Origin of the name " Great Britain"

To start with it was only « Britain ». This term was derived from the Latin « Brittania » meaning « lands of the Britons ». And it referred to all the British islands. Eventually after the 12th C. « Britain was used only for History purposes. From then on the term « Great Britain » started to be useful to make up the difference between « Brittany » in France which is less bigger than its neighbour « Brittain ».

Nowdays « Great Britain » and « United Kingdom » are the same. In actual fact the full name of this northern european country is « United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ».

(From Wilkipedia)