Naming new communes after merger - what to learn from our ancestors?

Implementing the resolution of the National Assembly Standing Committee, Hai Duong province is implementing the arrangement of commune-level administrative units in the province for the period 2023 - 2025.

At the conference to deploy the above plan in August 2023, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Trieu The Hung emphasized the names of the new commune-level administrative units "paying attention to selecting and determining the names of administrative units formed after the arrangement must be meaningful, consistent with the historical, traditional and cultural factors of the locality, giving priority to using one of the existing names of the administrative units before the arrangement or the name that has been used in the history of the formation and development of the administrative unit". With the spirit of "reviewing the past and learning the new", let's find out how the ancients named the communes when merging.

In the feudal period before 1945, commune separation was common and commune mergers were rare. However, at the end of the 19th century, there were some rare cases of commune mergers, such as Cam Quan commune merging with Bao Loc commune to form the new Quan Loc commune, or the separation of Bich Lam and Cam Mac villages from Mac Xa commune to form the new commune Bich Cam (in the same district of Tu Ky). In the above two cases, the name of the new commune was identified by combining the representative letters of both old villages and communes.

After the August Revolution in 1945, the merger of old communes into new communes took place vigorously throughout the country, including Hai Duong. At the same time, the naming of new communes from the merger of old communes was also carried out in many different ways. In addition to taking the names of historical figures of the past or present such as Ho Chi Minh, Tran Hung Dao, Trieu Quang Phuc, Nguyen Van To... to name new communes, some localities also took the names of famous people of their own villages and communes such as Doan Thuong, Pham Tran, Yet Kieu, Thong Kenh (Gia Loc), Pham Kha (Thanh Mien) communes... Some new communes were named from recording the total number of old communes to establish new communes such as Ngu Hung commune (Thanh Mien) which was established from 5 old communes; Tu Xuyen commune (Tu Ky) which was established from 3 old communes with the word "Xuyen": Kim Xuyen, Gia Xuyen, Quang Xuyen and Nguu Uyen commune. There are also new commune names established by combining two representative words in the names of old communes, such as Quang Bi commune with An Nghiep commune to form Quang Nghiep commune (Tu Ky)...

In the period of 2019-2021, Hai Duong province has arranged 55 commune-level administrative units to establish 25 new units. The naming of communes in this period is also quite diverse, such as Vinh Tuy and Hung Thinh communes (Binh Giang) merged into Vinh Hung commune; Trung Khanh, Gia Hoa, Yet Kieu communes (Gia Loc) merged into the new Yet Kieu commune; Kim Khe, Kim Luong communes (Kim Thanh) merged into Kim Lien commune. In Tu Ky district, the new commune Chi Minh was formed from the merger of 3 communes: Dong Ky, Tay Ky and Tu Xuyen, the name of this new commune is the name of those communes that were merged in history.

In the period of 2023 - 2025, Hai Duong set a goal of rearranging 60 communes. Applying the province's orientation, Tu Ky district plans to merge Dan Chu commune with Quang Nghiep, Tai Son commune with Ngoc Ky... Before 1945, Dan Chu commune was originally 3 communes with the word "Ky": La Xa Ky, Cao La Ky, An Lai Ky; Quang Nghiep commune was originally named An Nghiep, so the new commune name after merging these communes could be Ky An, both ensuring the preservation of history and tradition, and having the beautiful meaning of a peace-praying ceremony.

Similarly, Tai Son commune was established from two communes with the word "Tai" which are Ngoc Tai and Thiet Tai, so when merged with Ngoc Ky commune, it can be called Tai Ngoc or better yet, Ngoc Ky, it should not be called Ngoc Tai because it will be confused with a part of Tai Son commune. In the later stage, it is planned to merge Quang Phuc commune with Binh Lang commune, so to ensure historical preservation, it is possible to keep the new commune name Binh Lang because the name "Quang Phuc commune" was only established in 1947, while the name "Binh Lang commune" has a history of at least nearly 500 years...