# What % of Americans can name the capital of Canada? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 9, 2005, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-of-americans-can-name-the-capital-of-canada/330170 "2005-11-09T04:15:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-of-americans-can-name-the-capital-of-canada/330170/1 "2005-11-09T04:15:43Z")
It’s Ottawa, for you mouseover viewers. I was curious. What percentage of Americans can name the capital of Canada? I did some googling and came up empty. A search turned up [this old thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=39904) but it didn’t have the answer either. Anyone know? (I’d also be interested in the flipside: what percentage of Canadians can name the U.S. capital.) ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-of-americans-can-name-the-capital-of-canada/330170/2 "2005-11-09T04:29:16Z")
I knew it: 279,821,987 to go. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-of-americans-can-name-the-capital-of-canada/330170/3 "2005-11-09T04:37:05Z")
I would not be surprised if more Canadians can name the US capital than vice-versa because of two things: One, the US capital is more newsworthy, even in Canada, and two, the sheer amount of media produced by the US that has found its way into Canadian culture. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-of-americans-can-name-the-capital-of-canada/330170/4 "2005-11-09T04:40:07Z")
Oh Gee, lets make it a little tougher What was the first capitol, not capital, of Upper Canada ? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-of-americans-can-name-the-capital-of-canada/330170/5 "2005-11-09T04:41:28Z")
> [@The Flying Dutchman](#): > > Oh Gee, lets make it a little tougher What was the first capitol, not capital, of Upper Canada ? “U”? ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-of-americans-can-name-the-capital-of-canada/330170/6 "2005-11-09T04:45:29Z")
> [@](#): > > What % of Americans can name the capital of Canada? It’s about $1.49, right? :: d&R :: 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-of-americans-can-name-the-capital-of-canada/330170/7 "2005-11-09T05:01:43Z")
Plus the Canadians did burn down our capitol once so they may be more likely to rember it. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-of-americans-can-name-the-capital-of-canada/330170/8 "2005-11-09T05:03:03Z")
> [@The Flying Dutchman](#): > > Oh Gee, lets make it a little tougher What was the first capitol, not capital, of Upper Canada ? A building somewhere in Niagara-on-the-Lake, which then was called Newark. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-of-americans-can-name-the-capital-of-canada/330170/9 "2005-11-09T05:06:15Z")
Okay, I cheated and looked it up (although I did know Ottawa, like probably 90% of the SDMB Americans) . But I still didn’t find a definitive answer. The [government of Ontario](http://www.gov.on.ca/ont/portal/!ut/p/.cmd/cs/.ce/7_0_A/.s/7_0_252/_s.7_0_A/7_0_252/_l/en?docid=004690#Newark) says it’s either the Navy Hall or Freemasons’ Hall in Newark (Niagara-on-the-Lake). I had no idea there were that many changes in Canada’s seat of government. I also had no idea Google now openly insults you by highlighting search terms it thinks you misspelled, without so much as a “Did you mean _capital_?” (Almost as interesting - try typing in “Canada capitol building” and hit the ‘I’m Feeling Lucky’ button at Google.) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-of-americans-can-name-the-capital-of-canada/330170/10 "2005-11-09T05:21:14Z")
I would be surprised if 10% of Americans could name the capital of Canada. Canada City would probably the most popular guess. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-of-americans-can-name-the-capital-of-canada/330170/11 "2005-11-09T05:24:18Z")
I always thought that the capital of Canada was “C”. ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-of-americans-can-name-the-capital-of-canada/330170/12 "2005-11-09T05:30:32Z")
I can not only name it, I have been there. Dropped in for a couple of days on my way to Worldcon in Boston last year. Just missed seeing Arlo Guthrie at the folk music festival. ☹ And I even took the tour of Parliament. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![bradministrator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a698b9/32.png) [@bradministrator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bradministrator)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-of-americans-can-name-the-capital-of-canada/330170/13 "2005-11-09T05:55:13Z")
> [@Padeye](#): > > Plus the Canadians did burn down our capitol once so they may be more likely to rember it. But we burned down their capital, Toronto, too. Wait, what? ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-of-americans-can-name-the-capital-of-canada/330170/14 "2005-11-09T06:13:17Z")
It’s probably about the same as the percentage of Canadians (or Americans) who can name the capital of New Zealand. Most who don’t know would probably guess Toronto, just like a lot of people think NYC is the capital of New York, or Rio de Janeiro is the capital of Brazil. It’s no big news that most Americans don’t have a lot of cause to think about Canada and/or Canadians. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-of-americans-can-name-the-capital-of-canada/330170/15 "2005-11-09T06:17:05Z")
> [@Padeye](#): > > Plus the Canadians did burn down our capitol once so they may be more likely to rember it. [Not so.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=63222) ---
**Author:** ![Rodd\_Hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-of-americans-can-name-the-capital-of-canada/330170/16 "2005-11-09T06:58:06Z")
Rick Mercer has been there before. [http://home.comcast.net/~wwwstephen/americans/](http://home.comcast.net/~wwwstephen/americans/) ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-of-americans-can-name-the-capital-of-canada/330170/17 "2005-11-09T08:02:06Z")
Canadopolis? ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-of-americans-can-name-the-capital-of-canada/330170/18 "2005-11-09T14:14:57Z")
> [@Rodgers01](#): > > It’s probably about the same as the percentage of Canadians (or Americans) who can name the capital of New Zealand. > > Most who don’t know would probably guess Toronto, just like a lot of people think NYC is the capital of New York, or Rio de Janeiro is the capital of Brazil. Aukland is the capital of New Zealand, and I didn’t have to look it up. Uh, I hope that’s right, or I’ll be one ashamed American… The Rio de Janeiro thing totally ruined “I still Know What You Did Last Summer” the first 10 minutes of the movie. Sheeesh. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-of-americans-can-name-the-capital-of-canada/330170/19 "2005-11-09T14:17:51Z")
I knew it even before the Ottawa Senators joined the NHL- so if you’re a hockey fan that should have been a clue. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-of-americans-can-name-the-capital-of-canada/330170/20 "2005-11-09T14:23:11Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > Aukland is the capital of New Zealand, and I didn’t have to look it up. Uh, I hope that’s right, or I’ll be one ashamed American… > > The Rio de Janeiro thing totally ruined “I still Know What You Did Last Summer” the first 10 minutes of the movie. Sheeesh. Uh, no, Wellington is the capital. Auckland is, I believe, the largest city. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-of-americans-can-name-the-capital-of-canada/330170.md?page=2)