Naming new wards and communes and people's wishes

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What makes people wonder is that many localities name new administrative units in order 1, 2, 3, 4… or East, West, South, North; land and village names that have been associated for generations suddenly disappear.

In response to people's opinions, some localities have quickly overcome this problem, but there are still many places that name new wards and communes in a numerical order.

According to Decision 759/QD-TTg issued on April 14, 2025 on approving the Project on rearranging and reorganizing administrative units at all levels and building a 2-level local government organization model, the first principle to determine the name is that the naming of administrative units after the rearrangement must be carefully and thoroughly researched, carefully considering traditional, historical and cultural factors.

Prioritize using one of the names of the administrative units before the merger to name the newly formed administrative unit, minimizing the impact on people and businesses due to the conversion of documents and geographical indications related to provincial-level administrative units. The name of the new administrative unit needs to be easy to identify, concise, easy to read, easy to remember, ensure systematicity, science and promote the comparative advantages of the locality, in line with the integration trend.

Naming communes and wards according to ordinal numbers or according to the names of district-level administrative units (before arrangement) with ordinal numbers attached is the fifth principle in this decision.

Besides, there are some other principles such as creating consensus among local people; contributing to preserving and promoting historical values, traditions, culture and the spirit of solidarity of the people towards the new administrative unit after the arrangement... Thus, according to current regulations, localities are not required to name the commune-level administrative unit after the arrangement in order of numbering.

Recently, during a meeting with voters in Hanoi , General Secretary To Lam praised the way Ho Chi Minh City named new administrative units after the rearrangement, when it retained old place names that were deeply ingrained in the subconscious of many generations of people.

Because according to the General Secretary , when mentioning Gia Dinh, Cho Lon, An Dong, Hoc Mon, Ba Diem... people immediately imagine and recognize that land. Obviously, naming administrative units is not simply a convention to distinguish one administrative entity from another.

It is not by chance that land and village names, over time and associated with history, are always given meaningful and highly respected names. Therefore, when giving a new name to a geographical area, it is necessary to consider the history, culture and wishes of the local people, to avoid unnecessary consequences later.

According to sggp.org.vn

Source: https://baoapbac.vn/dien-dan/202504/dat-ten-phuong-xa-moi-va-tam-nguyen-nguoi-dan-1040972/