Viet Nam means the Viets of the South (Nam) or the south populated by the Viet the main ethnic group in Vietnam.

In the course of its long history Vietnam has been known by many different national names:

Van Langunder the 18 Hung or Lac-Vuong kings (500 B.C. to 257 b.C.)
Au Lac under the Thuc Dynasty (257 B.C. to 207 B.C.)
Nam Viet under the Trieu Dynasty (207B.C. to 111 B.C.)
Giao Chi under the early Chinese Han Dynasty (203 to 544)
Van Xuan under the early Ly Dynasty (544 to 603)
An Nam under the Chinese Tang Dynasty (603 to 939)
Dai Viet under the Ngo dynasty (939 to 967)
Dai Co Viet under the Dinh Dynasty and its successors (968-1054)
Dai Viet under the later Ly and Tran Dynasties (1054-1400)
Dai Ngu under the Ho Dunasty (1400-1407
An Nam under the Tran and Chinese Ming Dynasties (1407-1428)
Dai Viet under the Le and Nguyen Dynasties (1428-1802)
Viet Nam under Emperor Gia Long in 1802.
Dai Nam under Emperor Minh-Mang in 1832 and his successors.
Viet Nam renamed in April 1945 by the National government headed by Tran Trong Kim.

Under the French colonial administration, North Vietnam became known as Tonkin, the Centre as Annam and the South as Cochinchina.