I saw this Atlantic article adjacent to Steve Foerster's posting about the number of PhD s working as professors, and it caught my eye. Basically, it says that the personification of the US was at one time Columbia, in the same way that the UK was Brittania and France was Marianne. Be sure to check out the wonderful old posters at the bottom of the article. When America Was Female - Garance Franke-Ruta - The Atlantic Although the article did not mention this, France is still personified as Marianne, while the UK as often as not is represented by John Bull. Here is a Wikipedia article about national personifications. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_personification
