote 12]} The geographical distribution of Welsh is concentrated in the rural west of the country, especially in Anglesey, Gwynedd, Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire. In 2001 the United Kingdom ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in respect of Welsh.

Recognising the importance of historic place names to the history and culture of Wales, the Welsh Government included a provision for a statutory list of historic place names in the Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2016. The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales compile and maintain the list on behalf of the Welsh Ministers.

4.2 Alphabet

The alphabet of the Welsh language consists of 28 letters; 21 letters representing consonant sounds and 7 letters representing vowel sounds. Eight of the letters representing consonant sounds are digraphs.

A a
B b
C c
CH ch
D d
DD dd
E e
F f
FF ff
G g
NG ng
H h
I i
L l
LL ll
M m
N n
O o
P p
PH ph
R r
RH rh
S s
T t
TH th
U u
W w
Y y

The seven vowels in this inventory are: A a, E e, I i, O o, U u W w, Y y. A full inventory of diacritical marks used to indicate vowel length and stress is shown in the Technology, Websites and Software: Welsh Language Considerations document, (Sections 10.2 – 10.3), available here: Welsh Language Commissioner: Guidance.

4.3 Spelling of Welsh language geographical names

The Welsh Language Commissioner has a responsibility to advise on the standard forms of Welsh place names^{[footnote 13]} and maintains a List of Standardised Welsh Place-names^{[footnote 14]}, which can be downloaded under an Open Government License. Despite concentrating on settlement names, the Commissioner also advises public bodies, such as National Park Authorities, on the standard forms of geographical names. In order to execute this responsibility, the Commissioner has convened a panel of experts, the Place-names Standardisation Panel, and adheres to the principles outlined in the Guidelines for Standardising Place-names in Wales.

The Commissioner also offers expert advice on other names which are important for public administration and advises Welsh Government and the Boundary Commission on the names of electoral wards etc.

For the rules concerning the spelling of Welsh language geographical names, a very useful e-book entitled The Welsh origins of place names in Britain can be found on the Ordnance Survey’s Welsh origins of place names in Britain.

4.4 Pronunciation of Welsh language geographical names

For the rules concerning the pronunciation of Welsh language geographical names, please consult the very useful e-book Welsh origins of place names in Britain.

Also of interest in this regard is the Wikipedia article Welsh phonology.

5 Other Languages

5.1 General remarks

Apart from English, Gaelic and Welsh, three other languages are also very well established in the United Kingdom and are currently recognised as living languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages:

Cornish (Cornwall)

This Celtic language (self-designation = Kernewek or Kernowek) has been resuscitated in recent decades and there are now perhaps 3000 people with rudimentary language skills at least, some 2000 of whom can use Cornish effectively for everyday purposes. In May 2008, a standard orthography for Cornish, called the Standard Written Form (SWF), was approved by the Cornish Language Partnership^{[footnote 15]}. Cornish gained recognition as a living language under the European Charter in 2002.

Scots

Found in Scotland, where it is sometimes termed Lowland Scots; also found in Northern Ireland, where it is termed Ulster Scots. This is a Germanic language, not to be confused with the Celtic language known as Gaelic. The number of speakers of Scots is very difficult to determine; a combined total of 100,000 in Scotland and Northern Ireland may be a reasonable estimate. Scots gained recognition as a living language under the European Charter in 2001^{[footnote 16]}.

Irish or Irish Gaelic

Found in Northern Ireland (self-designation = Gaeilge). This forms part of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic language and is closely related to Scottish Gaelic (see Section 3). It is the first official language of neighbouring Ireland, and according to the 2011 United Kingdom census it is also relevant to almost 185,000 people in Northern Ireland (= 10.65% of the province’s population, an increase of 0.25% since the 2001 census), of whom 105,000 have some level of fluency. Since 1998 Irish has been promoted in education in Northern Ireland and it is an officially recognised minority language in the province. In 2001 Irish gained recognition in Northern Ireland as a living language under the European Charter^{[footnote 17]}.

British Sign Language (BSL)

BSL was recognised as an official minority language in 2003, and has an estimated 150,000 users.

Languages relating to more recent immigration into the United Kingdom, especially from the South Asian sub-continent during the past 75 years, are also significant in some (particularly urban) communities. As an indicator, six such languages were spoken as a first language by more than 0.5% of the total number of school pupils in England in January 2012^{[footnote 18]}.

It is of note that the speaker numbers of each of these languages except Gujarati has increased, sometimes significantly (more than doubling in the case of Polish), since a report of 2008:

Language	%	pupil total
Punjabi	1.7	116,350
Urdu	1.6	109,215
Bengali	1.3	87,945
Polish	0.8	53,915
Somali	0.6	42,215
Gujarati	0.6	40,490
Arabic	0.6	39,135

6 Geographical Names: Standardization and Portrayal

6.1 General remarks

There is no national names authority in the United Kingdom. Instead, the geographical names as portrayed on hard-copy and digital products of the national mapping agencies: the Ordnance Survey (for Great Britain) and the Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland (for Northern Ireland) are recognised as being the authoritative geographical names of the United Kingdom.

