The aim of this study was to describe the understanding of freshmen majoring in chemistry in naming simple compounds whether simple ionic compounds or covalent compounds. Data were collected from38 students of State University of Malang using a test conducted after they took Basic Chemistry I class. The test was designed in short answer test type in which they had to name the ionic and covalent compounds from their chemical formulas, and vice versa. The result showed that the students’ ability in naming several ionic and covalent simple compounds is greatly poor. Naming ionic compounds with polyatomic ions was considered much more difficult for several students. All in all, naming the binary ionic compound that contained metal that formed more than one type of positive ion and thus formed more than one type of ionic compound with a given anion was considered as the most difficult one. It meant that the basic chemistry class that had been took by the 1st year students did not increase their understanding significantly in naming simple compounds. The implication of this study wasthat the teaching strategy in Basic Chemistry I lecture must be optimized in order to increase students’ understanding on this topic well
