Britannia is not a real woman. She is a picture-idea of Britain: a female figure who stands for the country, the way a mascot stands for a team, only much older and more serious. Artists usually show her sitting, wearing a helmet, holding a trident — an old three-pointed spear that looks like a huge fork — with a shield by her feet that carries the British flag. She used to appear on coins. There is a well-known national song, “Rule, Britannia!” When people say Britannia today they usually mean this figure, or a proud, old-fashioned idea of the country — not the government of the UK right now. The name is the Latin name for Britain. Britain and Brittany, a region in France, came from that same Latin name by different paths. Though actually, Brittany is not Britain, and mixing those two names is a very easy trap.