A woman named Lanh has lived in an apartment complex in Hanoi for almost three years, but she still has trouble remembering the name of the place where she lives, which is called Feliz, and many people misspell it.

Because the name is hard to remember, many residents have made up their own Vietnamese names for the place, such as 'phe-lit home' or 'the phe-lit area'.

Not just residents, but also real estate agents have trouble with the names of projects.

Nguyen Quang Thanh, a property broker, said that some developers choose names that are hard to read and pronounce, and he remembered a project near West Lake that people had trouble saying the name of.

The use of apostrophes in project names starting with 'D'' has created another problem, as typing the names on phones or computers often results in errors.

A senior executive from a development company once mispronounced the name of the residential complex his own company was promoting.

Many projects have English names that are hard for Vietnamese speakers to pronounce, and residents often shorten them into informal nicknames.

Projects with names inspired by French or Spanish, such as D'Capitale and Feliz en Vista, also have pronunciation problems.

Some developments have long commercial names with many syllables, combining the developer's brand and other information.

Finding the right name is important.

According to lawyer Tran Vi Thoai, current regulations allow housing projects to use foreign-language names if the full Vietnamese name appears first.

The 2023 Housing Law says that housing development projects must be named in Vietnamese, and social housing projects can only use Vietnamese names.

For commercial housing developments, developers can choose to include foreign-language names, but the Vietnamese name must come first.

Project names must be included in approved investment documents and used throughout the construction and management periods.

Marketing specialist Nguyen Thu Trang said that a successful name should be easy to remember, pronounce, and identify.

When a foreign-language name is too long or complex, consumers adapt it to fit local language habits.

Residents and service providers often replace complicated project names with simpler Vietnamese place references, which can make branding efforts less effective.

This creates a disconnect between marketing ambitions and the actual experience of residents.

Trang suggested that developers consider more balanced naming strategies that combine a short, internationally recognizable element with the original place name or the developer's brand.

A successful project name should connect a development with the community around it and be modern, accessible, and practical for residents.

Duy Anh