Talk:Names of Ho Chi Minh City

Reference for "Gia Dinh"
The origin of the name Gia Dinh has not been fully discovered. It is a combination of the Chinese characters "Gia" and "Dinh". "Gia" means pretty or happy, while "Dinh" means to decide or pacify. In northern Vietnam, before 1820, on district, one tong, and one xa, were all called Gia Dinh, with the same Chinese characters. [...] But there is no evidence that the Nguyen state borrowed the name Gia Dinh from the north, if this name existed at that time, when it named southern Vietnam Gia Dinh in 1698.

In my opinion, the phrase "Gia Dinh" in the south not only had the Chinese meanings mentioned above, but also reflected the local word for this region, as did the word "Saigon". "Saigon" represents the influence of the Khmer language. On the other hand, "Gia Dinh" also seems to be related to the Malay language, a real possibility if we remember that this region was crowded with Malay language speakers during the seventeenth century. Besides, ethnic minorities belonging to the Malay language family existed in this region before Vietnamese came here. In southern pronunciation, Gia is close to Ya. In Malay, a word pronounced ya (or ayer) has the meaning of water, stream, or river. The Vietnamese may have borrowed the Malay pronunciation, or the Malay term, to invent a Chinese name, "Gia Dinh", to indicate their new land, many parts of which were filled with water. There is another possibility. Professor Anthony Johns suggests we consider the Malay words dingin or hering, which mean "cool or cold", and "clean or clear", respectively, as the have a pronunciation close to Dinh. If we remember the rivers in this region such as the Dong Nai River, the Saigon River, and the Western and Eastern Vam Co Rivers, which are obviously clearer than the Mekong River, we cannot rule out the possibility that the Vietnamese name, "Gia Dinh", had to do with the relatively clear (and therefore cool looking) rivers in this region. Or, if we combine these theories, we might suggest that the name "Gia Dinh" came from a local name "Ya (or Ayer) Dingin (or Hering)" with the meaning of "clear (clean, cool, or cold) water (streams, or rivers)".

Choi Byung Wook (2004). Southern Vietnam under the reign of Minh Mạng (1820-1841): Central Policies and Local Response. Cornell University Southeast Asia Program. p. 20. ISBN 0-87727-138-0. http://books.google.com/books?id=foZAdRgB-nwC&lpg=PP1&ots=xfkjUciisR&dq=Southern%20Vietnam%20under%20the%20reign%20of%20Minh%20M%E1%BA%A1ng&pg=20#v=onepage&q&f=false.

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What is the point of this article? It is unnecessary.
There shouldn't be a full article on this topic because name changes don't need to be in depth like this, it shouldn't need to be an article dddicated solely to this. Ho Chi Minh City article already has this under history and etymology. Norewritingofhistory (talk) 03:03, 7 August 2021 (UTC)
 * The reason for creating this article was that many, many people kept insisting on adding their points of view to Ho Chi Minh City about what the name of the city was, is, and should be. Essentially, it was to prevent that article from being taken over with arguments about naming. It seems to be fulfilling that purpose, at least so far. dragfyre_ ʞןɐʇ c 05:03, 4 November 2021 (UTC)
 * I think this article has been raided by Khmer wiki users. They blast everything Vietnamese related with Khmer names and claims of how Vietnamese appear to be akin to evil, which most of these names aren't listed in any historical references. There was another source that listed Chams settling before the Khmers and was called Baiguar. There is simply, a lot of misinformation about Khmer origins when it comes to Vietnamese history, and I suspect they are using revised irredentism for political purposes. I could fact check these sources and most likely, what the information presented on the article is contrary to the source, which would then require mass editing but it is very time consuming. There is only one name that the Khmers refer it to, whether it is real or not, since "Prey Nokor" has not been seen in any Cambodian archive or document of that time period. This article has become their spot and their mark is all over it.Norewritingofhistory (talk) 17:07, 7 November 2021 (UTC)