What's in a name?

When the first stamp was issued

When the first stamp was issued in Great Britain in 1840 there was no need to add the country name into the design, as Great Britain was the only country in the world issuing stamps at that time.
Many countries followed the British example and many of those states did not add a country name either. There was still no need for this, because international agreements between countries did not exist and stamps were often used as a way to pay for inland postal transport.
Very often the word "stamp" was added to the design to inform users of the applicability of those sticky labels.
Growing economies, more people able to read and write and expanding commercial relations between states forced postal authorities to come to some sort of co-operation.

International postal services

After some attempts to improve the international postal services in 1860, finally the Universal Postal Union was established fourteen years later.
The chief postal officer of the Northern German Confederation, Heinrich von Stephan, played an important role. During a conference organized by the Swiss government Von Stephan's suggestions formed the basis for the UPU agreements in 1874.
People lived in a small world those days: only 22 nations participated in the UPU talks. In later years this number grew. Nowadays almost all countries are a member of the UPU.

Country name in stamp design

When letters started to spread over the world many countries felt a necessity to add the country name in the stamp design. The first issue of The Netherlands bearing it's name was presented in 1867.
Some bilingual countries could not choose and added two names. There are even some nations with two separate postal authorities (e.g. New Hebrides) by which two names exist for the same buckets of sand.
The first thing a new government of a separated state or former colony does, is to overprint all stamps on stock.

And the British

And the British? ... they smile ... because these problems do not exist. In England there will be a problem only when the whole Windsor family takes a hike to Paris.

More information Postage Stamps

Stamps Great Britain
Postage Stamps 1999

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