Every Capital That Starts With the Same Letter as Its Country

28 countries have a capital city that starts with the same letter as the country’s name. That is about one in seven of the world’s 195 countries. Six of them go further and share the exact same name (Djibouti, Luxembourg, Monaco, San Marino, Singapore and Vatican City), and four more just add the word “City” (Guatemala City, Kuwait City, Mexico City and Panama City). The letter with the most matches is S, with six pairs.

The list below uses the capitals from our capital cities quiz, which follows each country’s official capital.

The full list, A to Z

Letter	Country	Capital
A	Algeria	Algiers
A	Andorra	Andorra la Vella
B	Barbados	Bridgetown
B	Belgium	Brussels
B	Belize	Belmopan
B	Brazil	Brasília
B	Brunei	Bandar Seri Begawan
D	Djibouti	Djibouti
G	Guatemala	Guatemala City
G	Guyana	Georgetown
K	Kuwait	Kuwait City
L	Luxembourg	Luxembourg
M	Maldives	Malé
M	Marshall Islands	Majuro
M	Mexico	Mexico City
M	Monaco	Monaco
M	Mozambique	Maputo
N	Niger	Niamey
P	Panama	Panama City
P	Papua New Guinea	Port Moresby
S	San Marino	San Marino
S	São Tomé and Príncipe	São Tomé
S	Singapore	Singapore
S	South Korea	Seoul
S	Sri Lanka	Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte
S	Sweden	Stockholm
T	Tunisia	Tunis
V	Vatican City	Vatican City

Count them by letter and S leads with 6, then B and M with 5 each. A, G and P have 2 each, and D, K, L, N, T and V have one apiece.

Capitals with the same name as the country

Six countries share their full name with their capital. Most are city-states, places so small that the country and the city are almost the same thing:

• Monaco: the second smallest country in the world, on the French Riviera.
• Vatican City: the smallest country in the world, about 0.49 km², inside Rome.
• Singapore: an island city-state at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula.
• San Marino: a tiny mountain republic surrounded by Italy, one of the oldest republics in the world.
• Luxembourg: a small European country whose capital, Luxembourg City, is often just called Luxembourg.
• Djibouti: a country in the Horn of Africa whose capital, Djibouti City, is home to more than half of its people.

Capitals that just add “City”

Four more capitals take the country’s name and add “City”: Guatemala City, Kuwait City, Mexico City and Panama City. In two cases the story runs the other way around: the country was named after the city. Mexico takes its name from the old Aztec city of Mexico-Tenochtitlan, where Mexico City stands today, and Tunisia is named after its capital, Tunis. Algeria and Algiers share a name in Arabic too: both come from al-Jazāʼir, “the islands.”

Five matches with a story

• Belmopan, Belize: one of the world’s newest capitals. Belize moved its government inland to Belmopan in 1970 after a hurricane badly damaged Belize City in 1961.
• Brasília, Brazil: a planned capital built in the country’s interior and inaugurated in 1960 to replace Rio de Janeiro.
• Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, Sri Lanka: the official capital and home of the parliament, while Colombo next door is the largest city and the business center. With 23 letters it is one of the longest capital names in the world.
• Niamey, Niger: both names come from the Niger River, which flows right past the capital.
• Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei: a capital with three words, on the island of Borneo.

Why this works as a quiz trick

Knowing the matches gives you a shortcut. If a quiz asks for the capital of Belgium and the choices are Brussels, Antwerp, Amsterdam and Bern, the matching letter points you to Brussels. It does not always help (the capital of Australia is Canberra, not Sydney), but for 28 countries it is a free point.

Want to drill it? Pick a letter and see every capital that starts with it, for example the capitals that start with S or the capitals that start with B. Then spin the random capital generator and try to name the country before the answer shows, or go straight to the capital cities quiz.

FAQ

How many capitals start with the same letter as their country?

28 of the 195 countries, from Algeria (Algiers) and Andorra (Andorra la Vella) to Tunisia (Tunis) and Vatican City.

Which capitals have the same name as their country?

Six: Djibouti, Luxembourg, Monaco, San Marino, Singapore and Vatican City. Guatemala, Kuwait, Mexico and Panama come close, with “City” added.

Which letter has the most matching countries and capitals?

S, with six: San Marino, São Tomé and Príncipe, Singapore, South Korea (Seoul), Sri Lanka (Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte) and Sweden (Stockholm).

Does Sri Lanka’s capital start with S or C?

The official capital is Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, which starts with S. Colombo, its larger neighbor, is the commercial capital and the city many people know.