I hope you don't mind an American chiming in. Episcopal is derived from a Latin word meaning bishop. It refers to the the authority of bishops in the hierarchical structure of the Church of England and Episcopal church, derived from the structure of the Catholic church. At the time of the American Revolution, churches too wanted to separate from England; hence the change in name.

The same thing happened to the Church of Scotland, which became the Presbyterian church in the US after the Revolution. Presbyterian is derived from a Greek word meaning priest. It refers to the structure of that church, which does not have bishops and a hierarchy but governing bodies of presbyters.

The Puritans, who were named for their desire to "purify" the Church of England from Catholic characteristics, settled the Massachusetts Bay Colony. They evolved into the Congregationalists, so-called from their style of church government in which the congregation is the ruling body.

At the time of the Civil War (American), many churches divided along sectional grounds, sad to say. Most reunified after the war but the Baptists did not. Hence the Southern Baptists, one of the country's largest denominations. The Baptist church in the North, fairly common here in New England, is quite different from the Southern Baptists.

As for the use of the word Episcopal in England, I hope some Brits will reply to your question.

agnes, I am not a church-goer but nominally I am a member of the Church of England and am English (not British). Certainly the Anglican Church has problems over here, what with falling congregations and few people coming forward for ordination . . . Three Cheers for Women say I . . . and the gay issues.
I would say that we don't use the term 'Episcopal' when talking about the C of E.
Over here Episcopal relates to the autonomous branch of the Anglican Communion based in the USA and Scotland.
What happens in Canada, Australia, N Z etc?
You probably have similar problems in the US. Don't you have 'women bishops' now? Another bone of contention in the C of E!

Thanks veer... that's what I needed to know. I thought it was a term used more in the US to designate our branch of the Anglican Community, but I wasn't sure. It seems as if there are some that want to be "pure Anglican" and split from the Episcopal Church, but since they would still have bishops, by definition, I think they would still be episcopal because of the church set up.

Maybe it just the difference between a capital E and a lower case e. And yeah, we have female bishops. In fact that's what all the shouting is about. One was just elected the Presiding Bishop.