History of the Isle of Wight inhabitants of southern Britain at this time may indeed have been Germanic, rather than Celtic, which could re-open the possibility of the island's name having Germanic roots. The Romans occupied southern Britain, including the Isle of Wight, for nearly four hundred years. The Romans built no towns on the island, but it became an agricultural centre, and at least seven Roman villas are known. The Roman villas at Newport and Brading have been excavated and are open to the public. When fully developed around 300 AD, Brading was probably the largest on the Island, being a courtyard villa with impressive
Britain (place name) for a marriage between Cecily the daughter of Edward IV of England, and James the son of James III of Scotland, which described it as "this Nobill Isle, callit Gret Britanee". As noted above it was used again in 1604, when King James VI and I styled himself "King of Great Brittaine, France and Ireland". The term "Great Britain" later served to distinguish the large island of Britain from the French region of Brittany (in French "Grande-Bretagne" and "Bretagne" respectively). With the Acts of Union 1707 it became the official name of the new state created by the union of