Why is washington d. c. called washington d. c.?
On September 9, 1791, the three commissioners overseeing the capital's construction named the city in honor of President Washington. The federal district was named Columbia (a feminine form of "Columbus"), which was a poetic name for the United States commonly in use at that time.
According to Wikipedia,Washington was named after George Washington. "D.C." stands for "District of Columbia".It first included pieces of Virginia and Maryland bordering the Potomac River. Virginia's piece was returned to it in 1847. The District of Columbia once had other small towns using "D.C.".