Vietnamese name

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Traditional Vietnamese personal names generally consist of three parts, used in Eastern name order .

• A family name (normally patrilineal , although matrilineality is possible, in cases such as divorce , children of a single mother , or if a child didn't want to have the father's surname. The father's family name may be combined with the mother's family name to form a compound family name ).
• A middle name (normally a single name but some have no middle name).
• A given name (normally single name but some have multiple given names).

But not every name is conformant. For example:

• Nguy?n Trai has his family name Nguy?n and his given name is Trai . He does not have any middle name.
• Ph?m Binh Minh has his family name Ph?m and his given name is Binh Minh ( lit.   ' dawn ' ). He does not have any middle name.
• Nguy?n V?n Quy?t has his family name Nguy?n , his middle name is V?n ( lit.   ' literature ' ) and his given name is Quy?t ( lit.   ' decide ' ).
• Nguy?n Ng?c Tr??ng S?n has his family name Nguy?n , his middle name is Ng?c ( lit.   ' pearl ' ) and his given name is Tr??ng S?n ( lit.   ' long mountain ' ).
• Hoang Ph? Ng?c T??ng (a Vietnamese poet) ^[1] has his family name Hoang Ph? (natural compound family name ), his middle name is Ng?c and his given name is T??ng ( lit.   ' deep understanding ' ). Sometimes his family name is confused with Hoang .
• Tr?n Le Qu?c Toan has his compound family name combined from Tr?n (from his father) and Le (from his mother), his middle name is Qu?c ( lit.   ' country ' ) and his given name is Toan ( lit.   ' fully ' ).

The "family name first" written order is usual throughout the East Asian cultural sphere or Sinosphere ; but "middle names" are less common in Chinese and Korean names and uncommon in Japanese names . Persons can be referred to by the whole name, the given name, or a hierarchic pronoun , which usually connotes a degree of family relationship or kinship ? but referring via given name is most common, as well as if degree of family relationship or kinship is unknown. In more informal contexts or in the Western world, given name can be written first then family name e.g. Chau Bui or Thanh Tr?n .

The Vietnamese language is tonal and so are Vietnamese names. Names with the same spelling but different tones represent different meanings, which can confuse people when the diacritics are dropped, as is commonly done outside Vietnam (e.g. đoan ( [??a:n] ) vs Doan ( [z??:?n] ), both become Doan when diacritics are omitted). Additionally, some Vietnamese names can only be differentiated via context or with their corresponding ch? Han , such as 夏 (H?) or 賀 (H?). Anyone applying for Vietnamese nationality must also adopt a Vietnamese name. ^[2] Vietnamese names have corresponding Han-Nom character adopted early on during Chinese rule . Vietnamese script is fully transliterated (romanized), because the previous script, ch? Nom , was replaced by ch? Qu?c ng? , which was made compulsory during the French colonial era .

Surname or Family name [ edit ]

Due to historical contact with Chinese dynasties, Vietnamese names originated from Middle Chinese . ^{[ citation needed ]} The family name (ten h?) is positioned first and is passed on by the father to his children in a traditionally patrilineal order , but exceptions are possible. It is estimated that there are around 100 family names in common use, but some are far more common than others. The name Nguy?n was estimated to be the most common (40%) in 2005. ^[3] The reason the top three names are so common is that people tended to take the family names of emperors, to show loyalty to particular dynasties in history. Over many generations, those family names became permanent.

The following are the most common family names among Vietnamese, with their ch? Qu?c ng? spelling, and their corresponding Han-Nom characters, which are now obsolete. ^[4] The figures are from a 2022 study 100 h? ph? bi?n ? Vi?t Nam (100 Most Popular Surnames/Family Names In Vietnam) from the Vietnamese Social Science Publisher ( Nha xu?t b?n Khoa h?c Xa h?i ).

Frequency of Vietnamese surnames (2022)

Rank	Surname/Family name	Ch? Han-Nom	Percentage
1	Nguy?n	阮	31.5%
2	Tr?n	陳	10.9%
3	Le	黎	8.9%
4	Ph?m	范	5.9%
5	Hoang / Hu?nh	黃	5.1%
6	V? / Vo	武	4.9%
7	Phan	潘	2.8%
8	Tr??ng	張	2.2%
9	Bui	裴	2.1%
10	đ?ng	鄧	1.9%
11	đ?	杜	1.9%
12	Ngo	吳	1.7%
13	H?	胡	1.5%
14	D??ng	楊	1.4%
15	đinh	丁	1.0%

Frequency of Vietnamese surnames (2005)

Rank	Surname/Family name	Ch? Han-Nom	Percentage
1	Nguy?n	阮	38.4%
2	Tr?n	陳	10.3%
3	Le	黎	8.2%
4	Ph?m	范	6.7%
5	Hoang/Hu?nh	黃	5.5%
6	Phan	潘	4%
7	V?/Vo	武	3.4%
8	đ?ng	鄧	3.1%
9	Bui	裴	2.5%
10	đ?	杜	2.1%
11	H?	胡	1.3%
12	Ngo	吳	1.3%
13	D??ng	楊	1%
14	Ly	李	0.5%

In 2005, these 14 names had accounted for around 90% of the Vietnamese population.

The following list includes less-common surnames in alphabetical order which make up the other 10% (2005), now 16.3% (2022):

Other [ edit ]

In Vietnamese culture, women tend to keep their family names once they marry, whilst the progeny tend to have the father's family name, although names can often be combined from a father's and mother's family name, e.g. Nguy?n Le, Ph?m V?, Kim Ly etc. In formal contexts, people are referred to by their full name. In more casual contexts, people are always on a "first-name basis", which involves their given names, accompanied by proper kinship terms .

In a few localities of Vietnam, for examples, in Hanoi 's S?n đ?ng commune (Hoai đ?c district), Tan L?p commune (đan Ph??ng district), C?n H?u, Tan Hoa, C?ng Hoa, commune (Qu?c Oai district), and in H?ng Yen province 's Lien Khe commune (Khoai Chau district), there is a custom of daughters taking the fathers' middle names, not family names, as their surnames; therefore arise such female surnames such as đ?c, đinh, S?, Tri, Ng?c, V?n, Ti?p, Doan, Qu?, Danh, H?u, Kh?c, etc. Sons, in contrast, bear their fathers' family names as surnames. ^{[5] [6] [7] [8] [9]} There exist several explanations for this custom:

• Nghiem Qu?c đ?t, a teacher and S?n đ?ng's village-historian, believes that this custom is a vestige of outdated feudal misogynistic practices: in the past, sons were valued more than daughters; therefore, in the present, a son receives his family's surname as his surname, while a daughter only receives her father's branch-name ( Vietnamese : ten chi ) as her surname. ^[5]
• Others contend that this custom did not stem from misogynistic discrimination:
  • The S?n đ?ng government states that this custom's original purpose was to merely help distinguish the different branches of one same family; however, when a woman bears her father's surname and branch-name, that will still indicate which family and which branch she belongs to. ^[7]
  • Many S?n đ?ng's elders and people's commissar Nguy?n Chi M?u state that those families consider the ostensible surnames - given to sons - to be the "additional names" (V.: ten đ?m ) or "borrowed surnames" (V.: h? m??n ) and consider the ostensible branch-names - given to daughters - to be their "original surnames" (V.: h? g?c ) or main surnames (V.: h? chinh ); in fact, many families with the same "borrowed surnames" are not blood-related at all and their current "main surnames" result from their true ancestral surnames being changed in the past. ^{[6] [8] [9]} Therefore, daughters bear the "main surnames" to remind themselves of their origins after getting married, according to Nguy?n Danh H?u, the keeper of So village's shrine in Qu?c Oai. ^[6]

Middle name [ edit ]

Most Vietnamese have one middle name (ten đ?m), but it is quite common to have two or more or to have no middle name at all. Middle names can be standalone (e.g. V?n or Th? ), but is often combined with the given name for a more meaningful overall name, where the middle name is part of the overall given name.

In the past, the middle name was selected by parents from a fairly narrow range of options. Almost all women had Th? ( 氏 ) as their middle name, and many men had V?n ( 文 ). More recently, a broader range of names has been used, and people named Th? usually omit their middle name because they do not like to call it with their name.

Th? is a most common female middle name, and most common amongst pre-1975 generation but less common amongst younger generations. Th? ( 氏 ) is an archaic Sino-Vietnamese suffix meaning "clan; family; lineage; hereditary house" and attached to a woman's original family name, but now is used to simply indicate the female sex. For example, "Tr?n Th? Mai Loan" is a person who has the given name "Mai Loan" and comes from the "Tr?n" family; altogether, the name means "Mai Loan, a female person of the Tr?n family". Some traditional male middle names may include V?n ( 文 ), H?u ( 友 ), đ?c ( 德 ), Thanh ( 誠 ), Cong ( 公 ), Minh ( 明 ), and Quang ( 光 ).

