Nguyen


Nguyễn is the most common surname among Vietnamese people. Outside of Vietnam, the surname is commonly rendered without diacritics as Nguyen. By some estimates 30 to 39 percent of Vietnamese people bear this surname.

Origin and usage

Nguyễn is the transcription of the Sino-Vietnamese pronunciation of the character 阮, which originally was used to write a name of a state in Gansu or ruan, an ancient Chinese instrument. The same Chinese character is often romanized as Ruǎn in Mandarin and as Yuen in Cantonese.
The first recorded mention of a person surnamed Nguyễn is a description dating AD 317, of a journey to Jiaozhou undertaken by Eastern Jin dynasty officer Nguyễn Phu and his family. Many events in Vietnamese history have contributed to the name's prominence. In 1232, after usurping the Lý dynasty, Trần Thủ Độ forced the descendants of the Lý to change their surname to Nguyễn. When Hồ Quý Ly overturned the Trần dynasty, he killed many of their descendants so when the Hồ dynasty collapsed in 1407, many of his descendants changed their surname to Nguyễn in fear of retribution. In 1592, on the collapse of the Mạc dynasty, their descendants changed their surname to Nguyễn. In late 16th century, the Tư Mã clan from Thanh Hóa changed to Nguyễn and settled in Cochinchina. When the Nguyễn dynasty took power in 1802, some of the descendants of the Trịnh Lords fearing retribution changed their surname to Nguyễn, while others fled north into China.

Overseas Vietnamese usage

The prevalence of Nguyễn as a family name in Vietnam extends to outside the country, due to numerous and widespread Vietnamese emigrants. Outside Vietnam, the surname is commonly rendered without diacritics, as Nguyen. Nguyen was the seventh most common family name in Australia in 2006, and the 54th most common in France. It was the 41st most common surname in Norway in 2020 and tops the foreign name list in the Czech Republic. Because most Icelanders use patronymic surnames Nguyen is the most common hereditary family name in Iceland.
In the United States, Nguyen is the 38th most-common surname and is shared by more than 437,000 individuals, according to the 2010 [United States census|2010 Census]; it was the 57th and 229th most-common surname, respectively, in the 2000 and 1990 censuses. It is also the most common exclusively East Asian surname. It is ranked 124th in the U.S. Social Security Index. Nguyen was the 57th most common surname in the whole of Australia in 2022.

Subfamilies

In Vietnamese tradition, people are referred to by their personal names and not by their family names even in formal situations. However, some groups distinguish themselves from other Nguyễn by passing elements of their names that are usually considered middle names to their children. This practice is more common with male than with female children. Some of the prominent subgroups within the Nguyễn family are:
  • [House of Nguyễn Phúc|Nguyễn Phước or Nguyễn Phúc (阮福)]: Surname for the Nguyễn Lords family members, and all members of the Nguyễn dynasty emperors.
  • Nguyễn Đình
  • Nguyễn Hữu
  • Nguyễn Cảnh
  • Nguyễn Khắc
  • Nguyễn Tiến
  • Nguyễn Đức
  • Nguyễn Minh
  • Nguyễn Thanh
  • Nguyễn Ngọc
  • Nguyễn Văn
  • Nguyễn Quang
  • Nguyễn Xuân
  • Nguyễn Huy
  • Nguyễn Hoàng
  • Tôn Thất : surname for members of the Nguyễn dynasty royal family that were not direct descendants of the Emperor.

Pronunciation

The Vietnamese pronunciation is in Northern dialect or in Southern dialect, in both cases, in one syllable. is the velar nasal found in the middle of the English word singer. is the semivowel found in the English word win. is a rising diphthong, the sound of which is similar to the diphthong found in the British English Received Pronunciation of ear. Finally, occurs in the English word net.
Furthermore, in Vietnamese Nguyễn is also pronounced with a tone. In Southern Vietnam, it is pronounced with the dipping tone: the pitch of the voice first drops from a mid-level to the bottom of the speaker's range of pitch and then rises back to mid. In Northern Vietnam, it is pronounced with the creaky rising tone: the pitch of the voice rises from mid-level to the top of the speaker's range of pitch, but with constricted vocal cords, akin to a glottal stop in the middle of the vowel.
Common pronunciations by English speakers include, and .

Changes of family name

There have been various points in Vietnam's history at which people have changed their family name to Nguyễn.
When the Lý dynasty fell in 1232, Trần Thủ Độ, who orchestrated its overthrow, forced descendants of the Lý dynasty to adopt the name due to the naming taboo surrounding Trần Lý, grandfather to emperor Trần Cảnh.
From 457 to Hồ Quý Ly, in Hải Dương and a part of Haiphong today there is the district of the Phí family. At the end of the Lý and the Trần dynasty there were many people who changed their names to Nguyễn and Nguyễn Phí. By the Lê dynasty, the court changed the name of the district to Kim Thành.
When the Mạc dynasty fell in 1592, their descendants changed their family name to Nguyễn.
Trần Quang Diệu worked as a major officer for the Tây Sơn dynasty, against Nguyễn Ánh. After the Tây Sơn dynasty was defeated, his children adopted various names or changed names in order to flee retaliation.
Contrary to the popular belief that Vietnamese rulers have allowed courtiers to adopt their family name as a sign of loyalty, it was in fact a serious taboo to assume the imperial surname without legitimate lineage. Individuals who improperly adopted the imperial surname could face severe penalties, including forced name changes, removal from public office, exile, or even capital punishment. This policy was rooted in the naming taboo tradition, and was explicitly reaffirmed through imperial edicts. This popular myth is often used to explain the high prevalence of the surname Nguyễn in modern Vietnam, attributing it to the influence of the Nguyễn dynasty as the country's last dynasty. However, the surname of the ruling dynasty was Nguyễn Phúc, not only Nguyễn.
In 1841, Nguyễn Văn Tường, originally named Nguyễn Phúc Tường, participated in the civil examination. Emperor Thiệu Trị ordered his name be removed from the list of graduates, changed it to Nguyễn Văn Tường, and handed him over to the Censorate for punishment. As a result, Tường was sentenced to one year in exile. Additionally, the education officials at the provincial, prefectural, and district levels, as well as officials of the Imperial Academy, examination officials, the Ministry of Rites, and the Censorate were all demoted and punished accordingly.
Here is an excerpt from Veritable Records of the Great South :

Notable people

People with the name include:
Hồ Chí Minh was born Nguyễn Sinh Cung and used various names with the surname Nguyễn throughout his career. He was not known as Hồ Chí Minh until late in his life.