When was the term Great Britain introduced as a name used to refer to where folks lived in their time?

Question

I see Great Britain used for Sara Smith during the 16th century and I suspect that this term would not have been used by her peers to refer to where they lived when she was born.

When did folks start referring to where they lived in England as Great Britain?

Answer 1

The Act of Union was in 1707, so a 16th century profile would be in England, not Great Britain.

Comments

Can you please edit your answer to link Act of Union to wikipedia?

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William, thanks for the best answer star. Since I didn't use Wikipedia when answering I think it is sufficient that you have provided a link to it yourself.

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If you were to edit your answer, I would hide my comment, and this one, that way, it creates the least cognitive load on future readers to get to all the information they are interested in via a succinct answer.

Answer 2

The name Great Britain first came into use about 2000 years ago and is the proper geographical name of the largest island in the archipelago. As mentioned elsewhere the United Kingdom of GB became a political unit in 1707 but the name predates it by a wide margin.

Comments

"United Kingdom of Great Britain" was a description, not a name in 1707.

1707-1800: Great Britain
1801-1921: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
1922-present: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Wikipedia

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Great Britain is an island, not a state.

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The UK is a sovereign state.  As for calling it 'Great Britain' 1707-1800:

1.  See Article One of the Act of Union 1707.
2. Jump up"After the political union of England and Scotland in 1707, the nation's official name became 'Great Britain'", The American Pageant, Volume 1, Cengage Learning (2012)
3. Jump up"From 1707 until 1801 Great Britain was the official designation of the kingdoms of England and Scotland". The Standard Reference Work: For the Home, School and Library, Volume 3, Harold Melvin Stanford (1921)
4. Jump up"In 1707, on the union with Scotland, 'Great Britain' became the official name of the British Kingdom, and so continued until the union with Ireland in 1801". United States Congressional serial set, Issue 10; Issue 3265 (1895)
5. Jump up

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Yes, quite careless of me, thank you for the clarification. The point was that the name predates any act and is referenced in records before 1707. That is an important fact to keep in mind when pursuing certain lines of research.

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During the period of the Scottish-English union, the state was collocated with the island, so it's an appropriate term. The point Bill is making though is that "Great Britain" was a valid geographical term at least back to Ptolemy, so if someone wants to say someone was born in Great Britain, there's no Wikitree historical context where that isn't a valid and meaningful designation, and it suffers no ambiguity during the period 1707-1800.

Answer 3

Note Little Britain = Brittany as opposed to Greater Britain = the island Grande-Bretagne. Uther Pendragon etc. lived in Great Britain.

Ben is absolutely correct.