The middle name can have several uses, with the fourth being most common nowadays:

1. To indicate a person's generation. Brothers and sisters may share the same middle name, which distinguish them from the generation before them and the generation after them (see generation name ).
2. To separate branches of a large family: "Nguy?n H?u ", "Nguy?n Sinh ", "Tr?n Lam " (middle names can be taken from the mother's family name). However, this usage is still controversial ^{[ dubious – discuss ] [ citation needed ]} . Some people ^{[ who? ]} consider them to be a part of their family names, not family name + middle name. Some families may, however, set up arbitrary rules about giving a different middle name to each generation. ^{[ clarification needed ]}
3. To indicate a person's position ( birth order ) in the family. This usage is less common than others.
4. To provide a poetic and positive meaning e.g. "Tr?n Gia H?nh Phuc" meaning "Happiness to the Tr?n family".

The first three are no longer in use, and seen as too rigid and strictly conforming to family naming systems. Most middle names utilise the fourth, having a name to simply imply some positive characteristics.

Given name [ edit ]

In most cases, the middle name is formally part of the given name (ten g?i). For example, the name "đinh Quang D?ng" is separated into the surname "đinh" and the given name "Quang D?ng". In a normal name list, those two parts of the full name are put in two different columns. However, in daily conversation, the last word in a given name with a title before it is used to call or address a person: "Ong D?ng", "Anh D?ng", etc., with "Ong" and "Anh" being words to address the person and depend on age, social position, etc.

The given name is the primary form of address for Vietnamese. It is chosen by parents and usually has a literal meaning in the Vietnamese language . Names often represent beauty, such as bird or flower names, or attributes and characteristics that the parents want in their child, such as modesty ( Khiem , 謙).

Typically, Vietnamese will be addressed with their given name, even in formal situations, although an honorific equivalent to "Mr.", "Mrs.", etc. will be added when necessary. That contrasts with the situation in many other cultures in which the family name is used in formal situations, but it is a practice similar to usage in Icelandic usage and, to some degree, Polish . It is similar to the Latin-American and southern European custom of referring to women as " Dona/Dona " and men as " Don/Dom ", along with their first name.

Addressing someone by the family name is rare. In the past, women were usually called by their (maiden) family name, with th? (氏) as a suffix, similar to China and Korea . ^{[ citation needed ]} In recent years, doctors are more likely than any other social group to be addressed by their family name, but that form of reference is more common in the north than in the south. Some extremely famous people are sometimes referred to by their family names, such as H? Chi Minh ( Bac H? ?" Uncle H? " ) (however, his real surname is Nguy?n), Tr?nh Cong S?n ( nh?c Tr?nh ?" Tr?nh music " ), and H? Xuan H??ng ( n? s? h? H? ?" the poetess with the family name H? " ). Traditionally, people in Vietnam, particularly North Vietnam, addressed parents using the first child's name: Mr and Mrs Anh or Master Minh.

When being addressed within the family, children are sometimes referred to by their birth number, starting with one in the north but two in the south. That practice is less common recently, especially in the north.

Double names are also common. For example, Phan Th? Kim Phuc has the given name Kim Phuc .

The Rade people in Vietnam's Central Highlands have a unique first name structure, with male names start with letter Y stemmed from the Tetragrammaton (YHWH), while female names start with letter H. For examples, Y-Abraham, Y-Samuel, H'Mari, H'Sarah.

Examples [ edit ]

• Le L?i (a Emperor of the Le dynasty ) has Le is his family name and L?i is his given name. He does not have any middle name.
• Nguy?n Phuc V?nh San (Emperor Duy Tan ) has Nguy?n is his family name, Phuc is his middle name, and V?nh San is his given name (a double names ). The name is similar to Nguy?n Phuc Anh (Emperor Gia Long , the first emperor of Nguy?n dynasty ), who is commontly called as Nguy?n Anh .
• Ton Th?t Thuy?t has Ton Th?t is his family name (a compound surname) and Thuy?t is his given name. He does not have any middle name. Sometimes his family name is confused with Ton .
• Nguy?n T?n D?ng (a former prime minister ) has Nguy?n is his family name, T?n is his middle name, and D?ng is his given name. In Vietnamese formal usage, he is referred to as Nguy?n T?n D?ng, but by his given name ("Mr. D?ng") in English-language text of Vietnamese multimedia, not by his family name ("Mr. Nguy?n"). Informally he is "Ba D?ng" in Vietnamese. He can also be referred to as T?n D?ng .
• Tr?n Kim Lien (MC of the Voice People of Ho Chi Minh City) has Tr?n is her family name, Kim is her middle name, and Lien is her given name. She can also be referred to as Kim Lien .
• Likewise, the famous general and military leader, Vo Nguyen Giap , is referred to in Vietnamese by his full name (Vo Nguyen Giap) in formal sources, but by his given name in English, i.e. "General Giap". Informally, he is "Ong Giap" or "T??ng Giap" in Vietnamese. He can also be referred to as Nguyen Giap.