Toponymic information is collected and updated by the Ordnance Survey as an integral element of its map product revision, and is achieved in consultation with local authorities, reliable organisations and expert individuals. Common local usage, preservation of historical form, and the current relevant language for the name are all factors taken into account.

As noted in Sections 3 and 4, particular emphasis is placed on standardizing Welsh names in Wales and Gaelic names in the Gaelic-speaking areas of north-west Scotland, since Welsh and Gaelic are official languages in those respective areas. Note that the English language does not have official status anywhere in the United Kingdom, though it is certainly a national language throughout the United Kingdom and can also be regarded as a de facto official language throughout.

6.2 Geographical names in Scotland

The Ordnance Survey operates a Gaelic Names Policy, latest edition 2015, setting out how Gaelic names and bilingual English/Gaelic names should be shown on Ordnance Survey’s Gaelic names for links to the English and Gaelic language versions of this policy.

The Ordnance Survey uses recognised authoritative advice and established conventions to determine the correct depiction of Gaelic place names, working principally with the Gaelic Names Liaison Committee (GNLC) and the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA).

The Gaelic Names Liaison Committee (GNLC) was established in 2001, bringing together bodies with an interest in the Gaelic orthography of place names in Scotland. With members drawn from a range of backgrounds and different institutions, the GNLC advised and assisted the Ordnance Survey with the implementation of its Gaelic Names Policy and it established a set of Orthographic Principles designed to ensure a consistency of policy application.

At the end of 2006, the GNLC was replaced by a successor partnership known as the Ainmean-Àite na h-Alba – Gaelic Place Names of Scotland (AÀA-GPNS). This partnership brings together bodies with an interest in the Gaelic orthography of place names in Scotland, including local authorities, the Ordnance Survey, academics, and the Scottish Place Name Society, as well as other bodies with an interest in Gaelic development. The AÀA-GPNS has adopted the 2006 Orthographic Principles developed by the GNLC, and has additionally adopted other GNLC policy documents including Gaelic Street Names – a Standardised Approach (June 2006) ^{[footnote 19]}.

The Scottish Qualifications Authority originally established a set of Gaelic Orthographic Conventions in 1981, designed to assist in the teaching of Gaelic in schools. These conventions were most recently revised in 2009^{[footnote 20]}. In particular, one major revision has involved the use of diacritical signs; whereas both grave and acute accents had been used until 2005, since that date the acute accent has no longer featured in Gaelic language place names on Ordnance Survey products.

The GNLC Orthographic Principles and SQA Orthographic Conventions result in greater clarity and consistency in the orthography of Gaelic place names. In particular, they assisted in one of the principal projects of the AÀA-GPNS partnership; the production of a National Gazetteer of Gaelic Place Names. This gazetteer includes over 1,000 entries at present, with links to digital maps and sound files to aid pronunciation.

The Scottish Parliament’s Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act of 2005 came into force in February 2006^{[footnote 21]} and a consultation draft for the second iteration of the Scottish Parliament’s National Plan for Gaelic. The National Plan recognises the important role that the depiction of place names has in ensuring the relevance and consistency of the Gaelic language, and supports the production of a National Gazetteer of Gaelic Place Names. The AÀA-GPNS sees itself as being the correct body to take this work forward, and Ordnance Survey is happy to support it in this role.

With regard to the Scots language, you can read a very useful paper The Scots origins of place names in Britain published by the Ordnance Survey.

6.3 Geographical names in Wales

The Ordnance Survey Welsh Language Policy, most recently updated in February 2024, describes Ordnance Survey policy for the use of Welsh language place names on Ordnance Survey products. This Ordnance Survey policy was originally developed in close association with the work of the Welsh Language Board. This Board was disbanded in 2012 and its work has since been overseen by the Welsh Language Commissioner whose main task is to promote and facilitate the use of the Welsh Language.

The Commissioner has responsibility for providing expert advice on the standard forms of Welsh language place names using both historical evidence and the linguistic knowledge of the Guidelines for Standardizing Place names in Wales^{[footnote 22]}. The Commissioner has also convened a Panel of experts.

The main principles of Ordnance Survey policy are to support the Welsh Language Act 1993 and the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011, both of which have the aim of promoting and facilitating the use of the Welsh language throughout Wales and to endeavour to achieve consistency in the depiction of names within each mapping series and across Ordnance Survey products.

6.4 Geographical names in Northern Ireland

Standardized geographical names in Northern Ireland are found in the products of the Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland (OSNI), which was subsumed into Land & Property Services an executive agency within the Department of Finance for Northern Ireland in 2008 (see also Section 7.2).

7 Source Materials

7.1 Ordnance Survey

The Ordnance Survey is the official mapping organisation of Great Britain and its products carry standardized geographical names. From the toponymic point of view the most relevant Ordnance Survey products are:

• OS Open Names, launched in March 2015, to combine the best elements of the 1:50,000 Scale Gazetteer, OS Locator and Code-Point Open, which have now been withdrawn. OS Open Names provides place names, road names and numbers in one comprehensive, searchable list of more than 2.5 million locations in Great Britain

• OS Explorer Map series at 1:25,000 scale

• OS Landranger Map series at 1:50,000 scale

• Geographical area names and other named features are available through the OS Open Names API

For a comprehensive listing of paper map products see the OS website.

7.2 Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland

The Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland, administered within Land and Property Services, is responsible for mapping in Northern Ireland and its products carry standardized geographical names. Relevant OSNI paper mapping products include the 1:25,000-scale Activity map series, and the 1:50,000-scale Discoverer map series. For a more comprehensive listing of products see their product range.

In 1988, OSNI made a map called Éire Thuaidh (Ireland North) with place names in English and Gaelic (Irish) at 1:250,000 scale, which shows Northern Ireland and border counties in the Republic of Ireland. This is now available through the Open Government Licence (OGL). This map was created as a one-off product and has not been updated.

There are also 4 OSNI gazetteers: the Place Names gazetteer, Street Names gazetteer, and two licensed products: 1:50,000 gazetteer and 1:250,000 gazetteer.

7.3 Other major recent source materials

Dictionary of the Place-Names of Wales

Hywel Wyn Owen & Richard Morgan; Gomer Press, 2007; reprinted with minor corrections 2008; 590pp: ISBN 9781843239017. This very significant publication contains around 2000 entries.

Scotland: An Encyclopedia of Places & Landscape

David Munro & Bruce Gittings; Royal Scottish Geographical Society & HarperCollins, 2006; 520pp plus maps and map index: ISBN 9780004724669: see also Gazetteer for Scotland. Comprising over 8000 entries, this important publication is the first comprehensive guide to the toponymy of Scotland for over a century.

The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names

V Watts (ed); Cambridge University Press, 2004; 778pp; ISBN 9780521362092. This publication contains in the order of 20,000 entries.

Oxford Dictionary of British Place Names

A D Mills; Oxford University Press, 2003; 560pp plus maps; ISBN 9780198527589. This publication contains some 15,000 entries.

Gazetteer of British Place-Names

Available online at Gazetteer by the Association of British Counties. This index contains over 280,000 entries.

A Key to English Place-Names

Shows the work of the English Place-Name Society by the Institute for Name-Studies.

Scottish Place-Name Society/Comann Ainmean-Àite na h-Alba

Available online at Scottish Place-Name Society.

FINTAN - a crowdsourcing project

FINTAN is coordinated by Ordnance Survey and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency to collect vernacular place names to assist rescue services

8 Glossary of appellatives, adjectives and other words relevant to geographical names

8.1 Gaelic glossary

A full glossary of Gaelic appellatives, adjectives and other words relevant to geographical names is too lengthy for inclusion in this document. Instead such a glossary can be found on the website of the Ordnance Survey within the document available at The Gaelic origins of place names in Britain.

8.2 Welsh glossary

A full glossary of Welsh appellatives, adjectives and other words relevant to geographical names is too lengthy for inclusion in this document. Instead, such a glossary can be found on the website of the Ordnance Survey within the document available at The Welsh origins of place names in Britain.

8.3 Scots glossary

A full glossary of Scots appellatives, adjectives and other words relevant to geographical names is too lengthy for inclusion in this document. Instead such a glossary can be found on the website of the Ordnance Survey within the document available at The Scots origins of place names in Britain.

9 Abbreviations encountered in official mapping

A full set of abbreviations encountered in official mapping of Great Britain is too lengthy for inclusion in this document. Instead such a set can be found on the website of the Ordnance Survey abbreviations page.

10 Geopolitical Terminology

10.1 Timeline

• By about the 11th century AD England and Scotland had each become a kingdom, each with a geographical extent recognisable today.
• In the period 1535 to 1542 Wales was annexed to the Kingdom of England, and the English monarch also became the ruler of Ireland.
• In 1603 King James VI of Scotland, of the House of Stuart, inherited the English crown and thereby became King James I of England, giving the two kingdoms a single monarch.
• In 1707 an Act of Union signalled a deeper unification of the two kingdoms. The single kingdom was called the Kingdom of Great Britain. It was noted in the Act as a “united kingdom” (though the word “united” was not part of the official term) and its people were called “British”.
• In 1801, by a new Act of Union, Ireland was joined to the union to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
• In 1922 the Irish Free State (later to become Ireland) was formed by 26 of the 32 counties of Ireland; as a result the 1801 union title was no longer applicable and since 1927 the union has been termed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

10.2 Definitions

10.2.1 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (usually shortened to United Kingdom)

The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy consisting of 4 constituent parts:

• 3 countries: England, Scotland and Wales^{[footnote 23]}

• 1 province: Northern Ireland

The abbreviation is UK or U.K.; the code (according to the ISO 3166 standard of the International Organization for Standardization) is GB/GBR. Since 1998, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have possessed a substantial measure of devolved government, by means of a parliament in Scotland, an assembly in Northern Ireland^{[footnote 24]}, and a Senedd in Wales. Note that the term “Ulster” is not a synonym for Northern Ireland; Ulster is one of four historic provinces of Ireland and has an extent broader than Northern Ireland alone.

