Vietnamese name
Vietnamese names generally consist of two components including a "surname" and a "given name", follow the Eastern name order:
- A surname: most consist of a monosyllable and normally patrilineal, although matrilineality is possible.
- A given name including:
- * An optional [|middle name] that is typically a monosyllable, although some individuals have a multisyllabic one or none at all.
- * A primary name usually consists of one or two syllables as a double name.
- Nguyễn Trãi has his surname Nguyễn and his primary name is Trãi. He does not have any middle name.
- Phạm Bình Minh has his surname Phạm and his primary name is Bình Minh. He does not have any middle name, although Bình is often mistaken for one.
- Nguyễn Văn Quyết has his surname Nguyễn, his middle name is Văn and his primary name is Quyết.
- Nguyễn Ngọc Trường Sơn has his surname Nguyễn, his middle name is Ngọc and his primary name is Trường Sơn
- Lâm Thị Mỹ Dạ has her surname Lâm, her middle name is Thị and her primary name is Mỹ Dạ. Her husband, Hoàng Phủ Ngọc Tường, has his surname is Hoàng Phủ, his middle name is Ngọc and his primary name is Tường. As almost every Vietnamese surname is monosyllablic, his surname is usually confused with Hoàng, leading to their two daughters being named as Hoàng Dạ Thi and Hoàng Dạ Thư instead of Hoàng Phủ Dạ Thi and Hoàng Phủ Dạ Thư.
- Trần Lê Quốc Toàn has his surname Trần, his first middle name Lê is derived from his mother's surname, his second middle name is Quốc and his primary name is Toàn.
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 vs Doãn, both become Doan when diacritics are omitted). Additionally, due to homonymy, some Vietnamese names can only be distinguished through context or by reference to their corresponding chữ Hán, such as 南 or 男, both are read as Nam. Anyone applying for Vietnamese nationality must also adopt a Vietnamese name. Vietnamese names have corresponding Hán character adopted early on during Chinese rule. The modern Vietnamese writing system, chữ Quốc ngữ, popularized during the French colonial era, is fully romanized and has replaced the earlier, Chinese character–based script, chữ Nôm.
Surnames
The surname 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 surnames in common use, but some are far more common than others. The name Nguyễn was estimated to be the most common in 2005. The reason the top three names are so common is that people tended to take the surnames of emperors, to show loyalty to particular dynasties in history. Over many generations, those surnames became permanent.History
Some scholars argue that all Vietnamese surnames are of Chinese origin, introduced during the thousand-year Chinese occupation of Vietnam, which began in 111 BCE with the Han Dynasty. Prior to this, evidence of distinct Vietnamese surnames is scarce due to a lack of written records. An alternative view suggests that Vietnamese surnames include both indigenous names and those borrowed from Chinese culture. Hypotheses propose that indigenous surnames may have evolved from place-names in the Red River delta or from traditional totems. Historically, individuals sometimes adopted the surname of the ruling dynasty as a sign of loyalty, or were compelled to do so, particularly after dynastic changes. For example, during the Trần dynasty, individuals with the surname Lý were ordered to change their surname to Nguyễn. The Nguyễn dynasty further contributed to the prevalence of the Nguyễn surname. Additionally, surnames were sometimes changed to evade taxes, avoid penalties, or adhere to royal name taboos.Vietnamese surnames also have origins from other ethnic groups, including Chinese, Khmer, Cham, and various ethnic minorities.
Common surnames
The following are the most common surnames among Vietnamese, with their chữ Quốc ngữ spelling, and their corresponding Hán-Nôm characters. The figures are from a 2022 study 100 họ phổ biến ở Việt Nam from the Vietnamese Social Science Publisher. In 2005, these 14 names had accounted for around 90% of the Vietnamese population.| Rank | Surname | Pronunciation | Chữ Hán-Nôm | Percentage | Percentage |