Saints' names [ edit ]

Vietnamese Catholics are given a saint's name at baptism ( Vietnamese : ten thanh (holy name) or ten r?a t?i (baptism name) ). Boys are given male saints' names, while girls are given female saints' names. This name appears first, before the family name, in formal religious contexts. Out of respect, clergy are usually referred to by saints' name. The saint's name also functions as a posthumous name , used instead of an individual's given name in prayers after their death. The most common saints' names are taken from the New Testament , such as Phero (Peter, or Pierre in French), Phaolo (Paul), Gioan (John), Maria (Mary), and Anna or they may remain as they are without Vietnamisation. ^[10]

Saints' names are respelled phonetically according to the Vietnamese alphabet . Some more well-known saints' names are derived further into names that sound more Vietnamese or easier to pronounce for Vietnamese speakers.

Etymologies of some saints' names ^[11]

Saint	Name in Romance Language	Vietnamese Name
Alexander	Alexandre (Portuguese)	A L?ch S?n, Alexanđe
Anthony	Antonio (Portuguese)	Anton, An Ton, Antonio
Benedict	Benedictus (Latin)	Bi?n đ?c, Beneđicto
Clement	Clemente (Portuguese)	Clemente, Le Minh
Constantine	Constantino (Portuguese)	Constantino, Cong T?ng
Dominic	Domingos (Portuguese)	đa Minh, đaminh
Helena	Helena (Portuguese)	Ha Lien
Ignatius	Inacio (Portuguese)	Inhaxio, Y Nha
John the Baptist	Juan Bautista (Spanish)	Gioan Baotixita
Joseph	Giuseppe (Italian)	Giuse
Martin	Martinho (Portuguese), Martin (Spanish)	Martino, Mactino, M?c Tinh, M?c Ty Nho
Paul	Paulus (Latin), Paulo (Portuguese)	Phaolo, B?o L?c
Thaddaeus	Tadeu (Portuguese)	Tađeo, Thanh Dieu
Urban	Urbano (Portuguese)	Urbano, ??c Bang

Near-homonyms distinguished by vowel or tones [ edit ]

Some names may appear the same if simplified into a basic ASCII script, as for example on websites, but are different names:

• Tr?nh C?n (鄭根, 1633?1709) reformist warlord, vs. Tr?nh Can (鄭?, 1777?1782) infant heir of warlord Tr?nh Sam
• Nguy?n Du (1765?1820) writer, vs. Nguy?n D? (c.1550) writer
• Hoang Tich Chu (1897?1933) journalist, vs. Hoang Tich Chu (1912?2003) painter
• Nguy?n V?n T? (1917?1992) painter and poet, vs. Nguy?n V?n Ty (1925?2019), composer
• Phan Thanh Hung (1960) football manager, vs. Phan Thanh H?ng (1987), footballer
• Nguy?n Binh (1906?1951), vs. Nguy?n Binh (1918?1966)
• Nguy?n V?n H?ng (1958?) representative of the Vietnam National Assembly, vs. Nguy?n V?n Hung (1980), martial artist,

Typically, as in the above examples, it is middle or the last personal given name which varies, as almost any Han-Nom character may be used. The number of family names is limited.

Further, some historical names may be written using different ch? Han ( Chinese characters ), but are still written the same in the modern Vietnamese alphabet.