10.2.2 Great Britain

Great Britain consists of England, Scotland and Wales. The term is exclusive of Northern Ireland and is therefore not a synonym for the term United Kingdom. Note that the word “Great” is not in any way intended as an indicator of self-styled “greatness”. The word originally acted as a designator in Ancient Greek to distinguish (larger) Britain from (smaller) Ireland, then in mediaeval times it acted similarly in French to distinguish (larger) Britain from (smaller) Brittany.

10.2.3 British

This is the adjectival form of Britain, but the word is also frequently employed as the adjectival form of United Kingdom; thus “British government” is used at least as frequently as “United Kingdom government”, and “British citizen” is actually the correct official term for a citizen of the United Kingdom. As an adjective, therefore, the term British is frequently inclusive of Northern Ireland; it is only the one specific nominal term “Great Britain”, which invariably excludes Northern Ireland.

The term British has been used with something akin to its current meaning since the Act of Union in 1707^{[footnote 25]}, though the origins of the word date back much earlier. A Celtic word Pritani or Priteni may have denoted the inhabitants as far back as the 6th or 7th century BC, and this word may itself have been based on the 10th century BC Phoenician word Baratanic (= “islands of tin”). The form Britannic, presumably derived from Baratanic, may have been first used by the Greek philosopher Aristotle in 340 BC.

10.2.4 Crown Dependencies

There are 3 Crown Dependencies:

Guernsey

• full form = Bailiwick of Guernsey (administratively including the islands Alderney, Brecqhou, Burhou, Herm, Jethou, Lihou, Little Sark and Sark, in addition to Guernsey)
• total population = approximately 62,000

Jersey

• full form = Bailiwick of Jersey
• total population = approximately 90,000

Isle of Man

• no full form
• total population = approximately 80,000

The legal/political status of these 3 entities dates from the early mediaeval era. They are direct fiefdoms of the Crown, with His Majesty The King as Head of State, but they are not part of Great Britain or the United Kingdom. Guernsey (with its associated islands) and Jersey together make up the Channel Islands, but this term relates to a geographical feature (the island grouping) and not to any legal/political entity.

11 Population and Area

11.1 England; Scotland; Wales; Northern Ireland

The estimated total population of the United Kingdom as of 2022^{[footnote 26]} was approximately 67,596,000, inhabiting an area of roughly 95,000 square miles (244,000 square kilometres). These figures break down roughly as follows:

England

• 57,106,000 inhabitants (84.4% of total UK population)
• 51,000 sq ml / 130,000 sq km (53.7% of total UK area)

Scotland

• 5,448,000 inhabitants (8.1% of total UK population)
• 31,000 sq ml / 79,000 sq km (32.6% of total UK area)

Wales

• 3,132,000 inhabitants (4.6% of total UK population)
• 8,000 sq ml / 21,000 sq km (8.4% of total UK area)

Northern Ireland

• 1,911,000 inhabitants (2.8% of total UK population)
• 5,000 sq ml / 14,000 sq km (5.3% of total UK area)

11.2 Cities and Towns

The following list shows the populations of all cities and towns with 200,000 inhabitants or more (anything above this figure is classed as a major built-up area by the Office for National Statistics in the 2021 census). The figures are taken from the 2021 (2022 in Scotland) census.

City/Town	Population
1. London	8,799,800
2. Birmingham	1,121,375
3. Glasgow	622,820
4. Leeds	536,280
5. Liverpool	506,565
6. Sheffield	500,535
7. Edinburgh	514,990
8. Manchester	470,405
9. Bristol	425,215
10. Leicester	406,580
11. Cardiff	348,535
12. Belfast	345,418
13. Coventry	344,285
14. Bradford	333,950
15. Nottingham	299,790
16. Newcastle upon Tyne	286,445
17. Brighton and Hove	277,105
18. Derby	275,575
19. Kingston upon Hull	270,810
20. Plymouth	266,955
21. Stoke-on-Trent	260,560
22. Southampton	249,620
23. Northampton	243,520
24. Wolverhampton	234,025
25. Luton	233,525
26. Portsmouth	223,305
27. Reading	203,795
28. Norwich	200,770

12 Administrative Divisions

12.1 General Information

The United Kingdom consists of four constituent parts: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Three of these entities – Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – have since 1998 possessed devolved administrative structures^{[footnote 27]}. The degree and level of devolution varies from one entity to another; a deliberate policy designed to reflect the distinctiveness and diversity of these three entities. Note that the process of devolution omits England entirely. There is consequently no common stratum of administrative unit encompassing the United Kingdom at this very high level, and England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should not be considered first-order administrative divisions in the conventional sense.

For a commonality of approach to the administrative structure across the United Kingdom, it is necessary to look below the level of the four major entities, and to consider instead the level of the local authorities. These divisions occur in several nomenclatural guises, but they nevertheless possess a commonality of function. It is this level which makes up the first-order level of administrative division across the United Kingdom. From the administrative point of view, “Alnwick, Northumberland” is far more useful and meaningful than “Alnwick, England”.

