Unfortunately, this is quite a difficult question to answer! "Counties" in the UK can be taken to mean various different areas. In England alone, you can choose from:
- Historic counties dating from before 1974 which attract a strong sense of loyalty, but often no longer align with areas of local government
- New and revised counties as constituted in 1974 which have since been superseded but whose names may still be used in some circumstances
- Ceremonial counties established in England in 1997
- Local authorities (councils) which sometimes align with traditional county borders but often don't
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have also seen similar changes over the years.
Ceremonial Counties of England
The official "ceremonial counties" are a good compromise between the traditional counties and more modern administrative areas. These are:
- Berkshire
- Bristol
- Buckinghamshire
- Cambridgeshire
- Cheshire
- Cornwall
- County Durham
- Cumbria
- Derbyshire
- Devon
- Dorset
- East Riding of Yorkshire
- East Sussex
- Essex
- Gloucestershire
- Greater London
- Greater Manchester
- Hampshire
- Herefordshire
- Hertfordshire
- The Isle of Wight
- Kent
- Lancashire
- Leicestershire
- Lincolnshire
- Merseyside
- Norfolk
- North Yorkshire
- Northamptonshire
- Northumberland
- Nottinghamshire
- Oxfordshire
- Rutland
- Shropshire
- Somerset
- South Yorkshire
- Staffordshire
- Suffolk
- Surrey
- Tyne and Wear
- Warwickshire
- West Midlands
- West Sussex
- West Yorkshire
- Wiltshire
- Worcestershire
Traditional Counties
These are the traditional, old counties. In many cases, they may still be used informally, but in other areas, they are no longer mainstream. Few people in Wales now align themselves with "Cardiganshire" or "Brecknockshire", for example.
In Scotland: Aberdeenshire Angus Argyllshire Banffshire Berwickshire Buteshire Caithness Clackmannan-shire Cromartyshire Dumfriesshire Dunbarton East Lothian Fife Inverness-shire Kincardine-shire Kinross-shire Kirkcudbright-shire Lanarkshire Mid Lothian Morayshire Nairnshire Orkney Peebles-Shire Perthshire Renferew-shire Ross-Shire Roxburghshire Selkirk-shire Shetland Stirling Shire Sutherland West Lothian Wigtown-shire In N. Ireland: Antrim Armagh Down Fermanagh Londonderry Tyrone In England: Bedfordshire Berkshire Buckinghamshire Cambridgeshire Cheshire Cornwall Cumberland Derbyshire Devon Dorset Durham Essex Gloucestershire Hampshire Hants Herefordshire Hertfordshire Huntingdonshire Kent Lancashire Leicestershire Lincolnshire Middlesex Norfolk Northamptonshire Northumberland Nottinghamshire Oxfordshire Rutland Shropshire Somerset Staffordshire Suffolk Surrey Sussex Warwickshire Westmorland Wiltshire Worcestershire Yorkshire And In Wales: Pembrokeshire Carmarthenshire Glamorgan Monmouthshire Brecknockshire Cardiganshire Radnorshire Montgomeryshire Merioneth Anglesey Caernarfonshire Denbighshire Flintshire