Indexing and sorting in English [ edit ]

According to the English-language Chicago Manual of Style , Vietnamese names in are indexed according to the " given name , then surname + middle name ", with a cross-reference placed in regards to the family name. Ngo đinh Di?m would be listed as "Di?m, Ngo đinh" and Vo Nguyen Giap would be listed as "Giap, Vo Nguyen". ^[12] In Vietnamese, Vietnamese names are also typically sorted using the same order. ^[13]

But at the present, Vietnamese names are commonly ^{[ when? ]} indexed according " middle-name given-name then SURNAME " in Western name order , or " SURNAME then middle-name given-name " in Eastern name order , to determine exactly the part of surname, especially in media (TV, website, SNS) at events of sports games. This method is similar to Chinese names or Korean names in events. For example: ^{[ citation needed ]}

Have single family name

Name in Vietnamese ( Eastern name order )				Name in English
Fullname	Family name	Middle name + Given name	Abbreviated	Eastern name order		Western name order
				Fullname	Abbreviated	Fullname	Abbreviated
Ph?m Tuan	Ph?m	Tuan (no middle name)	P. Tuan	PHAM Tuan	PHAM T.	Tuan PHAM	T. PHAM
Hoang Xuan Vinh	Hoang	Xuan Vinh (no middle name)	H. Xuan Vinh	HOANG Xuan Vinh	HOANG X. V.	Xuan Vinh HOANG	X. V. HOANG
Nguy?n V?n Toan	Nguy?n	V?n Toan	N. V?n Toan	NGUYEN Van Toan	NGUYEN V. T.	Van Toan NGUYEN	V. T. NGUYEN
Le Quang Liem	Le	Quang Liem (no middle name)	L. Quang Liem	LE Quang Liem	LE Q. L.	Quang Liem LE	Q. L. LE
Nguy?n Ng?c Tr??ng S?n	Nguy?n	Ng?c Tr??ng S?n	N. Ng?c Tr??ng S?n N. N. Tr??ng S?n [A]	NGUYEN Ngoc Truong Son	NGUYEN N. T. S.	Ngoc Truong Son NGUYEN	N. T. S. NGUYEN
Nguy?n Th? Anh Vien	Nguy?n	Th? Anh Vien	N. Th? Anh Vien N. T. Anh Vien [B]	NGUYEN Thi Anh Vien	NGUYEN T. A. V.	Thi Anh Vien NGUYEN	T. A. V. NGUYEN
Nguy?n Th? Li?u	Nguy?n	Th? Li?u	N. Th? Li?u N. T. Li?u [B]	NGUYEN Thi Lieu	NGUYEN T. L.	Thi Lieu NGUYEN	T. L. NGUYEN

Have compound family name

Name in Vietnamese (with Eastern name order )				Name in English				Notes
Fullname	Family name	Middle name + Given name	Abbreviate	Eastern name order		Western name order
				Full	Abbreviate	Full	Abbreviate
Ton Th?t Thuy?t	Ton Th?t	Thuy?t (no middle name)	T. T. Thuy?t	TON THAT Thuyet	TON THAT T.	Thuyet TON THAT	T. TON THAT	[C]
Tr?n Le Qu?c Toan	Tr?n Le	Qu?c Toan	T. L. Qu?c Toan	TRAN LE Quoc Toan	TRAN LE Q. T.	Quoc Toan TRAN LE	Q. T. TRAN LE	[D]
Bui Hoang Vi?t Anh	Bui Hoang	Vi?t Anh (no middle name)	B. H. Vi?t Anh	BUI HOANG Viet Anh	BUI HOANG V. A.	Viet Anh BUI HOANG	V. A. BUI HOANG	[E]
Ton N? Th? Ninh	Ton N?	Th? Ninh	T. N. Th? Ninh T. N. T. Ninh [B]	TON NU Thi Ninh	TON NU T. N.	Thi Ninh TON NU	T. N. TON NU

Presentation [ edit ]

Due to the high frequency of the same surnames in Vietnamese names, it has also become more popular to refer by middle and given name, which together officially is the given name. For example, Le M?nh C??ng can be referred to as M?nh C??ng or simply as C??ng . Since 2023, names in Vietnamese passports have been split into two lines, with the middle name treated as part of the given name. ^[14]

Presentations of Vietnamese name

Surname	Middle Name	Given Name
Le	M?nh	C??ng
Surname	Given name
Le	M?nh C??ng

See also [ edit ]

• Surname
• Other similar naming systems:
  • Korean name
  • Chinese name
  • Japanese name
• List of common Vietnamese surnames
• List of common Chinese surnames
• List of Korean surnames
• List of common Japanese surnames
• List of most common surnames

References [ edit ]

External links [ edit ]

• Vietnamese Naming Customs in Olden Days
• Vietnamese names for girls and boys (limited)
• Introduction to Vietnamese
• Vietnamese names (examples and tonal pronunciation), video lesson