The name Angles first appeared in Latin texts as Anglii within the Germania written by Tacitus around 100 AD. This ancient document placed these people beyond the Langobards and Semnones near the River Elbe.
Modern scholars trace the location of the Angles to the Angeln peninsula on the Baltic Sea coast of Schleswig-Holstein. The majority of scholars believe the Anglii lived on Baltic Sea coasts before moving westward during the first century AD.
One theory suggests the word comes from a Germanic root meaning narrow referring to the Schlei estuary while another links it to hook or bending describing the shape of the land itself. Julius Pokorny derived the term from Proto-Indo-European words for bend or ankle.
After invading Britannia the Angles split up to found kingdoms including Northumbria East Anglia and Mercia. Early times featured two northern kingdoms called Bernicia and Deira alongside midland groups Middle Anglia and Mercia.
Settled areas became known as Engla land meaning Land of the Angles or simply England and the word English derives directly from Angle related terms establishing a linguistic identity. Modern maps show small peninsular areas called Angeln within Schleswig-Holstein Bundesland extending from Flensburg through Schleswig to Maasholm on Schlei inlet.