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Most county names in England date back to the [[Anglo-Saxon]] period. For the most part, they take the form of the county town suffixed with ''-shire''; [[Derbyshire]], therefore, is the County of Derby, for example. In some cases, the county town may have changed after the county was named, with [[Buckinghamshire]] ([[Old English]] ''Buccingahamscir''), for instance, being named after that county's historical county town Buckingham, even if [[Aylesbury]] has served as the county town since the reign of [[Henry VIII]] in the 16th century.  

Most county names in England date back to the [[Anglo-Saxon]] period. For the most part, they take the form of the county town suffixed with ''-shire''; [[Derbyshire]], therefore, is the County of Derby, for example. In some cases, the county town may have changed after the county was named, with [[Buckinghamshire]] ([[Old English]] ''Buccingahamscir''), for instance, being named after that county's historical county town Buckingham, even if [[Aylesbury]] has served as the county town since the reign of [[Henry VIII]] in the 16th century.  

Other county names are even older. Perhaps the oldest is that of [[Orkney]], the county of Scotland co-extensive with the Orkney Islands archipelago, whose name was recorded as ''Orcas'' in c. 300 BC by the [[Ancient Greece|Ancient Greek]] explorer Pytheas. Some, such as Essex and Northumberland, reference Anglo-Saxon territorial divisions.

Other county names are even older. Perhaps the oldest is that of [[Orkney]], the county of Scotland co-extensive with the Orkney Islands archipelago, whose name was recorded as ''Orcas'' in c. 300 BC by the [[Ancient Greece|Ancient Greek]] explorer Pytheas. The county name [[Kent]] dates back at least as far as 51 BC, being recorded then by [[Julius Caesar]] as ''Cantium''. Some, such as Essex and Northumberland, reference Anglo-Saxon territorial divisions, the former continuing the name of the East Saxon kingdom (527–825 AD), and the latter ultimately originates with the Anglian kingdom [[Northumbria]] (651–954 AD), which at its territorial peak (700 AD) covered most of northern England and southern Scotland.

 

== References==

== References==

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[[Category:United Kingdom]]

[[Category:United Kingdom]]