Name of the Republic of Ireland

According to the Constitution of Ireland, the names of the Irish state are Ireland (English) and Éire (Irish). From 1922 to 1937, its legal name was the Irish Free State. The state has jurisdiction over almost five-sixths of the island of Ireland. The rest of the island is Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom. Consequently, other formal and informal names have been (and are) used when it is necessary to distinguish between the territory of the state and the island as a whole. In 1948 it adopted the term Republic of Ireland as the official description of the state, without changing the constitutional names.

The terms ''Republic of Ireland'' (''ROI''), ''the Republic'', ''the 26 counties'' or ''the South'' are the alternative names most often encountered. The term "Southern Ireland", although only having legal basis from 1920 to 1922, is still seen occasionally, particularly in Britain.

Until the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, British government and media declined to use the name Ireland, preferring Eire (without accent) until 1949 and Republic of Ireland thereafter.

Constitutional name

Article 4 of the Constitution of Ireland, adopted in 1937, provides that " e name of the State is ''Éire'', or, in the English language, ''Ireland''".
Hence, the Irish state has two official names, ''Éire'' (in Irish) and ''Ireland'' (in English). For official purposes, the Irish government uses the name ''Éire'' in documents written in Irish, while using ''Ireland'' where the language of the documents is English, including in international treaties and other legal documents. The name of the state is reflected in its institutions and public offices. For example, there is a ''President of Ireland'' and a ''Constitution of Ireland''. The name ''Ireland'' is also used in the state's diplomatic relations with foreign nations and at meetings of the United Nations, European Union, Council of Europe, International Monetary Fund, and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

The Constitution gives the Irish language formal precedence over English, and a reflection of this is that ''Éire'' is the only name of the Irish state to feature on a range of national symbols including the Seal of the President, postage stamps and Irish euro coins. In 1981 the Department of Posts and Telegraphs recommended the inclusion of the word "Ireland" along with "Éire" on stamps but the Department of the Taoiseach vetoed the idea on the basis it could cause "constitutional and political repercussions" and that "the change could be unwelcome", as the name "Ireland" was considered by Unionists in Northern Ireland to refer to all 32 counties of Ireland.
The spelling "Eire", with an E rather than an É, is not correct Irish orthography despite being preferred for many years by British government and media.

Official description

Since 1949, the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 has provided that the ''Republic of Ireland'' (or ''Poblacht na hÉireann'' in Irish) is the official ''description'' for the state. However, ''Ireland'' remains the constitutional ''name'' of the state.

The constitutional name ''Ireland'' is normally used. However, the official description ''Republic of Ireland'' is sometimes used when disambiguation is desired between the state and the island of Ireland. In colloquial use this is often shortened to 'the Republic'.

This distinction between ''description'' and ''name'' was and remains important because the Act was not a constitutional amendment and did not change the name of the state. If it had purported to do so, it would have been unconstitutional. The distinction between a ''description'' and a ''name'' has sometimes caused confusion. The Taoiseach, John A. Costello introduced the legislation with an explanation of the difference in the following way:

Many republics, including the French Republic and the Italian Republic reference the institutional form of the state in their long form names, but others, such as Hungary (since 2012) and Ukraine (since 1991) do not.

"Republic of Ireland" was used on the state's version of the 2021 EU Digital COVID Certificate, which a Department of Health official said was an "oversight" that would be "corrected going forward".

European Union

The state joined the European Economic Community (now the European Union) in 1973. Its accession treaty was drawn up in all of the EU's then-official treaty languages (including English and Irish) and, as such, the Irish state joined under both of its names, ''Éire'' and ''Ireland''. On 1 January 2007, Irish became an official working language of the EU. This did not change the name of the Irish state in EU law. However, it has meant for example that at official meetings of the EU Council of Ministers, nameplates for the Irish state now read as ''Éire – Ireland'', whereas previously they would simply have read as ''Ireland''.

The Inter Institutional Style Guide of The Office for Official Publications of the European Communities sets out how the names of the Member states of the European Union must always be written and abbreviated in EU publications. Concerning Ireland, it states that its official names are ''Éire'' and ''Ireland''; its official name in English is ''Ireland''; its country code is ''IE''; and its former abbreviation was ''IRL''. It also adds the following guidance: "''NB: Do not use 'Republic of Ireland' nor 'Irish Republic'.''"

