Place names of Vietnam primarily deals with Vietnamese place names meaning

endonyms An endonym (from Greek: , 'inner' + , 'name'; also known as autonym) is a common, ''native'' name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group, o ...

for places in Vietnam. The

names of Vietnam Throughout the history of Vietnam, many names were used in reference to Vietnam. History Throughout the history of Vietnam, official and unofficial names have been used in reference to the territory of Vietnam. Vietnam was called Văn Lang dur ...

itself is a distinct historical and political subject.

Vietnam place name origins

The origins of Vietnam's place names are diverse. They include vernacular

Vietnamese language Vietnamese ( vi, tiếng Việt, links=no) is an Austroasiatic language originating from Vietnam where it is the national and official language. Vietnamese is spoken natively by over 70 million people, several times as many as the rest of the ...

, tribal and montagnard,

Chinese language Chinese (, especially when referring to written Chinese) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in Greater China. About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the ...

(both from the Chinese domination of Vietnam and the indigenous Confucian administration afterward 1100-1900),

Champa Champa ( Cham: ꨌꩌꨛꨩ; km, ចាម្ប៉ា; vi, Chiêm Thành or ) were a collection of independent Cham polities that extended across the coast of what is contemporary central and southern Vietnam from approximately the 2nd ...

and

Khmer language Khmer (; , ) is an Austroasiatic language spoken by the Khmer people, and the official and national language of Cambodia. Khmer has been influenced considerably by Sanskrit and Pali, especially in the royal and religious registers, thro ...

names, as well as a number of names influenced by contact with traders and

French Indochina French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China),; vi, Đông Dương thuộc Pháp, , lit. 'East Ocean under French Control; km, ឥណ្ឌូចិនបារាំង, ; th, อินโดจีนฝรั่งเศส, ...

. Chinese geographical terms occur frequently in the place names of Vietnam.

Vietnamese demotic vs. Sino-Vietnamese names

Many rivers and mountains have two or three names. For example, the Đuống River has 3 names: * sông Đuống - Vietnamese "river" ''sông'', followed by a fully local Vietnamese

demotic Demotic may refer to: * Demotic Greek, the modern vernacular form of the Greek language * Demotic (Egyptian), an ancient Egyptian script and version of the language * Chữ Nôm, the demotic script for writing Vietnamese See also * * Demos (disa ...

name Đuống * sông Thiên Đức - Vietnamese "river" ''sông'' followed by a formal tên chữ in Hán "Heavenly Virtue" * Thiên Đức giang - Chinese name "Heavenly Virtue" (天德), followed by fully Chinese word for "river" (江) *Bằng Giang - Chinese name

Bằng river The Bằng River ( vi, Sông Bằng, zh, 水口河 vietnamese: Thủy Khẩu Hà) is a river of Cao Bằng Province, Vietnam.''Vietnam Administrative Atlas'', Map Publisher, 2004 It flows for 108 kilometres. It originates in the Guangxi, China, ...

(凭江/平江) As in this example it is usual to follow Vietnamese syntax for sông prefix (placing it before the name), and Chinese syntax for suffix giang (placing it after the name). The 4th alternative Đuống giang does not (or should not) exist. Villages often have a local Vietnamese name (often unwritten but known to people who live there), and a formal Hán tên chữ name assigned by Vietnamese Confucian administrators in previous centuries for taxation and other purposes. Larger towns and Cities however generally only have 1 name - though historically a local demotic name may be remembered, or, as in the case of

Saigon , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...

, the local purely Vietnamese name may have grown into the official name and a Chinese name created to mimic the sound of the Vietnamese name.

Changing names

Names of states and provinces

In addition to the many changes of the

, states such

Tonkin Tonkin, also spelled ''Tongkin'', ''Tonquin'' or ''Tongking'', is an exonym referring to the northern region of Vietnam. During the 17th and 18th centuries, this term referred to the domain '' Đàng Ngoài'' under Trịnh lords' control, includ ...

and

Cochinchina Cochinchina or Cochin-China (, ; vi, Đàng Trong (17th century - 18th century, Việt Nam (1802-1831), Đại Nam (1831-1862), Nam Kỳ (1862-1945); km, កូសាំងស៊ីន, Kosăngsin; french: Cochinchine; ) is a historical exon ...

, provinces have had many changes due to administrative and political changes.

Changing names of capitals and major cities

Hanoi Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi i ...

has had many names. Many other cities have also experienced name changes.

District and Street names

The District and Street names of Vietnam's cities have been fluid in recent history. The French gave French names to most of the streets of Hanoi, Saigon and other major cities, often ignorant of existing Vietnamese names. When French control of Vietnam ended in 1954, these names were replaced in both the North and the South.Lonely Planet Vietnam - Page 350 Nick Ray, Yu-Mei Balasingamchow - 2010 "Some places have borne three or more names since WWII and, often, more than one name is still used. When French control of Vietnam ended in 1954, almost all French names were replaced in both the North and the South. Saigon's Rue ..."

References

{{reflist Geography of Vietnam Vietnamese language Vietnam, Place names of