> I thought "Ireland" refers to the island as a whole and "Republic of Ireland" is the non UK part. Some other posters have replied with some good information,

> I thought "Ireland" refers to the island as a whole and "Republic of Ireland" is the non UK part. Some other posters have replied with some good information, but if you want Entirely Too Much Information this wikipedia page has a more fleshed-out discussion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_the_Irish_state https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_the_Irish_state Even that is missing some more exotic parts of that history - I see no mention of 'Republic in Ireland', for instance.