There are 218 first-order local authority units in the United Kingdom; they can be summarised as:

• England: 132 unitary authorities (which are single-tier authorities, not further sub-divided) + 21 two-tier authorities (usually termed Counties, and sub-divided into Districts)
• Scotland: 32 unitary (single-tier) authorities, termed Council Areas
• Wales: 22 unitary (single-tier) authorities, termed either County or County Borough
• Northern Ireland: 11 districts: as of 2016 this is a new structure replacing the previous 26 unitary authorities (which were also usually termed districts)

It will be seen that only England has a dual system, with both unitary and two-tier structures. The reason for this approach is that some areas which are small territorially nevertheless include populations of a size sufficiently large to merit their own first-order administration. Examples of this are Manchester and Southampton. But to extract Norwich, for example, from the large but lightly populated county of Norfolk would render that county unviable, so Norwich remains within and at the heart of a two-tier division.

In the following list of 218 administrative divisions, note that the apparent inconsistency of style across the units^{[footnote 28]} does not reflect any editorial error. These “discrepancies” arise because each local authority has the power to choose its own preferred title for itself, and the following list simply reflects that individual choice. There is no coordinating authority at the national level to iron out such “discrepancies”. Note too that administrative units containing the word “City” in their title may be larger in territorial extent than the actual populated places of the same name. In some cases it is not possible to determine a single ‘generic’ term to describe the administrative entity.

It is not consistently possible to name a single administrative centre for the units since the various agencies of authority (for example health, education, etc.) of a given unit may be located in separate towns.

Boundary data for the administrative divisions can be seen on the website of the Ordnance Survey^{[footnote 29]}. There are other available options too. On occasion the spellings of administrative divisions in Ordnance Survey sources may differ slightly from the spellings in sources from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). ONS sources provide official administrative names and are used for the spellings in the following lists.

Ordnance Survey has also produced a map of ceremonial counties^{[footnote 30]}. Though these are not administrative, the ceremonial counties are a useful reference: these are the areas to which a Lord Lieutenant is appointed, and, given the complexity of the administrative structure, it is these geographical areas that are commonly used for simple reference.

12.2 England

There are 132 unitary authorities (which are single-tier authorities, not further sub-divided) + 21 two-tier authorities (usually termed counties, and sub-divided into districts^{[footnote 31]}). There was some structural change to local government in 2009, whereby 5 ‘shire’ two-tier counties became unitary authorities (i.e. the district councils within them were subsumed into the county councils)^{[footnote 32]}. Additionally, two further counties were each divided into two unitary authorities^{[footnote 33]}. On 1st April 2019 a new unitary authority, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, came into being, replacing the two unitary authorities of Bournemouth and Poole, while Dorset two-tier authority became a unitary authority; in 2020, Buckinghamshire two-tier authority became a unitary authority.

In April 2021, Northamptonshire two-tier authority became North Northamptonshire unitary authority and West Northamptonshire unitary authority. In April 2023, Somerset and North Yorkshire two-tier authorities became unitary authorities and Cumbria two-tier authority was replaced with Cumberland, and Westmorland and Furness unitary authorities. Consequently, there are now 132 unitary authorities: the City of London Corporation, 32 London Boroughs, the Council of the Isles of Scilly, 36 metropolitan districts and 62 other unitary authorities; and there are 21 two-tier authorities.

Greater London and the six former metropolitan counties (Greater Manchester, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear, West Midlands, West Yorkshire) no longer exist as administrative divisions; they have been split as follows:

Greater London → 32 London Boroughs + 1 City Corporation

6 Metropolitan Counties → 36 Metropolitan Districts

However, the titles of Greater London and the former metropolitan counties are still seen in some contexts, as are the names of the former counties of Middlesex (abolished in 1965) and Berkshire (abolished in 1998), which are still used in postal addresses.

Abbreviations:

CC: the definition of this unit is a City Corporation
LB: the definition of this unit is a London Borough
MD: the definition of this unit is a Metropolitan District
TT: the definition of this unit is a County (two-tier structure)
UA: the definition of this unit is a Unitary Authority

Barking and Dagenham, London Borough of (LB)

Barnet, London Borough of (LB)

Barnsley, Borough of (MD)

Bath and North East Somerset, District of (UA)

Bedford, Borough of (UA)

Bexley, London Borough of (LB)

Birmingham, City and Borough of (MD)

Blackburn with Darwen, Borough of (UA)

Blackpool, Borough of (UA)

Bolton, Borough of (MD)

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (UA)^{[footnote 34]}

Bracknell Forest, Borough of (UA)

Bradford, City and Borough of (MD)

Brent, London Borough of (LB)

Brighton and Hove, City of (UA)

Bristol, City of (UA)^{[footnote 35]}

Bromley, London Borough of (LB)

Buckinghamshire (UA)^{[footnote 36]}

Bury, Borough of (MD)

Calderdale, Borough of (MD)

Cambridgeshire, County of (TT)

Camden, London Borough of (LB)

Central Bedfordshire, District of (UA)

Cheshire East, Borough of (UA)

Cheshire West and Chester, Borough of (UA)

Cornwall, County of (UA)^{[footnote 37]}

Coventry, City and Borough of (MD)

Croydon, London Borough of (LB)

Cumberland (UA)^{[footnote 38]}

Darlington, Borough of (UA)

