Capital Cities beginning with X

Capital Cities beginning with X

There are no Capital Cities beginning with the Letter X.

The Closest capital with its name starting with X is Xianning, which is a prefecture-level city in Hubei Province, is the second-largest city in China that starts with the letter “X.”

Are There Any National Capitals Starting With X?

No. There are zero countries in the world whose capital city begins with the letter X.

This is confirmed by every major reference source. There are 0 capitals in the world starting with the letter X, and the same goes for country names, there isn’t a single internationally recognised country that starts with X either.

For pub-quiz hosts and crossword setters, that makes X uniquely useful. Every other letter of the English alphabet can claim at least one national capital. X cannot.

Why Don’t Any Capital Cities Start With X?

The reason comes down to linguistics and history. In most of the world’s major languages, including the Latin and Germanic families that dominate European place names, words rarely begin with the letter X. In languages such as Hebrew or Chinese, there are few or no words that start with this letter, and the X sound itself is phonetically complex.

Where X does appear at the start of place names, it tends to be in:

• Chinese pinyin romanisations, where “X” represents a sound somewhere between “sh” and “sy” (as in Xi’an or Xining).
• Mexican and Central American names of Nahuatl origin, where “X” historically represented a “sh” sound (as in Xalapa or Xochimilco).
• A handful of regional or disputed names in the Caucasus and elsewhere.

None of these traditions produced an internationally recognised national capital. Hence the X gap.

The Closest Thing: Subnational Capitals That Start With X

While no country capital begins with X, several provincial and state capitals do. These are the genuinely useful answers for trivia and Scrabble enthusiasts.

Xining, China — Capital of Qinghai Province

This is probably the most legitimate “X capital” in the world. Xining is the city and capital of Qinghai province in western interior China, located in the eastern part of the province in a fertile mountain basin in the valley of the Huang River.

A few quick facts about Xining:

• It became the provincial capital when Qinghai was established as an independent province in 1928, and was given municipal status in 1944.
• The name Xining means “Peace in the West”, given when the Song dynasty recovered the city in 1104.
• It has a population of about 2.4 million and sits on the northeastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau.
• It’s the launch point for the famous Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the highest railway in the world.

Xalapa, Mexico — Capital of Veracruz

Xalapa is the capital of the Mexican state of Veracruz. With a population of around 500,000, it’s known for its mild mountain climate, lush gardens, strong coffee culture, and Mexico’s renowned Universidad Veracruzana. The name comes from Nahuatl and roughly means “spring in the sand.”

Xankəndi — A Disputed Capital

Xankəndi is recognised on the ground as the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed region that is not recognised or only partially recognised by the international community. It’s better known internationally by its Armenian name, Stepanakert. Whether it “counts” as a capital depends entirely on which government you ask — which is why it doesn’t appear on most official lists.

Other Notable Cities Starting With X

Even though they aren’t capitals, a few “X” cities deserve a mention because they often come up in trivia as red herrings:

• Xi’an — One of China’s Four Great Ancient Capitals and home to the Terracotta Army. It was historically a capital under multiple Chinese dynasties, but today it’s the capital of Shaanxi Province, not the country. It’s the largest city in the world starting with X, with a population of over 10.7 million.
• Xianning — A prefecture-level city in Hubei Province, China, often cited as the second-largest Chinese city starting with X.
• Xiangyang — Another Hubei prefecture-level city, famous in Chinese history as a strategic stronghold.
• Xiamen — A coastal port city in Fujian Province, famous for its colonial architecture and seafood.

None of these are national or even provincial capitals today, but they’re commonly confused with capitals because of Xi’an’s long imperial history.

Quick Reference: X Capitals Around the World

The Bottom Line

If a quiz asks you to name a capital city beginning with X, the technically correct answer is: there isn’t one, at least not at the national level. But if you want to sound like you actually know your geography, mention Xining (capital of Qinghai Province in China) or Xalapa (capital of Veracruz in Mexico). Both are real subnational capitals with rich histories and millions of residents between them.

So while X may be the rarest letter on the world political map, it’s not completely absent, you just have to zoom in a level to find it.