The boulevard was originally a waterway known in Vietnamese as rạch Cầu Sấu (translating to "Crocodile Bridge creek"). According to scholar Pétrus Ký, the creek got its name as there was once a crocodile reservoir in the area, where crocodiles were bred for meat.[3]
Following the French conquest of Saigon, the streets on both sides of the creek were first designated by n° 3, then they were given the names rue Dayot and rue de Canton, respectively. The waterway was later filled in and then by a decree dated 14 May 1877, the two streets were given a single name: boulevard de Canton. In the 1880s, the Saigon–My Tho railway line was built along the center of the boulevard. On 24 February 1897, the municipal council decided to split the boulevard into two separate streets on either side of the railway track, each named after a French admiral: rue Krantz on the northern side and rue Duperré on the southern side. Then again on 22 April 1920, after the relocation of the railway terminus to the area occupied today by September 23 Park, the municipal council decided to resume the name "boulevard" for the streets, and the name boulevard de la Somme was chosen, after the Battle of the Somme, one of the First World War's deadliest battles.[4][5][6]
^Guillaume, Xavier; Guillaume, Marie-Christine (2004). La Terre du Dragon – Tome I. Paris: Publibook. p. 58. Archived from the original on 2023-11-10. Retrieved 2023-10-30.
