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The team historically used the name British Isles.

On their 1950 tour of New Zealand and Australia they also adopted the nickname British Lions, first used by British and South African journalists on the 1924 South African tour, after the lion emblem on their ties, the emblem on their jerseys having been dropped in favour of the four-quartered badge with the symbols of the four represented unions.

When the team first emerged in the nineteenth century it represented one nation-state, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

After the southern part of Ireland became independent in 1922, the team continued to be termed the British Isles, referring to the British Isles geographic term, rather than national citizenship.

To avoid the ambiguity of the term British, and to more emphatically associate the team's identity with both the United Kingdom and Ireland, from the 2001 tour of Australia the name British and Irish Lions has been used.

The team is often referred to simply as the Lions.