I read that after King Gia Long united the country, he went to the Chinese to ask to change the name of the country. He had the name Nam Viet in mind. However, the Chinese didn't like that because before there was a Viet kingdom like that that gave them a lot of trouble in the past. So they changed it to Viet Nam.
Now, I don't like the fact that the name of the country and people was dictated by somebody else. I even hate the fact that the name Viet Nam doesn't make sense. Nam Viet means the Viet people of the South. Viet Nam doesn't mean anything. It is grammatically incorrect.
I prefer the nam Dai Viet. Dai mean big. However, I don't know about that either because it is a Han-Viet word. Should be just refer to ourselves as Viet like the Thai? I prefer we assert our independce by getting rid of as much Chinese influence as possible.
