Is There a Country for Every Letter of the Alphabet? Find out!

If someone asked you to name a country that starts with the letter A, you’d probably say Australia, Argentina or Afghanistan without skipping a beat. But what happens when the game throws you a curveball? Say, the letter Q? It might take a little head-scratching, but most folks eventually land on Qatar. This little brain game gets trickier the deeper you go and might just leave you wondering: Is there a country for every letter of the alphabet?

Test it out yourself: Start listing all the countries in the world from A to Z. The letter A kicks off 11 country names, and you know there are plenty of B names (hello, dream vacations to Barbados and the Bahamas). So which, if any, are missing?

We did the math so you don’t have to. Read on to find out whether there’s a country for every letter of the alphabet—and which may be missing.

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Is there a country for every letter of the alphabet?

Nope! We have 195 countries, but not every letter of the English alphabet gets representation. There are two letters that don’t start any country name.

Ready for the answer to this geography quiz? Drum roll, please! No countries in the world start with the letters W or X.

The letter W

Some might be quick to point out that Wales could be one of the countries that start with W. But Wales is actually part of a larger “sovereign state,” the U.K., and is not a member of the United Nations. As a result, it is often not included in official totals of countries.

The letter X

When trying to find a good word for Scrabble, the letter X can be a challenge. Aside from the old standby xylophone, few common words start with this letter. And when it comes to naming a country that starts with X, you’re out of luck. There simply isn’t one.

Now, when it comes to cities across the world, the letter X thrives, with names like Xi’an, Xiamen, Xining, Xichang and Xingyi standing out across China’s vast and varied landscape.

Other tough letters

If you guessed Y, you were close—but you probably forgot about Yemen, which is the only country in the world that starts with the letter Y. (In the past, you could add Yugoslavia to that list.)

Meanwhile, Oman is the only country that starts with the letter O. Other rare letters include Z and Q; no other countries but Zambia and Zimbabwe begin with the letter Z, while Qatar is the lone country that starts with Q.

Now that you know there isn’t a country for every letter of the alphabet, let’s take a look at the letters that more than pull their weight on the world map.

What letters of the alphabet have the most countries?

According to the Office of the Historian within the U.S. Department of State, the letters S and C are the initials for most countries, with 26 and 21 countries, respectively.

The act of naming countries is layered and shaped by the land’s history, geography and culture. Although that doesn’t directly explain why some letters are crowded with countries while others are left out entirely, it does set the stage for one surprising fact: There isn’t a country for every letter of the alphabet. And unless you’re planning on allowing the names of capital cities into your next game of Atlas, try to avoid the letters of the alphabet with no countries.

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Sources:

• Office of the Historian (U.S. Department of State): “All Countries”
• WorldAtlas: “City Names That Start With X”