Glossary of names for the British
There are many alternative ways to describe United Kingdom nationals. The usual terms are the adjective British and noun Briton (see also demonym). The latter is sometimes abbreviated to Brit although this is to be avoided in formal contexts. Some other terms are humorous or derogatory slang, and used mainly by people from other countries, although they can be used in a self-deprecating way by British people themselves. These include Limey, Pom, and Pommy. Other terms are serious or tongue-in-cheek attempts to coin words as alternatives to the potentially ambiguous standard terms. An example is the term UKian.
Slang
Although now a Scottish Gaelic and Irish Gaelic colloquialism for the English, Sassenach (sometimes Sassanach) was a Pictish word to refer to a Saxon. The Welsh equivalent is Sais (plural Saeson). Anothern Scottish term was Southron from Middle English, also used during the Confederacy to refer to Southerners, and by J. R. R. Tolkien (see Southrons).
Limey is a old American and Canadian slang nickname for the British, initially specifically sailors. The term is believed to derive from lime-juicer, referring to the Royal Navy and Merchant Navy practice of supplying lime juice (an antiscorbutic) to English sailors to prevent scurvy in the 19th century. The term is believed to have originated in Australia in the 1880s. A fake etymology is that it is a derivative of "Gor-blimey" ("god blind me!").
The term Pommy for a British person is commonly used in Australian English and New Zealand English, and is often shortened to Pom. The origin of this term is uncertain. A number of fake etymologies have sprung up, mostly along the lines that POM is an acronym for "Prisoner of Mother England" or somesuch, referring to the fact that the earliest settlers were convicts, sentenced to transportation. None of these explanations bears up under scrutiny, and the use of acronyms is largely a late twentieth century phenomenon. A more likely etymology is that it is a contraction of "pomegranates", a former rhyming slang term for "immigrants". The use of the word 'Pom' may be considered mildly derogatory - some may use it to cause offence, but it is also used in other situations as a friendly derogatory term among people who know each other well, if one of them is British and the other Australian.
In South Africa the term 'Pom' may also be used, while Afrikaans speakers use the term rooinek (literally 'red neck', on account of the sunburnt skin).
In India, the term 'Britisher' may still be encountered, but is largely obsolete elsewhere.
John Bull was originally a character created by John Arbuthnot in 1712 to satirise the Whig war party. Later in the 18th century, British satirical artists James Gillray, Thomas Rowlandson and George Cruikshank contrasted the stout and healthy British cartoon character with scrawny French revolutionary sans-culottes Jacobins. In the 19th century the U.S. cartoonist Thomas Nast also drew the character.
The name Tommy for a soldier in the British Army is particularly associated with World War One. German soldiers would call out to Tommy across no-man's land if they wished to speak to a British soldier. The French, and Commonwealth forces also used the name. Tommy is derived from Tommy Atkins which had been used as a generic name for a soldier for many years (and had been used as an example name on army registration forms). The precise origin is the subject of some debate, but it is known to have been used as early as 1743. Rudyard Kipling published the poem Tommy (part of the Barrack Room Ballads) in 1892 and in 1893 the music hall song Private Tommy Atkins was published with words by Henry Hamilton and music by S. Potter. In 1898 William McGonagall wrote Lines In Praise of Tommy Atkins.
Proposed alternatives
Use of alternative terms has been practiced and advocated by some people to distinguish UK nationals from people living specifically in Great Britain or the British Isles. In practice, this is not usually necessary in British English because British without any modifier (like British cooking) is usually understood to refer to the UK, and the term British Isles has become increasingly unacceptable to people in the Republic of Ireland. By contrast, while Northern Ireland is not part of Great Britain, it is part of the United Kingdom, and the Unionist community defines itself as British.
Other languages
In much the same way as the word 'England' is used (incorrectly) to refer to 'Britain', the term 'English' is used interchangeably with 'British' in many languages, hence in French, a British man is called un anglais, while a British woman is une anglaise, even though they may be from Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. The literal translation of 'British', britannique, is used more in official contexts, for governments rather than for individuals: this is reflected in the description of the monarch as His/Her Britannic Majesty. Less formally the French also call the British les rosbifs (roast beef), due to the fondness of the British for this particular dish, coupled with the tendency for many British tourists to forego the use of sunblock whilst sunbathing.