According to a recent study by the HCM City Center for Urban Research and Development, there are 1,774 streets with temporary names and 400 streets with odd names in the city. The odd names including nonsense names, same names, different names of the same person, wrong names of famous people, names with bad meanings...

Recently, the HCMC People's Committee has asked relevant bodies to change odd names and give official names for new roads.

Kenh Nuoc Den (black water channel) Street. Bo Bao Tan Thang (Tan Thang embankment) Street and Bo Bao 1 (embankment 1) in Tan Phu district. Vao Chua Phap Thanh (Go to Phap Thanh Pagoda) Street in District 12. In District 12 and Hoc Mon district, people are familiar with odd road names. However, for others, it is a confusing matrix as they cannot remember the names of hundreds of streets which are abbreviations, numbers and nonsense words. Trung My Tay Ward has dozens of roads named TMT, TA, TCH and TTN along with numbers.  Bia Truyen Thong (traditional beer) is the name of a small and narrow road on the right side of the martyr monument of Tan Tao Commune, Binh Tan District. In the commune of Vinh Loc A, Binh Chanh district, there are roads named after military units such as Su Doan 9 (Division 9), Bo Doi An Dien (An Dien Soldiers), Dan Cong Hoa Tuyen (firing-line conscripted laborers), Kenh Trung Uong (Central Canal). The roads called Lien Khu and Lien Ap plus numbers are common in Binh Tan and Binh Chanh districts. In Tan Binh District, there are roads named Tu Lap (self-reliant), Tu Cuong (self-strengthening), Chan Hung ... Many strange street names have long existed around the city such as Sinco (Bin Tan district), Cong Lo (broken sewage) in Tan Binh district, Quan Tre (Bamboo Restaurant) in District 12, ... Many new roads have odd names that are very difficult to remember, such as Route 5/2004 XTT in Xuan Thoi Thuong commune, Hoc Mon district. In industrial zones (khu cong nghiep in Vietnamese), roads are usually named CN plus numbers. There are many roads of the same names in HCM City. Many street names are not displayed on the map.

Photo: Zing

Linh Nhat