Ho Chi Minh City forest", from which "Saigon" was derived ("kor" meaning "kapok" in Khmer and Cham, going into Vietnamese as "gòn" ). The current official name, ', adopted in 1976 and abbreviated Tp. HCM, is translated as "Ho Chi Minh City", abbreviated HCMC, and in French as ' (the circumflex is sometimes omitted), abbreviated HCMV. The name commemorates Hồ Chí Minh, the first leader of North Vietnam. This name, though not his given name, was one he favored throughout his later years. It combines a common Vietnamese surname (Hồ, 胡) with a given name meaning "enlightened will" (from Sino-Vietnamese 志 明; Chí meaning
Ho Chi Minh Highway highway now stays completely within Vietnam's borders. Ho Chi Minh Highway Ho Chi Minh Road or Ho Chi Minh Highway () is a highway in Vietnam. It runs from the north to the south of Vietnam, west of National Route 1A. The highway was named after Hồ Chí Minh. The route roughly coincides with the Ho Chi Minh trail during the Vietnam War. It is a two-lane highway and is planned to become an 8-lane highway and it will connect Cao Bằng Province by the Sino-Vietnamese border to Cà Mau Province with the total length of 3,167 km. As of