1º_ Island of the British archipelago, which in the pre-Roman period was called Hibernia. The current name comes from the Celtic ériu ("fertile"), as the original people of the region were known, later converted into éire, to which the suffix -land (-landia "land of") was added. 2º_ The Republic of Ireland (Poblacht na hÉireann) is a country in the south of the island, whose official name is Éire for internal documents and Ireland for international ones, where the English name is used. See Northern Ireland.