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PROFILES Search for historic counties on our advanced search page: Historic county search To browse historic county profiles by country, see the following lists on ePodunk: England | Northern Ireland | Scotland | Wales BACKGROUND INFO Although the UK massively restructured its counties in the 1970s, many sources still use the old county names. On ePodunk, we refer to these as historic counties Other sources may use the terms ancient counties, ceremonial counties or traditional counties. We list the current county designation at the top of our community profiles. Wherever possible, we then provide links to information about the historic county and to county-based organizations such as family history societies. Genealogists will find historic county names to be crucial in their research, because older records are organized by these county names. In addition to the administrative counties now used by government, there are actually three types of historic counties: · Ancient counties of Britain · Registration counties, within which English and Welsh censuses were conducted from 1851-1921 · Administrative counties functioning as local government entities, 1889-1974 FORMER NAMES You may see historic county names with or without the shire ending. Publications and web sites often refer to these counties by former or alternative names. Here's a partial list: FORMER NAME CURRENT NAME Brecon(shire) Brecknockshire Carnarvan(shire) Caernarfonshire Chester Cheshire Cromartyshire Ross and Cromarty Londonderry Derry Dumbartonshire Dunbartonshire Edinburghshire Midlothian Elginshire Morayshire Forfar(shire) Angus Haddingtonshire East Lothian Hants Hampshire Herts Hertfordshire Lennox Dunbartonshire Linlithgowshire West Lothian Mearns Kincardineshire Merse Berwickshire Notts Nottinghamshire Oxon Oxfordshire Ross-shire Ross and Cromarty Salop Shropshire Southamptonshire Hampshire Tweeddale Peeblesshire Zetland Shetland COUNTY ABBREVIATIONS ABBREV COUNTY NAME Beds Bedfordshire Bucks Buckinghamshire Cambs Cambridgeshire Ches Cheshire Cornwl Cornwall Derbys Derbyshire Gloucs Gloucestershire Hants Hampshire Herts Hertfordshire Lancs Lancashire Leics Leicestershire Lincs Lincolnshire Norflk Norfolk N York North Riding of Yorkshire Nhants Northamptonshire Notts Nottinghamshire Nthumb Northumberland Oxfds Oxfordshire Shrops Shropshire Somset Somerset Staffs Staffordshire Sufflk Suffolk Warks Warwickshire Wilts Wiltshire Worcs Worcestershire For more information on historic counties, see the Gazetteer of British Place Names and the Association of British Counties.