Historical names

Ancient

The Annals of the Four Masters describe how Ireland was referred to in ancient times
* During the time of the Partholonians, Nemedians, Fomorians, and Firbolg, the island was given a number of names:
** ''Inis Ealga'' signifying the ''noble'' or ''excellent island''. The Latin translation was ''Insula Nobilis''
** ''Fiodh-Inis'' signifying the ''Woody island''. In Latin this was ''Insula nemorosa''
** ''Crioch Fuinidh'' signifying the ''Final'' or ''remote country''. In Latin as ''Terra finalia''.
* ''Inisfáil'' meaning the ''Island of Destiny'', and ''Inisfalia'' or ''Insula Fatalis'' in Latin. This was the name used by the Tuatha Dé Danann and from this 'Fál' became an ancient name for Ireland. In this respect, therefore, ''Lia Fáil'', the Stone of Destiny, came to mean 'Stone of Ireland'. ''Inisfail'' appears as a synonym for ''Erin'' in some Irish romantic and nationalist poetry in English in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; Aubrey Thomas de Vere's 1863 poem ''Inisfail'' is an example.
* ''Ériu'' (from which derived ''Éire''), ''Banba'' and ''Fódla'' were names given by the Dananns from three of their queens.
* ''Ierne'' refers to Ireland by various ancient Greek writers and many scholars have the opinion that in the poem when the Argonauts passes ''Neson Iernida'', that is, the ''Island Iernis'', they are referring to the island of Ireland, thus referring to Ireland longer ago than 1000 BC.
* ''Ogygia'' meaning ''the most ancient land'' is a name used by Plutarch in the first century which may refer to Ireland.
* ''Hibernia'' is first used to refer to Ireland by Julius Caesar in his account of Britain, and became a common term used by the Romans. They also used a number of other terms, namely ''Juverna'', ''Juvernia'', ''Ouvernia'', ''Ibernia'', ''Ierna'', ''Vernia''. Ptolemy also refers to it as ''Iouernia'' or ''Ivernia''.
* ''Scotia'' or ''the land of the Scots'' is a term used by various Roman and other Latin writers, who referred to Irish raiders as Scoti. Some of the earliest mentions are in the 5th century, St. Patrick calls the Irish "Scoti", and in the 6th century, St. Isidore bishop of Seville and Gildas the British historian both refer to Ireland as Scotia. It was a term that exclusively referred to Ireland up until the eleventh century when modern Scotland was first referred to as Scotia. But even up until the sixteenth century, many Latin writers continued to refer to Ireland as Scotia. From the twelfth to the sixteenth century, various scholars used to distinguish between Ireland and Scotland by using ''Scotia Vetus'' or ''Scotia Major'' meaning ''Old Scotia'' or the ''Greater Scotia'' for Ireland, and ''Scotia Minor'' or ''Lesser Scotia'' for Scotland.
* ''Insula Sanctorum'' or the ''Island of the Saints'' and ''Insula Doctorum'' or the ''Island of the Learned'' are names used by various Latin writers; hence the modern-day quasi-poetic description of the island as the "Island of Saints and Scholars".

Pre-1919

Following the Norman invasion, Ireland was known as ''Dominus Hiberniae'', the Lordship of Ireland from 1171 to 1541, and the Kingdom of Ireland from 1541 to 1800. From 1801 to 1922 it was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as a constituent country.

Irish Republic (1919–22)

In English, the revolutionary state proclaimed in 1916 and ratified in 1919 was known as the ''Irish Republic'' or, occasionally, the ''Republic of Ireland''. Two different Irish language names were used: ''Poblacht na hÉireann'' and ''Saorstát Éireann'', based on two competing Irish translations of the word '' republic'': ''Poblacht'' and ''Saorstát''. ''Poblacht'' was a direct translation coming from the Irish ''pobal'', cognate with the Latin ''populus''. ''Saorstát'', on the other hand, was a compound of the words: ''saor'' (meaning "free") and ''stát'' ("state").

The term ''Poblacht na hÉireann'' is the one used in the Easter Proclamation of 1916. However the Declaration of Independence and other documents adopted in 1919 eschew this title in favour of ''Saorstát Éireann''. A slight variant of this title, ''Saorstát na hÉireann'', was also sometimes used in later days as was the Latin ''Respublica Hibernica''.

''(For an explanation continuing usage of the term ''Irish Republic'' in the United Kingdom, see Name dispute with the UK (below). Some republicans also continue to use the term because they refuse to recognise the Anglo-Irish Treaty – see below).''

Southern Ireland (1921–22)

''Southern Ireland'' ( ga, Deisceart Éireann) was the official name given to an autonomous ''Home Rule'' region (or '' constituent country'') of the United Kingdom. It was established under the Government of Ireland Act 1920 on 3 May 1921. It covered the same territory as the present day Irish state.

However, political turmoil and the ongoing War of Independence meant that it never fully functioned as envisaged. Southern Ireland was superseded in law on 6 December 1922 by the establishment of the Irish Free State. The term ''Southern Ireland'' does not have any official status today.John Furlong (2006). Ireland – the Name of the State. Legal Information Management, 6, pp 297–301. Cambridge University Press. However, it is sometimes still used colloquially, particularly by older people, in the United Kingdom.

Irish Free State (1922–37)

During the negotiations on secession leading to the Anglo-Irish Treaty, Irish politicians wanted the state to be a republic, and its name to be the ''Republic of Ireland'' or the ''Irish Republic''. However the British government refused to contemplate a republic because this would have entailed the Irish state severing the link with the British crown and ceasing to be a part of the British Empire. Instead, the parties agreed the state would be a self-governing Dominion within the British Commonwealth of Nations. The self-proclaimed Irish Republic had used ''Saorstát Éireann'' as its Irish name, and "Irish Free State" was derived by literal translation of ''Saorstát Éireann'' back into English. Article One of the treaty stated:

The May 1922 draft of the Constitution of the Irish Free State

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