Original photo by Farhad Ibrahimzade/ iStock
We refer to many countries using the definite article “the” — the United States, the Netherlands, the Philippines — but according to the U.S. Department of State and other sources, there are really only two countries in the world whose official names start with the word “the.” They are The Bahamas in the Caribbean and The Gambia in West Africa. The Bahamas is also officially known as the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, but the nation is formally referenced as simply “The Bahamas” many times in its constitution. Similarly, The Gambia’s name is technically the Republic of The Gambia, but it’s almost exclusively referred to as just “The Gambia” in its constitution.
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It's a factKnown as Pig Beach, Big Major Cay is home to about 20 to 25 swimming pigs. This includes tiny piglets, as well as older, larger pigs. No one is sure how the pigs first got there, but one theory is that they were discarded by people who were displeased with the pigs’ odor.
In both cases, the countries were named after geographical features — hence the inclusion of definite articles in their names. The Bahamas was named after an island chain of the same name, which was (and still is) always referred to using “the.” The Gambia, meanwhile, was named by Portuguese explorers after the Gambia River. When the nation achieved independence in 1965, it held on to the word “the” as part of an effort to differentiate it from the similar-sounding Zambia, which had achieved independence one year prior.
There are some countries that include “the” in the middle of their official names, including Democratic Republic of the Congo, and other countries — such as the Maldives and the Solomon Islands — that are generally referred to using “the” even though the word is not officially part of the name. El Salvador is unique in that its name begins with “the” but in a different language, as “el” is Spanish for “the.”
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No sovereign nations begin with the letters “w” or “x” in English.
In the English language, the names of all the world’s sovereign nations begin with 24 of the 26 letters — none begins with the letters “w” or “x.” (There are, however, some uncommon letters that begin the name of only one country, such as “o,” “q,” and “y” in the names Oman, Qatar, and Yemen.) This wasn’t always the case, though. From 1825 until 1917, the United States recognized the sovereign state of Württemberg, which is now part of Germany. Additionally, the country of Samoa was known as Western Samoa from 1962 until 1997, when its name changed to reflect its new status as an independent nation. The “w” and “x” rule, of course, applies only to English. In the Catalan language, for instance — which is spoken in parts of Spain, Italy, France, and Andorra — several countries start with “x,” including Xile (Chile), Xina (China), and Xipre (Cyprus).
Bennett Kleinman is a New York City-based staff writer for Inbox Studio, and previously contributed to television programs such as "Late Show With David Letterman" and "Impractical Jokers." Bennett is also a devoted New York Yankees and New Jersey Devils fan, and thinks plain seltzer is the best drink ever invented.
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