There have been various names of the Irish state, some of which have been controversial. The constitutional name of the contemporary state is Ireland, the same as the island of Ireland, of which it comprises the major portion. In 1949 it declared itself a republic and adopted the term Republic of Ireland as its official description while keeping the name Ireland.
The United Kingdom (part of which, Northern Ireland, constitutes one sixth of the territory of the island of Ireland), objected to the political implications of the adoption of the name Ireland on the basis that it constituted an irredentist claim to sovereignty over the entire island of Ireland. However, that name was internationally recognised by the early 1960s and since the end of the 1990s has been accepted by the United Kingdom.
Read more about Names Of The Irish State: Constitutional Name, Legal Description, European Union, Abbreviations, Alternative Names, Name Dispute With The UK
Famous quotes containing the words names of, names, irish and/or state:
“The world is never the same as it was.... And that’s as it should be. Every generation has the obligation to make the preceding generation irrelevant. It happens in little ways: no longer knowing the names of bands or even recognizing their sounds of music; no longer implicitly understanding life’s rules: wearing plaid Bermuda shorts to the grocery and not giving it another thought.”
—Jim Shahin (20th century)
“All nationalisms are at heart deeply concerned with names: with the most immaterial and original human invention. Those who dismiss names as a detail have never been displaced; but the peoples on the peripheries are always being displaced. That is why they insist upon their continuity—their links with their dead and the unborn.”
—John Berger (b. 1926)
“But Irish had an old soul, you might say. He was a man with a great future behind him, already.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)
“Along the highway, all but lost among blatant neon lights flashing ‘Whiskey’ and ‘Dance and Dine,’ are crudely daubed warnings erected by itinerant evangelists, announcing that ‘Jesus is soon coming,’ or exhorting the traveler to ‘prepare to meet thy God.’”
—For the State of Florida, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)