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With the combining of the administrative counties of Cumberland and Westmorland, the Cumberland county borough of Carlisle, along with the North Lonsdale or Furness part of Lancashire, and from the West Riding of Yorkshire, the Sedbergh Rural District the County of Cumbria was created in 1974. . The name "Cumbria" has been used for the territory for centuries.

Following the creation of Cumbria as a non-metropolitan county, some people, particularly those born or brought up in the area, continue to refer to some parts of Cumbria as part of the ancient county boundaries; this includes the Furness area as a part of Lancashire, and the Kendal and surrounding area as a part of Westmorland.

Local papers The Westmorland Gazette and Cumberland and Westmorland Herald are continue to be named on this pre-1974 county basis. Others, including local government, promotional material for the area, the Lake District National Park Authority, and most visitors describe the area as being in "Cumbria". A MORI poll in the county found 79% of those polled identified "very strongly" or "strongly" to Cumbria throughout the county, but dropping to 55% and 71% in Barrow and South Lakeland districts, which incorporate part of historic Lancashire.

Cumbria as an English county on the border with Scotland has faced repeated invasion. Resisting such attacks and many attempts by the Kingdom of Scotland to annex it has given Cumbria a strong sense of pride and a very strong Northern English culture, shared with its neighboring counties, particularly Lancashire and Northumberland.

The culture of the area was predominantly Celtic until fairly late after the annexation by the Anglian Kingdom of Northumbria), and the name for the area derives from its name in the Cumbric language. It is etymologically connected to the Welsh term Cymru, meaning "Land of brothers", which is now used as the Welsh name for Wales itself. The Cumbric language has been extinct since about the 11th century.

Cumbria also had very strong links with Norse culture due to Viking invasions, evidenced particularly by the genetics of the local population. Studies have shown that the county of Cumbria has one of the most striking signs of Scandinavian genetics in England.

The Cumbrian dialect is spoken throughout the region. There is quite a large variation in accent and words, especially between north and south and west coast.

Many of the traditional dialect words are remnants of Norse settlement, with Norwegian settlers probably arriving in Cumbria in the 10th century via Ireland and the Isle of Man.

Carlisle United are the only professional football team in Cumbria. They attract support from across Cumbria. However, Barrow A.F.C., has been one of the best supported non-league football teams in the UK since their relegation in the 1970s. Recently Workington Reds have also made a rapid rise up the non league ladder and now compete with Barrow in the Conference North.

Rugby league is a very popular sport in West Cumbria. Whitehaven RLFC, Workington Town and Barrow Raiders all compete in the National Leagues. Carlisle RLFC played in the national competitions between 1981 and 1997, Carlisle today has Carlisle Centurions in the Rugby League Conference. There are amateur BARLA teams playing in the National Conference, notablely Wath Brow Hornets and Millom as well as a Cumberland League and Barrow & District League. The Cumberland League is a series of rugby league divisions in the traditional county of Cumberland. The league is run by the British Amateur Rugby League Association (BARLA). Teams from the Cumberland league can apply for election to the National Conference League if they meet minimum criteria.

The Cumberland League has been in existence, in one form or another, since 1899. Millom, in 1897, was the first club in the county to defect from rugby union to Northern Union, they were followed a year later by Workington, Maryport, Whitehaven, Seaton, Brookland Rovers and Wath Brow. The first three named joined with Lancaster and the Furness clubs Barrow, Dalton and Askam to form the North Western League in 1898/99. The first champions were Millom who finished just ahead of Barrow. On 10 May 1899 the Cumberland clubs met at the Grapes Hotel in Workington and agreed to form a Cumberland Senior League for the following season. They voted W.E. Mason (Whitehaven) to Chair the new competition and R. Nixon (Maryport) was elected Hon. Secretary. The participants in that first season, 1899/1900, were Brookland Rovers, Maryport, Seaton, Whitehaven, Whirehaven Rec and Workington.