Britannia

In Celtic mythology, and especially in Britain, Britannia was the patron goddess of the early British Celtic tribes. In more recent tradition, she is viewed as the personification of Britain. On British coins, she first appeared on the farthing in 1672, followed by the halfpenny later the same year, on the penny coin between 1797 and 1970, and on the 50 pence coin since 1969.

Other namesakes:

• Classical Romans referred to the British Isles and to the various administrative provinces they set up there using the name Britannia. (See Roman Britain.)
• Britannia Airways was the name of a charter airline, recently renamed Thomsonfly. The company flies out of London, Liverpool and Manchester to many sunspots worldwide. It uses Boeing 757 and 767 planes to transport its passengers.
• Britannia Beach, British Columbia
• HMS Britannia
• Britannia can refer to the Royal Yacht Britannia.
• Britannia is the name of the fictitious world of the Ultima series of computer games.
• Britannia is an alloy that resembles silver.
• Britannia also refers to a series of British gold bullion coins issued since 1987, which have nominal values of 100, 50, 25, and 10 pounds.