What The Union Jack Might Look Like If Scotland Votes For Independence

Last November, the Flag Institute, which manages the United Kingdom's national Flag Registry, conducted a survey on the future of the Union flag if Scotland becomes independent.

The national flag of the United Kingdom, better known as the Union Jack, combines the crosses of England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.

In the survey, respondents were asked questions like: "If Scotland becomes independent, do you think the Union flag will or will not change?" (56% said it will change) and "If Scotland becomes independent, do you think the Union flag should or should not change?" (64.8% said it should change.)

Along with the survey responses, loads of people also sent in their suggestions for what the new British flag might look like if Scotland cuts ties with the U.K. in the upcoming Sept. 18 vote.

"It should be noted that the Flag Institute is not recommending any of these designs," Flag Institute chief executive Charles Ashburner said in a statement. "However as the UK's national flag charity the role of the Flag Institute is to facilitate and inform any national debate about its flag - nothing more complicated than that."

Some of the suggested designs appear below. Have a favorite? Let us know in the comments.

This is one of the most popular of the suggested designs, according to Ashburner. Basically, it just removes the blue Scottish bits and replaces it with black of Wales' cross.

This flag has a similar theme.

This flag removes the Scotland part and replaces it with elements of the Welsh Dragon flag.

The Welsh-oriented suggestions are less popular, says Ashburner.

A dizzying cross-based design submitted by John Yates and titled as "United Britain" really stands out from other flags already out there.

A lot of designs just stitch the flags of the remaining home nations together.

The two flags below are rather intricate.

In this design, the blue has been replaced with black and there's a border of flowers that represent the different home nations.