Etymology

Main article: Names of Vietnam

The name Việt Nam (Vietnamese pronunciation: [viə̀t naːm]) is a variation of Nam Việt (Chinese: 南
越; pinyin: Nányuè; literally "Southern Việt"), a name that can be traced back to the Triệu
dynasty of the 2nd century BC.[11] The word Việt originated as a shortened form of Bách
Việt (Chinese: 百越; pinyin: Bǎiyuè), the name of a group of people then living in southern China
and Vietnam.[12] The form "Vietnam" (越南) is first recorded in the 16th-century oracular
poem Sấm Trạng Trình. The name has also been found on 12 steles carved in the 16th and 17th
centuries, including one at Bao Lam Pagoda in Hải Phòng that dates to 1558.[13] In 1802, Nguyễn
Phúc Ánh (who later became Emperor Gia Long) established the Nguyễn dynasty. In the second
year of his rule, he asked the Jiaqing Emperor of the Qing dynasty to confer on him the title 'King
of Nam Viet/Nanyue' (南越 in Chinese) after seizing power in Annam. The Emperor refused since
the name was related to Zhao Tuo's Nanyue, which included the regions
of Guangxi and Guangdong in southern China. The Qing Emperor, therefore, decided to call the
area "Viet Nam" instead.[n 5][15] Between 1804 and 1813, the name Vietnam was used officially by
Emperor Gia Long.[n 5] It was revived in the early 20th century in Phan Bội Châu's History of the
Loss of Vietnam, and later by the Vietnamese Nationalist Party (VNQDĐ).[16] The country was
usually called Annam until 1945, when both the imperial government in Huế and the Việt
Minh government in Hanoi adopted Việt Nam.[17]