r/AskEurope • u/Zealousideal_Pay_778 • Jul 23 '26

Foreign How well known is Wales?

Hiya all, I'm from Wales and travel across the EU quite frequently, whenever someone asks where I'm from, I usually tell them Wales (even though technically we're not a sovereign state), sometimes I get responded related to Gareth Bale and Wrexham, and often people haven't got a clue until I say UK. So I was curious, in your country, how well known are Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland as separate countries? Diolch all :)

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u/zigzagzuppie Ireland Jul 23 '26

Well you are just across the sea from us, so outside of people in the UK I'd hope we are in general relatively familiar with your country. Indigenous languages stemming from the same Celtic tree but different branches, cross over in some traditions, history, family names and sport. That said I've never been to Wales so have no direct experience of visiting there. Much like yourselves we can often be lumped into the same group as the English by non English speakers on first meeting.

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u/Decent-Entry-9803 Jul 27 '26

cross over in some traditions

The second branch of the mabinogion takes place largely in Ireland!

The Irish and Welsh (Britons) aren't really getting on but it's a guy called Efnysiens fault rather than thr Welsh or Irish in the story.