Derby, City of (UA)

Derbyshire, County of (TT)

Devon, County of (TT)

Doncaster, Borough of (MD)

Dorset, County of (UA)^{[footnote 39]}

Dudley, Borough of (MD)

Durham, County (UA)^{[footnote 40]}

Ealing, London Borough of (LB)

East Riding of Yorkshire, District of (UA)

East Sussex, County of (TT)

Enfield, London Borough of (LB)

Essex, County of (TT)

Gateshead, Borough of (MD)

Gloucestershire, County of (TT)

Greenwich, London Borough of (LB)

Hackney, London Borough of (LB)

Halton, Borough of (UA)

Hammersmith and Fulham, London Borough of (LB)

Hampshire, County of (TT)

Haringey, London Borough of (LB)

Harrow, London Borough of (LB)

Hartlepool, Borough of (UA)

Havering, London Borough of (LB)

Herefordshire (UA)^{[footnote 41]}

Hertfordshire, County of (TT)

Hillingdon, London Borough of (LB)

Hounslow, London Borough of (LB)

Isle of Wight, County of (UA)^{[footnote 42]}

Isles of Scilly, Council of the (UA)^{[footnote 43]}

Islington, London Borough of (LB)

Kensington and Chelsea, Royal London Borough of (LB)

Kent, County of (TT)

Kingston upon Hull, City of (UA)^{[footnote 44]}

Kingston upon Thames, Royal London Borough of (LB)

Kirklees, Borough of (MD)

Knowsley, Borough of (MD)

Lambeth, London Borough of (LB)

Lancashire, County of (TT)

Leeds, City and Borough of (MD)

Leicester, City of (UA)

Leicestershire, County of (TT)

Lewisham, London Borough of (LB)

Lincolnshire, County of (TT)

Liverpool, City and Borough of (MD)

London, City of (CC)^{[footnote 45]}

Luton, Borough of (UA)

Manchester, City and Borough of (MD)

Medway, Borough of (UA)^{[footnote 46]}

Merton, London Borough of (LB)

Middlesbrough, Borough of (UA)

Milton Keynes, Borough of (UA)

Newcastle upon Tyne, City and Borough of (MD)

Newham, London Borough of (LB)

Norfolk, County of (TT)

North East Lincolnshire, District of (UA)

North Lincolnshire, District of (UA)

North Northamptonshire (TT)^{[footnote 47]}

North Somerset, District of (UA)

North Tyneside, Borough of (MD)

Northumberland, County of (UA)^{[footnote 48]}

North Yorkshire (UA)^{[footnote 49]}

Nottingham, City of (UA)

Nottinghamshire, County of (TT)

Oldham, Borough of (MD)

Oxfordshire, County of (TT)

Peterborough, City of (UA)

Plymouth, City of (UA)

Portsmouth, City of (UA)

Reading, Borough of (UA)

Redbridge, London Borough of (LB)

Redcar and Cleveland, Borough of (UA)

Richmond upon Thames, London Borough of (LB)

Rochdale, Borough of (MD)

Rotherham, Borough of (MD)

Rutland, District of (UA)

Salford, City and Borough of (MD)

Sandwell, Borough of (MD)

Sefton, Borough of (MD)

Sheffield, City and Borough of (MD)

Shropshire, County of (UA)^{[footnote 50]}

Slough, Borough of (UA)

Solihull, Borough of (MD)

Somerset (UA)^{[footnote 51]}

Southampton, City of (UA)

Southend-on-Sea, Borough of (UA)

South Gloucestershire, District of (UA)

South Tyneside, Borough of (MD)

Southwark, London Borough of (LB)

Staffordshire, County of (TT)

St. Helens, Borough of (MD)

Stockport, Borough of (MD)

Stockton-on-Tees, Borough of (UA)

Stoke-on-Trent, City of (UA)

Suffolk, County of (TT)

Sunderland, City and Borough of (MD)

Surrey, County of (TT)

Sutton, London Borough of (LB)

Swindon, Borough of (UA)^{[footnote 52]}

Tameside, Borough of (MD)

Telford and Wrekin, Borough of (UA)^{[footnote 53]}

Thurrock, Borough of (UA)

Torbay, Borough of (UA)

Tower Hamlets, London Borough of (LB)

Trafford, Borough of (MD)

Wakefield, City and Borough of (MD)

Walsall, Borough of (MD)

Waltham Forest, London Borough of (LB)

Wandsworth, London Borough of (LB)

Warrington, Borough of (UA)

Warwickshire, County of (TT)

West Berkshire, District of (UA)^{[footnote 54]}

Westminster, City and London Borough of (LB)

Westmorland and Furness (UA)^{[footnote 55]}

West Northamptonshire (UA) ^{[footnote 56]}

West Sussex, County of (TT)

Wigan, Borough of (MD)

Wiltshire, County of (UA)^{[footnote 57]}

Windsor and Maidenhead, Royal Borough of (UA)

Wirral, Borough of (MD)

Wokingham, Borough of (UA)

Wolverhampton, City and Borough of (MD)

Worcestershire, County of (TT)

York, City of (UA)

12.3 Scotland

There are 32 unitary authorities, termed Council Areas, which are single-tier administrative structures with no sub-divisions. Strictly speaking, none of these units has any official form other than that listed below; for example, the terms “City” and “City of” are a necessary part of the four names in which they occur. Maps of the 32 Council Areas can be found on the Scottish government website.

