美国首都叫什么名字？

现在，不少人把美国首都（Washington, District of Columbia, the U.S.A.）称为“华盛顿特区”或者“华盛顿哥伦比亚特区”。其实，这两种称呼都不准确。它的正确全称应该是“美国哥伦比亚特区华盛顿市”。

美国另外还有华盛顿州（State of Washington），该州的首府西雅图是波音公司的总部所在地，位于美国的太平洋沿岸,而首都华盛顿则位于大西洋沿岸。一东一西。为避免混淆，中文里一直都称美国首都为“美国首都华盛顿”。

哥伦比亚特区的“特”至少体现在两个地方：一是，它是当年专门为美国建都而由马里兰和弗吉尼亚两个州“贡献”出来的地方（后来弗吉尼亚拿回了土地）；二是，哥伦比亚特区的地域与华盛顿市完全重合。因此，这块土地实际上具有双重身份：它既是美国的联邦区，受美国政府直接管辖，也是一座城市，是美国政府驻地。也就是说，美国当年建都的时候，给这个地方起了两个名字：联邦区叫“哥伦比亚特区”，地方城市叫“华盛顿市”，这一点中国人不太容易理解。在中国，担负两种角色的这个区域叫同一个名字：北京。

以下是《大英百科全书》对这个地方的介绍：

Washington, D.C. (“District of Columbia”), city and capital of the United States of America. The city is coextensive with the District of Columbia and is located at the head of navigation of the Potomac River, which separates it from Virginia to the southwest. In 1790 Congress designated 100 square miles (260 square km) of territory for the seat of government for the new nation on land ceded by Maryland and Virginia. However, in the mid-19th century the land south of the Potomac was returned to Virginia, and since then the District’s boundaries have made it essentially a 68-square-mile (177-square-km) enclave carved from Maryland. The greater Washington metropolitan area includes several surrounding counties in Maryland and Virginia and such Virginia cities as Fairfax, Falls Church, and Alexandria. Pop. (1990) city, 606,900; Washington PMSA, 4,223,485; Washington–Baltimore CMSA, 6,727,050; (2000) city, 572,059; Washington PMSA, 4,923,153; Washington–Baltimore CMSA, 7,608,070.

Washington, D.C., Encyclopedia Britannica