VN-VN : All About Vietnamese Names

People have ancestry

like a tree has roots,

like a river has a source

  (Vietnamese proverb)

A land of immigrants like the USA is home to people with names reflecting a multitude of origins. What about names in Vietnam?

The Vietnamese full name

According to historians, China was the world’s first nation to establish the full name system based on patriarchal practices. Vietnam, while under a thousand years of Chinese domination, followed suit. It is believed that Vietnamese people were using full names as early as the second century.

The Vietnamese full name is written as follows: Family name + Middle name + Given name. Example: Trần Ngọc Phú.

For people born outside of Vietnam, the tendency is to suppress the middle name and begin with the given name followed by the family name. Examples: Andrew Pham, Jennifer Nguyen. Of course, the accents on the vowels have disappeared because of the lack of accent marks on the QWERTY keyboards.

1. The family name

While China ruled Vietnam, some Chinese and Vietnamese people intermarried, introducing many family names of Chinese origin that still exist today but have been adapted to the Vietnamese language.

There are relatively few Vietnamese family names (approximately 150) and the most common ones are tied to specific dynasties.

The most common Vietnamese (Kinh ethnic group) family names are:

Nguyễn (38%), Trần (12%), Lê (10%), Phạm (7%), Hoàng/Huỳnh (5%), Vũ/Võ (4%), Đặng (2%), Bùi (2%), Đỗ (1.4%), Hồ (1.3%), Dương (1%), Lý (0.5%).

These 14 family names make up 90% of the Vietnamese population.

Notice that Nguyễn makes up the highest percentage: 2 out of every 5 Vietnamese, ranking 4^th most common last name in the world (behind Li, Zhang and Wang) with approximately 36 million people. Among all names in the USA, Nguyễn takes 38^th place. It’s the 7^th most common name in Australia (2^nd in Melbourne, 3^rd in Sidney). By comparison, the Lý dynasty ruled for 273 years, but Lýs comprise only 0.5% of the Vietnamese population.
The reasons are historical:
- In 1232, when Trần Thủ Độ overthrew the Lý dynasty, he forced all the Lý members to change their family name to Nguyễn.

- When the Hồ, Mạc and Trịnh dynasties ended, people of their lineages feared repression and also changed their family name to Nguyễn.
- Under the reign of the Nguyễn dynasty, family members received some advantages, prompting unrelated people to adopt the Nguyễn family name.

The family name of other ethnic groups

Most of the minority ethnic groups (13% of Vietnamese population) were forced to change their family name/surname for the convenience of bookkeeping. It was common that the new family name was promulgated by the king.

Dual family names

There are two types of dual family name:

- One family name + One family name: father name + mother name; or adopted parents’ name + biological parents’ name; or in ancient times, name given by the king as a reward + own name.
Examples: Đặng Vũ, Vũ-Ðỗ, Nguyễn-Trần, Trần-Lê, Hồ-Ðặng, Lê-Phan, Vũ-Phạm, Ðặng-Trần.

- One family name + one “middle” name to distinguish different genealogical branches (as in the case of Đặng) or ranks (as in the case of Dương) among a big family.

2. The given name

The given names for a female are commonly words related to:

- Flowers: Mai/apricot blossom, Lan/orchid, Cúc/daisy, Hoa/flower, Hương/fragrance…

- Birds: Yến/swallow, Oanh/oriole ... 

- Precious stones: Bích/emerald, Ngọc/pearl, Trân/gem...

- Expensive fabrics: Nhung/velvet, Gấm/brocade....

- Virtues: Thảo/generosity, Hiền/kindness, Dung/beauty…

Female names are often words with a soft sound and/or beautiful meaning, such as Vân/cloud, Diễm/beauty, Lệ/teardrop, Nguyệt/moon, Nga/swan, Trang/ornament, Huyền/ebony,...

The given names for a male are commonly words related to:

- Strength: Cường/power, Hùng/bravery, Dũng/courage, ...

- Intelligence: Thông/brightness, Minh/cleverness, Trí/mind, Tuệ/wisdom,…

- Virtues: Nhân/humanity, Trung/loyalty, Tín/trust, Lễ/respect, Nghĩa/righteousness, Hiệp/heroism,…

- Riches and renown: Phú/wealth, Quý/sophistication, Kim/precious metal, Tài/talent, Danh/fame, Đạt/achievement ...

- Nature: Sơn/mountain, Giang/river, Lâm/forest, Hải/sea, Dương/ocean, ...

- Grandeur: Long/dragon, Quốc/nation...

"Home nicknames" are names created out of tender love for the children in the family. These names are intended to be cute and funny. Some common home nicknames include Tí/ Tiny, Gáo/Dipper, Bê/Calf, Phốc/Puppy, . These names are sometimes used into a child’s teen years.

Now, you know (almost) everything about Vietnamese names. If you want to learn more, your parents would be more than happy to tell you, no doubt about that!

Translated by Tuấn Trần and Kitty Phạm

from "Tên họ Việt-Nam"