I've just read a Vietnamese forum and watched Vietnamese people explaining Southern/Central Vietnames place names in a very hilarious manner. So I decided to search for what these place names really mean.
These are what I found.
Sài Gòn is from Prei Kor (which means "forest kingdom" in Khmer or "cotton city"?)
Đà Lạt is from Da Lat, which means the spring of Lat people (Cơho people) in indigenous language.
Nha Trang is from Ya Trang which means "River of clovers" in Cham language
Đà Nẵng is from one of the three possible sources:
- danak, which means "opening of a large water" in Cham language
- daknan, which means "large water" in Cham language
- danang, which means "river source" in Raglai language ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raglai_people )
Bến Tre is from Srok Treay (Treay means fish. Srok means a place. Vietnamese replaced the word Srok with Bến, which means a harbor in Vietnamese)
Cần Thơ is from kìntho (which is some fish name in Khmer language? @Sanaeha; Supposedly this fish is abundant in the area). The Khmer name for this province is Prek Russey. I don't think the Khmer name has anything to do with Cần Thơ.
Mỹ Tho is from Srok Mì Só (which means "land of white ladies" in Khmer language? @Sanaeha; again lol)
Sóc Trăng is from Srock Khléang (which means the land of treasure in Khmer)
Trà Vinh is from Prha Trapenh (which means the sacred pond)
Cà Mau is from Tưck Khmau (which means black water in Khmer)
Sa Đéc is from the Phsar Dek (which means iron market in Khmer)
Kế Sách is from k'sach (which means sand in Khmer. The word kế sách in Vietnamese means scheme/strategy [計冊] lol)
Đắk Lắk means water lake in some Ede language.
Đắk Nông means the land of people in Bahnar language.
Buôn Mê Thuột is from Ƀuôn Ama Thuôt in Ede language, which means the village of Ama Thuột. Ama Thuột was supposedly the leader that founded the place.
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