Anglo-Celtic people are those of British and Irish descent. The concept is mainly relevant outside of Great Britain and Ireland, particularly in Australia but also in Canada, the United States, New Zealand and South Africa, where a significant diaspora is located.
The term is a combination of the combining form Anglo- and the adjective Celtic. Anglo-, meaning English is derived from the Angles, a Germanic people who settled in Britain (mainly in what is now England) in the middle of the first millennium. The name England (Old English: Engla land or Ængla land) originates from these people.Celtic, in this context, refers to the people of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Isle of Man and Cornwall.
Recorded usage dates as far back to at least the mid-19th century. A newspaper of the name, The Anglo-Celt (pronounced in this case as 'Anglo-Selt'), was founded in County Cavan in Ireland in 1846. In an 1869 publication, the term was contrasted with Anglo-Saxon as a more appropriate term for people of British and Irish descent worldwide: