This chapter will travel down to Southern Vietnam, where it was among the last parts of present-day Vietnam to be merged into the Vietnamese state.
Centered around the Southeast region, this area is widely regarded as Vietnam’s primary economic engine, where major industrial hubs, bustling ports, and the nation’s largest metropolis drive growth.
Yet beneath this modern dynamism lies a rich historical landscape, where the names of each province tell stories of migration, trade, and cultural exchange.
Khanh Hoa
Behind the Khanh Hoa name lies nearly four centuries of history. The story begins in 1653, when a Nguyen Lord pushed Dai Viet’s southern frontier beyond Dai Lanh Pass after a military campaign against the Cham kingdom.
Over the next two centuries, the region underwent several administrative renamings: Until 1831–1832 when Emperor Minh Mạng reorganized the Nguyen Empire’s administrative system in the early 1830s, he replaced many older regional names with ones carrying auspicious meanings. Khánh Hòa was one of them:
- Khánh (慶): joy, celebration, good fortune
- Hòa (和): harmony, peace, gentleness
Rather than describing a mountain, river, or local resource, the name expresses a land where people live in peace and where prosperity can endure.
Ho Chi Minh
Before it became Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s largest metropolis was known as Sài Gòn, a name that had been explained as a place where kapok trees (cây bông gòn) once grew abundantly, as explanation appears in Đại Nam Quốc Âm Tự Vị (the first Vietnamese dictionary) by scholar Huynh Tinh Cua. Another widely accepted explanation traces the name to the Khmer settlement Prei Nokor with “Prei” means “forest” and Nokor means “city” or “kingdom”.
Over the centuries, the city evolved from a Khmer trading settlement into one of Southeast Asia’s most dynamic urban centers, serving as the capital of Cochinchina under French rule and later as the capital of South Vietnam. In 1946, physician and revolutionary Tran Huu Nghiep first proposed renaming Saigon - Gia Dinh after Hồ Chí Minh as a symbol of national unity, though the idea would not be realized until decades later.
Following the reunification of Vietnam, the National Assembly officially adopted the name Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh (Ho Chi Minh City) on July 3, 1976, honoring the leader whose vision of independence and reunification had shaped the country’s modern history. The newly expanded HCMC was formed through the merger with Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau province, creating a vast metropolitan region that includes Vietnam’s largest urban center.
Lam Dong
This is one of Vietnam’s youngest provincial names, but the land it describes has a far older history. Long before administrative borders were drawn, this Central Highlands region was home to indigenous communities such as the K'Ho, Mạ, M'Nông, and Chu Ru, whose lives were closely tied to forests, mountains, and shifting cultivation.
The name Lâm Đồng itself only officially appeared in 1958, when the government of the Republic of Vietnam renamed the former province of Đồng Nai Thượng. Most scholars believe the name was created by combining “Lâm” from Sino-Vietnamized Lâm Viên - the historic highland region centered around Langbiang, and “Đồng” from Đồng Nai Thượng, the old administrative name for the upper reaches of the Dong Nai basin.
In Sino-Vietnamese, “lâm” means forest, while “đồng” evokes broad plains and upland plateaus, making the name a fitting description of a province defined by pine forests, fertile highlands, and rolling agricultural land, most known to Dalat - the country’s celebrated mountain city.
The newly enlarged Lam Dong now was merged with Dak Nong (a highland province) and Binh Thuan (a coastal province), creating a remarkably diverse province that stretches from the Central Highlands to the South Central Coast.
Tay Ninh
Before it became known for the sacred peak of Ba Đen Mountain and as the birthplace of Cao Dai religion, Tay Ninh was once a sparsely populated frontier on the western edge of southern Vietnam. Today, Tay Ninh expands by merging with Long An after Vietnam’s 2025 administrative reorganization.
In earlier centuries, this area belonged to the Khmer realm and was known as Rom Dumray, meaning “Elephant Stable” or “Elephant Pen,” a fitting name for a landscape of dense forests where elephants and other wild animals roamed freely. From the 17th century onward, waves of Vietnamese settlers from central Vietnam gradually moved into the region, clearing land and establishing villages along the Vam Co River and surrounding waterways. The name Tây Ninh first appeared officially in 1836, during the reign of Minh Mang.
Written in Sino-Vietnamese characters, “Tây” means “west” and “Ninh” means “peace” or “stability,” so the name can be understood as “peace in the west” or “the secure western frontier.” Tay Ninh reflected the Nguyen dynasty’s aspiration to bring order and permanence to a borderland between Vietnamese and Khmer territories.
Dong Nai
The most widely accepted interpretation comes from classical Vietnamese records, which explain that “Đồng” means field or open plain, and “Nai” refers to a deer. In this reading, Đồng Nai can be understood as “the field of deer” or “the plain where deer roamed.” Gia Định thành thông chí (Record of Gia Dinh Citadel), compiled by Trinh Hoai Duc in the early 19th century, notes that the area was once known for its abundant wildlife and that the market of Lộc Dã (“Field of Deer”) was popularly called Dong Nai market.
Some researchers suggest that the name may predate Vietnamese settlement and originate from indigenous languages of the Mạ people. They point to the Mạ term “Đạ Đờng,” used to describe a large river, and propose that over centuries of linguistic adaptation, the phrase gradually evolved into Đồng Nai. In this interpretation, the name is tied to the great river itself, a waterway that has shaped the history, ecology, and settlement patterns of southern Vietnam for thousands of years.
The entire southern region was at times collectively referred to as Dong Nai, because this was one of the earliest and most important areas opened to Vietnamese settlement during the southward expansion. Today, the new Dong Nai was created by merging with Binh Phuoc province, bringing together the industrial southeast and the forested uplands that once formed part of Vietnam’s frontier.
Can Tho
One of the most beloved explanations traces the name to the phrase Cầm Thi Giang (the river of music and poetry). According to local lore, when Nguyen ANh, the future Emperor Gia Long, traveled through the Mekong Delta while fleeing political turmoil, he anchored his boat at the confluence where Cần Thơ now stands. In the stillness of the night, he heard voices reciting poetry, accompanied by traditional instruments and folk songs drifting across the water. Moved by the scene, he is said to have named the river Cam Thi Giang. Over time, local pronunciation transformed Cầm Thi into Cần Thơ.
Another explanation is rooted in agriculture. Historically, the riverbanks were said to be lined with rau cần (water celery) and rau thơm (herbs). Boats carrying produce filled the waterways, and some believe the phrase “Cần Thơm” gradually evolved into Cần Thơ.
In Địa Danh Nam Bộ (Geographical Names of Southern Vietnam), scholar Le Trung Hoa suggests the name may derive from the Khmer term Kìn-Tho, referring to a local species of gourami fish. This interpretation aligns with a broader pattern in southern Vietnam, where rivers and settlements were frequently named after plants and animals common to the area.
The expanded Can Tho now encompasses the former city of Can Tho together with Hau Giang and Soc Trang province. It captures the agricultural richness of a Mekong Delta city often celebrated in the famous line:
Cần Thơ gạo trắng nước trong,
Ai đi đến đó lòng không muốn về.
(Can Tho, where the rice is white and the water clear;
Whoever arrives there never wishes to leave.)
Vinh Long
Vĩnh Long was intentionally created using Sino-Vietnamese characters. “Vĩnh” means everlasting, while “Long” conveys prosperity and abundance. Together, the name can be understood as “enduring prosperity” or “lasting flourishing.”
The province occupies a strategic position between the Tien and Hau rivers, at the very center of the Mekong Delta. For centuries, this location made it an important crossroads linking inland waterways with broader regional trade networks.
The roots of the province date back to 1732, when the Nguyen lords established Long Ho Palace, one of the earliest administrative centers in the south. During Emperor Minh Mang’s major administrative reforms in 1832, the area was formally designated as Vinh Long.
The name reflects both geography and aspiration: a fertile land sustained by rivers, and a hope that prosperity would continue for generations. Today, the new Vinh Long was formed by merging the former Vinh Long, Ben Tre, and Tra Vinh.
Dong Thap
Besides the official name Dong Thap, this province is also locally called Đồng Tháp Mười. “Đồng” means plain or field, and “Tháp” means tower. But the story becomes more intriguing with the addition of “Mười,” which means “ten.”
Đồng Tháp Mười was one of the largest wetland ecosystems in Southeast Asia. Historically, this vast floodplain stretched across present-day Dong Thap, Long An, and Tien Giang.
Several explanations exist. One popular theory suggests that the region contained the tenth tower in a network of ancient Khmer or Funan religious structures. Archaeological discoveries at Go Thap - including Oc Eo artifacts, Sanskrit inscriptions, and temple foundations dating back some 1,500 years, lend weight to the idea that the area was once an important spiritual center.
Over time, the historic name of the region became the name of the modern province, officially established in 1976 after the reunification of Vietnam. Today, Dong Thap includes both the former Dong Thap and Tien Giang province. The province continues to evoke a landscape of lotus-filled wetlands, a symbol immortalized in one of Vietnam’s most beloved folk verses that compares the purity of the lotus to the greatness of President Ho Chi Minh.
Tháp Mười đẹp nhất bông sen,
Việt Nam đẹp nhất có tên Bác Hồ.
(The finest flower of Thap Muoi is the lotus in bloom;
The finest name in Vietnam is that of President Ho Chi Minh.)
An Giang
An Giang combines two Sino-Vietnamese elements: “An” meaning peace or stability, and “Giang” meaning river. The resulting name “peaceful river” or “peaceful waterways” is particularly fitting for a province defined by the branching channels of the Mekong and by its long role as a frontier between Vietnam and Cambodia.
The region was once part of Tam Phong Long, a territory incorporated into Vietnamese administration in the 18th century. During Emperor Minh Mang’s reforms in 1832, An Giang became one of the six provinces of Cochinchina.
Over time, it developed into one of the most culturally diverse regions in Vietnam, home to Kinh, Khmer, Cham, and Hoa communities. The expanded An Giang Province merges the former An Giang and Kien Giang provinces, creating one of the largest and most geographically diverse provinces in the Mekong Delta.
Ca Mau
At Vietnam’s southernmost tip lies Cà Mau, whose name has one of the clearest linguistic origins in the region. Most scholars agree it derives from the Khmer phrase Tuk Khmâu, meaning “black water.” In Khmer, tuk means water and khmâu means black.
The description is strikingly accurate. In the forests of U Minh, fallen leaves from mangroves, melaleuca trees, and nipa palms decompose in the wetlands, turning canals a dark tea-like color. The name was already recorded in Gia Định thành thông chí (Gazetteer of Gia Dinh Citadel) in the early 19th century, indicating that it predated formal Vietnamese administration and reflected an earlier Khmer understanding of the landscape.
The new Ca Mau Province was merging the former Ca Mau and Bac Lieu Province, uniting two coastal provinces at the southernmost reaches of the country.
