Here’s a deep guide to answering — including what counts as a county, regional differences, and the exact tally. 1. First, what does “-shire” mean? “Shire” comes from Old English scir , meaning an administrative district or territory. In Britain, it historically referred to a county where the main town (the “county town”) had the suffix “-shire” attached to its name — e.g., Gloucestershire (from Gloucester), Yorkshire (from York).

Count = ~27 or 28 (some borderline). But these are , not modern local government areas in Scotland (now council areas, which rarely end in “shire” except e.g., Aberdeenshire, Perth & Kinross? — but “Perth & Kinross” no “shire”).

They are: Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire, Huntingdonshire (now part of Cambridgeshire admin), Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Rutland? — No, Rutland has no “shire”. Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Yorkshire (historic single county). Also: Middlesex (historic, now mostly Greater London) — ends in “-sex”, not “shire”. So not included.

So 25 historic counties end in “shire”. Scotland had 34 historic shires (also called counties) ending in “-shire”, e.g., Aberdeenshire, Ayrshire, Banffshire, Berwickshire, Caithness? — No, Caithness (no shire), but most did end in “shire”: List includes: Aberdeenshire, Angus (Forfarshire), Argyllshire, Ayrshire, Banffshire, Berwickshire, Buteshire, Cromartyshire, Dumfriesshire, Dunbartonshire, East Lothian (Haddingtonshire), Fife (no “shire”), Inverness-shire, Kincardineshire, Kinross-shire, Kirkcudbrightshire, Lanarkshire, Midlothian (Edinburghshire), Morayshire, Nairnshire, Orkney (no), Peeblesshire, Perthshire, Renfrewshire, Ross-shire, Roxburghshire, Selkirkshire, Shetland (no), Stirlingshire, Sutherland (no), West Lothian (Linlithgowshire), Wigtownshire.