Aberdeen City

Aberdeenshire

Angus

Argyll and Bute

Clackmannanshire

Dumfries and Galloway

Dundee City

East Ayrshire

East Dunbartonshire

East Lothian

East Renfrewshire

Edinburgh, City of

Eilean Siar^{[footnote 58]}

Falkirk

Fife

Glasgow City

Highland

Inverclyde

Midlothian

Moray

North Ayrshire

North Lanarkshire

Orkney Islands

Perth and Kinross

Renfrewshire

Scottish Borders

Shetland Islands

South Ayrshire

South Lanarkshire

Stirling

West Dunbartonshire

West Lothian

12.4 Wales

Wales has 22 unitary authorities, known as principal areas (Welsh: Awdurdodau unedol); these are single-tier administrative structures with no sub-divisions. Eleven of these authorities are termed as a County; eleven are termed as a County Borough. The titles of all 22 are officially bilingual in English and Welsh; the Welsh forms are inset below. Note that in most cases the Welsh generic term “Sir” or “Sir y” is a necessary part of the Welsh name.

Abbreviations and terms:

C: the definition of this unit is a County

CB: the definition of this unit is a County Borough

Bwrdeistref Sirol: = County Borough of

Dinas a Sir: = City and County of

Sir; Sir y: = County of

English	Welsh	Unit
Blaenau Gwent, County Borough of	Blaenau Gwent, Bwrdeistref Sirol	CB
Bridgend, County Borough of	Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr, Bwrdeistref Sirol	CB
Caerphilly, County Borough of	Caerffili, Bwrdeistref Sirol	CB
Cardiff, City and County of	Caerdydd, Dinas a Sir	C
Carmarthenshire, County of	Gaerfyrddin, Sir	C
Ceredigion, County of	Ceredigion, Sir	C [footnote 59]
Conwy, County Borough of	Conwy, Bwrdeistref Sirol	CB
Denbighshire, County of	Ddinbych, Sir	C
Flintshire, County of	Fflint, Sir y	C
Gwynedd	Gwynedd	C [footnote 60]
Isle of Anglesey	Ynys Môn, Sir	C [footnote 61]
Merthyr Tydfil, County Borough of	Merthyr Tudful, Bwrdeistref Sirol	CB
Monmouthshire, County of	Fynwy, Sir	C
Neath Port Talbot, County Borough of	Castell-nedd Port Talbot, Bwrdeistref Sirol	CB
Newport, City of	Casnewydd, Bwrdeistref Sirol	CB
Pembrokeshire, County of	Benfro, Sir	C
Powys, County of	Powys, Sir	C [footnote 62]
Rhondda Cynon Taff, County Borough of	Rhondda Cynon Taf, Bwrdeistref Sirol	CB
Swansea, City and County of	Abertawe, Dinas a Sir	C
Torfaen, County Borough of	Tor-faen, Bwrdeistref Sirol	CB
Vale of Glamorgan, The	Bro Morgannwg	CB [footnote 63]
Wrexham, County Borough of	Wrecsam, Bwrdeistref Sirol	CB

12.5 Northern Ireland

Until 2016 divided into 26 (single-tier) unitary authorities, termed Districts, a reform process was implemented in April 2015 resulting in a new pattern of 11 districts^{[footnote 64]}. The pre-1973 structure of 6 counties (Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry, Tyrone) is still frequently encountered but is not part of the current official administrative division structure. Elements given in bold type are compulsory elements of the name.

Antrim and Newtownabbey District

Ards and North Down District

Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon District^{[footnote 65]}

Belfast City^{[footnote 66]}

Causeway Coast and Glens District

Derry and Strabane District

Fermanagh and Omagh District

Lisburn and Castlereagh District

Mid and East Antrim District

Mid Ulster District

Newry, Mourne and Down District

1. For Gaelic, see Sections 3 and 6.2. For Welsh see Sections 4 and 6.3. For the remaining languages see Section 5.1. ↩

2. 44 is the number of phonemes recorded in many dialects of English, though some have more. See Englishlanguageguide.com pronunciations. ↩

3. This section relates to Scottish Gaelic; for information on Irish Gaelic see Section 5.1. ↩

4. For more on Middle English see Section 2.1. Note that Middle English as spoken in Scotland went on to develop as much into Scots (see Section 5.1) as into Modern English. ↩

5. SeeScotland’s Gaelic report 2001. ↩

6. See Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005. ↩

7. See Gaidhlig.org.uk. ↩

8. SeeGaelic Station Names. ↩

9. The term Brythonic is related to Britannic; see also Section 10.2.3. ↩

10. See the Welsh Language Commissioner’s website (in Welsh and English). See also Section 6.3. ↩

11. See Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 ↩

12. See Cymraeg 2050: Welsh language strategy. ↩

13. See [Why standardise place-names?] (https://www.welshlanguagecommissioner.wales/policy-and-research/welsh-place-names/why-standardise-place-nameseur). ↩

14. See Standardised Welsh Place names. ↩

15. See Outline of the Standard Written Form of Cornish. ↩

16. For more information on the Scots language and place names see the Ordnance Survey Guide. ↩

17. For more information on Irish in Northern Ireland visit Ultach.org. ↩

18. See the NALDIC webpage, which includes data from the Department for Education from January 2012. The total number of school pupils in England in January 2012 was 6,626,690. ↩

19. See Gaelic Street Names ↩

20. See the SQA webpage. ↩

21. See Legislation.gov.uk. ↩

22. SeeComisiynydd y Gymraeg. ↩

23. Though there is a Prince of Wales, this role is deemed to be titular rather than exerting executive authority, and therefore Wales is described as a country rather than a principality. ↩

24. The Northern Ireland assembly was suspended between October 2002 and May 2007 and again between January 2017 and January 2020. ↩

25. See Timeline, Section 10.1; fourth bullet point. ↩

26. The source for these figures is the Office for National Statistics. ↩

27. See Section 10.2.1. ↩

28. For example Aberdeen City; Birmingham (City of); Bristol, City of. ↩

29. See the OS Boundary Line webpage. ↩

30. See the OS Counties webpage. ↩

31. Though the term “District” is also sometimes used to denote a Unitary Authority. ↩

32. Specifically: Cornwall, Durham, Northumberland, Shropshire and Wiltshire. ↩

33. Bedfordshire (Central Bedfordshire and Bedford) and Cheshire (Cheshire East and Cheshire West & Chester) ↩

34. This Unitary Authority came into being on 1st April 2019, replacing the UAs of Bournemouth and Poole, which were amalgamated with Christchurch (formerly part of the two-tier unit of Dorset). ↩

35. Strictly speaking, there is no permissible short form for this unit. ↩

36. The two-tier County of Buckinghamshire became a unitary authority, simply Buckinghamshire, in April 2020. ↩

37. Note that this unit, although termed a “County”, is now a Unitary Authority. ↩

38. Created as a unitary authority in April 2023; together with Westmorland and Furness, replacing the two-tier county of Cumbria. ↩

39. Dorset County Council two-tier authority became a Unitary Authority on 1 April 2019, with somewhat modified boundaries. ↩

40. Note that there is no word “of” in this name, and that, although termed a “County”, it is now a Unitary Authority. ↩

41. Note that this unit, though formerly a ‘shire’ county, is a Unitary Authority, and is controlled by the district council. ↩

42. Note that this unit, although termed a “County”, is in fact a Unitary Authority. ↩

43. The Isles of Scilly do not formally constitute part of Cornwall but are instead separately administered by a body known as the Council of the Isles of Scilly, a sui generis unitary authority. In practice, the Isles of Scilly are often associated within Cornwall; they were not a separate unit in the 1972 Local Government Act and are included within Cornwall by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). ↩

44. Strictly speaking, there is no permissible short form for this unit. The name of the principal town is Hull. ↩

45. There is no permissible short form for this unit. Note also that it is uniquely defined as a “City Corporation” and statutorily is not a London Borough. ↩

46. not The Medway Towns. ↩

47. This unitary authority along with West Northamptonshire (UA) replaced the two-tier county of Northamptonshire and its constituent districts in April 2021. ↩

48. Note that this unit, although termed a “County”, is now a Unitary Authority. ↩

49. Became a unitary authority in April 2023, replacing the two-tier structure. ↩

50. Note that this unit, although termed a “County”, is now a Unitary Authority. ↩

51. Became a unitary authority in April 2023, replacing the two-tier structure. ↩

52. not Thamesdown. ↩

53. not The Wrekin. ↩

54. not Newbury. ↩

55. Created as a unitary authority in April 2023; together with Cumberland, replacing the two-tier county of Cumbria. ↩

56. This unitary authority along with North Northamptonshire (UA) replaced the two-tier county of Northamptonshire and its constituent districts in April 2021. ↩

57. Note that this unit, although termed a “County”, is now a Unitary Authority. ↩

58. Uniquely in the United Kingdom, this administrative unit has a name solely in a language (Gaelic) other than English. The English version is Western Isles, but this is not official. Note that the Gaelic name for the geographical feature, the island grouping “Western Isles” (or more usually “Hebrides”), is Eileanan an Iar. ↩

59. The name Ceredigion is used for the administrative unit in English and Welsh. Note that in the Welsh form use of the term “Sir” is not essential. The principal town is named Cardigan in English and Aberteifi in Welsh. ↩

60. No generic term. ↩

61. For the administrative unit, there is no generic term and the name is “Isle of Anglesey” in that sequence of wording. ↩

62. Note that in the Welsh form use of the term “Sir” is not essential. ↩

63. No generic term. ↩

64. It is of note that the councils which administer these districts sometimes use other terms: e.g. Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council, Derry City and Strabane District Council. ↩

65. The district name was changed in 2016: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/2016/11/contents/made ↩

66. Belfast remains a City: https://minutes3.belfastcity.gov.uk/mgAi.aspx?ID=187 ↩