本文以胡志明市 (西貢) 為例，討論越南街道名中的地名與國族建構間的關聯。二戰後新興的獨立國家，普遍用街道名來表述其異於殖民地時期的國族認同。胡志明市為越南第一大都市，殖民時期的法屬印度支那瓦解後，胡志明市先後由越南共和國(1955-1975) 與越南社會主義共和國(1975-) 所統治。本文討論不同時期的政權如何運用胡志明市街道名中的地名，來表述其國族內涵。研究發現，法屬時期的西貢與英屬巴勒斯坦託管地下的海法雷同，具地理意涵的街道名會用於彰顯殖民母國的地緣政治。獨立後的越南則與學術界所熟悉的德國或羅馬尼亞案例不同，除了用於紀念國土統一、緬懷歷史疆域外，還進一步將胡志明市具地理意涵的街道名用於宣揚民族獨立(如戰場名)、紀念國家文化、歷史與神話、甚至表揚經濟成就等。而先後兩個越南政府在這方面的做法也不盡然相同，當中牽涉了兩者在詮釋歷史與經濟成就上的差異，以及主導統一的北越相對大量地將慎選過的北越地景，透過街道命名烙印在前南越(越南共和國) 政府的首邑。

This study critically analyzes the relationship between nation building and street naming in Vietnam by examining street names related to geography in Hồ Chí Minh City (Saigon). Street naming has been and still is widely used by newly independent nations to construct new national identities that distance them from their past. Since the the Indochinese Union collapsed in the mid-1950s, Hồ Chí Minh City, Vietnam’s largest city, has been governed by two regimes: the Republic of Vietnam (RVN) (1955-1975), and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV) (1975-present). This study attempts to identify the principles used by the two post-colonial regimes in codifying their ideologies of national geography via street naming in HCM City. The study reveals that the case of Saigon under the French Indochinese Union is similar to that of Haifa under the British Mandatory Palestine, in which the street names after geography are used to glorify the geopolitics of the colonial empire. The postcolonial regimes signified national independence (e.g., names of battlefields), national culture, history and mythology, and even economic achievement via street names after geography. Street names under the RVN and the SRV differed, primarily resulting from contradictory interpretations of history and economic achievement.