本文藉由法屬時期至獨立後的越南第一大都市胡志明（西貢）市街道命名變遷，討論不同政權的國族理念。在法國人建立殖民政權前，大多數的越南街道並無正式名稱，西貢是第一個由法國人以現代街道命名體系命名的越南都市；法國人將法蘭西認同烙印於西貢的街道名。越南獨立後，舊南越政府（越南共和國）與統一後的越南政府（越南社會主義共和國）皆追隨法屬時期以人名為主、事物與口號為輔的街道命名方式，闡述其越南國族認同。先後兩個統治西貢的越南政府，雖然都藉由歷史人物等來強調越南的獨立與國族認同，但其內涵有些小差異；從街道命名可見南越政府企圖藉由阮朝人物來強調其接續前朝政權的正統性，而統一後的社會主義政權雖不走前東歐共產國家的國際路線，卻以類同於法屬時期的當代政治人物方式來突顯其國族認同。

In this paper we try to approach the issue of contesting national identities by exploring the change of street names in the largest city of Việt Nam, Hồ Chí Minh City or Sài Gòn, from the French colonial to the post-colonial period. Sài Gòn was the first Vietnamese city where the French colonial regime implemented the modern naming system for streets. Before the period of French colonization most of the streets in Vietnam had no official names. The French set up their street-naming system to imprint the contemporary French national and imperial identity on the urban symbolic landscape. After decolonization, both the Republic of Việt Nam (RVN) and the Socialist Republic of Việt Nam (SRV) followed the street-naming principles of the French to interpret their own Vietnamese national identity. Although both the postcolonial regimes highlighted the independence and identity of Vietnam by naming streets after historical figures, there were a few variations in their contents. The RVN attempted to legitimatize its regime by emphasizing the role of the Nguyễn dynasty, whereas the SRV did so by asserting contemporary political leadership.