[DanaC]

Originally Posted by Spexxvet

Thanks, Dana.

Am I right that Great Britain is the name of the entire island, England is the part of the island, a "country", not including Scotland and Wales, and The U.K. is the "country" that includes England, Scotland, and Wales? We tend to use them interchangeably.

It's a little confusing to be honest. 'Great Britain' and 'United Kingdom' mean almost the same thing but carry different connotations and come from different political designations.

Geographically: from wiki

Geographical terms:
The British Isles is an archipelago consisting of the two large islands of Great Britain and Ireland, and many smaller surrounding islands.
Great Britain is the largest island of the archipelago.[1][2][3]
Ireland is the second largest island of the archipelago and lies directly to the west of Great Britain.
The full list of islands in the British Isles includes over 1,000 islands,[4] of which 51 have an area larger than 20 km².

But, politically:

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the constitutional monarchy occupying the island of Great Britain, the small nearby islands (but not the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands), and the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland. Usually, it is shortened to United Kingdom or the UK, though 'Britain' is also an officially recognised short form ('Great Britain' is not).[5][6]

The abbreviation GB is frequently used for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in international agreements, e.g. Universal Postal Union and Road Traffic Convention, as well as in the ISO 3166 country codes (GB and GBR).

Ireland is the sovereign republic occupying the larger portion of the island of Ireland. However, to distinguish the state from the island, or to distinguish either of these from Northern Ireland, it is also called "the Republic of Ireland" or simply "the Republic". Occasionally, its Irish-language name, Éire, will be used in an English-language context to distinguish it from "Northern Ireland", even though the word "Éire" directly translates as "Ireland".
England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are the four countries of the United Kingdom though they are also referred to as the constituent countries or, in sporting contexts, home nations of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland are legal jurisdictions within the United Kingdom.[7]

Great Britain means the countries of England, Wales and Scotland considered as a unit.[6][8]

British Islands consists of the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. These are the states within the British Isles that have the British monarch as head of state.