| 1 | Nguyễn | 阮 | 38.4% | 31.5% | |
| 2 | Lê | ~ | 黎 | 10.3% | 10.9% |
| 3 | Trần | ~ | 陳 | 8.2% | 8.9% |
| 4 | Vũ / Võ | / | 武 | 6.7% | 5.9% |
| 5 | Phạm | 范 | 5.5% | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Hoàng / Huỳnh | / | 潘 | 4% | 2.8% |
| 8 | Trương | ~ | 張 | 2.0% | 2.2% |
| 9 | Bùi | 裴 | 2.5% | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Đỗ | 杜 | 3.1% | 1.9% | |
| 11 | Đặng | 鄧 | 2.1% | 1.9% | |
| 12 | Ngô | 吳 | 1.3% | 1.7% | |
| 13 | Hồ | 胡 | 1.3% | 1.5% | |
| 14 | Dương | 楊 | 1% | 1.4% | |
| 15 | Lý | 李 | 0.8% | 1.0% | |
| Other | 11.7% | 16.3% |
The following list includes less-common surnames in alphabetical order which make up the other 10%, now 16.3% :
Other
- Ái: 愛
- An: 安
- Ân: 殷
- Bạch: 白
- Bành: 彭
- Bao: 包
- Biên: 邊
- Biện: 卞
- Cam: 甘
- Cảnh: 耿
- Cảnh: 景
- Cao: 高
- Cái: 蓋
- Cát: 葛
- Chân: 甄
- Châu: 周
- Chế: 制
- Chiêm: 詹
- Chu: 朱
- Chung: 鍾
- Chử: 褚
- Cổ: 古
- Cù: 瞿
- Cung: 宮
- Cung: 龔
- Củng: 鞏
- Cừu: 裘
- Dịch: 易
- Diệp: 葉
- Doãn: 尹
- Dũ: 俞
- Dung: 容
- Dư: 余
- Dữu: 庾
- Đái: 戴
- Đàm: 譚
- Đào: 陶
- Đậu: 竇
- Điền: 田
- Đinh: 丁
- Đoàn: 段
- Đồ: 涂
- Đồng: 童
- Đổng: 董
- Đường: 唐
- Giả: 賈
- Giải: 解
- Gia Cát :諸葛
- Giản: 簡
- Giang: 江
- Giáp: 郟
- Hà: 何
- Hạ: 賀
- Hạ: 夏
- Hác: 郝
- Hàn: 韓
- Hầu: 侯
- Hình: 邢
- Hoa: 花
- Hoắc: 霍
- Hoạn: 宦
- Hồng: 洪
- Hứa: 許
- Hướng: 向
- Hy: 郗
- Kha: 柯
- Khâu: 邱
- Khổng: 孔
- Khuất: 屈
- Kiều: 喬
- Kim: 金
- Kỳ: 祁
- Kỷ: 紀
- La: 羅
- Lạc: 駱
- Lại: 賴
- Lam: 藍
- Lăng: 凌
- Lãnh: 冷
- Lâm: 林
- Lận: 藺
- Lệ: 酈
- Liên: 連
- Liêu: 廖
- Liễu: 柳
- Long: 龍
- Lôi: 雷
- Lục: 陸
- Lư: 盧
- Lữ: 呂
- Lương: 梁
- Lưu: 劉
- Mã: 馬
- Mạc: 莫
- Mạch: 麥
- Mai: 梅
- Mạnh: 孟
- Mao: 毛
- Mẫn: 閔
- Miêu: 苗
- Minh: 明
- Mông: 蒙
- Ngân: 鄞
- Nghê: 倪
- Nghiêm: 嚴
- Ngư: 魚
- Ngưu: 牛
- Nhạc: 岳
- Nhan: 顔
- Nhâm: 任
- Nhiếp: 聶
- Nhiều: 饒
- Nhung: 戎
- Ninh: 寧 & 甯
- Nông: 農
- Ôn: 溫
- Ổn: 鄔
- Ông: 翁
- Phí: 費
- Phó: 傅
- Phong: 酆
- Phòng: 房
- Phù: 符
- Phùng: 馮
- Phương: 方
- Quách: 郭
- Quan: 關
- Quản: 管
- Quang: 光
- Quảng: 鄺
- Quế: 桂
- Quyền: 權
- Sài: 柴
- Sầm: 岑
- Sử: 史
- Tạ: 謝
- Tào: 曹
- Tăng: 曾
- Tân: 辛
- Tần: 秦
- Tất: 畢
- Tề: 齊
- Thạch: 石
- Thai: 邰
- Thái: 蔡
- Thang: 湯
- Thành: 成
- Thảo: 草
- Thân: 申
- Thầm / Kham: 諶
- Thi: 施
- Thích: 戚
- Thiện: 單
- Thiệu: 邵
- Thôi: 崔
- Thủy: 水
- Thư: 舒
- Thường: 常
- Tiền: 錢
- Tiết: 薛
- Tiêu: 焦
- Tiêu: 蕭
- Tô: 蘇
- Tôn: 孫
- Tôn Thất: 尊室 / Tôn Nữ: 尊女
- Tông: 宗
- Tống: 宋
- Trác: 卓
- Trạch: 翟
- Tái: 賽
- Trang: 莊
- Trầm: 沈
- Trâu: 鄒
- Trì: 池
- Triệu: 趙
- Trịnh: 鄭
- Từ: 徐
- Tư Mã: 司馬
- Tưởng: 蔣
- Úc: 郁
- Ứng: 應
- Vạn: 萬
- Văn: 文
- Vân: 雲
- Vi: 韋
- Vĩnh: 永
- Vu: 于
- Vương: 王
- Vưu: 尤
- Xà: 佘
- Xa: 車
- Yên: 鄢
- Yến: 燕
In more casual contexts, people are always on a "first-name basis", which involves their primary names, accompanied by proper kinship terms.
Given names
The given name is consist of an optional middle name and a mandatory primary name.Middle name (padding name)
Middle name in Vietnamese is optional. Although often placed in the "middle" position, Vietnamese middle name has a very different role and usage compared to Western one: as the word is used to supplement the primary name, it cannot be used independently and must be used together with the primary name when addressing a person. Therefore, middle name in Vietnamese is considered part of the given name.- For example, Jacob Harry Marguire is commonly known as "Harry Marguire" and he can be addressed simply by his middle name "Harry". Or Andrea Kimi Antonelli is commonly known as "Kimi Antonelli" and he can be addressed simply by his middle name "Kimi". However in Vietnamese custom, Nguyễn Văn Toàn is never addressed by his middle name "Văn" but often by primary name "Toàn", even though he is commonly known as given name "Văn Toàn".
In the past, the middle name was selected by parents from a fairly narrow range of options. Almost all women had Thị as their middle name, and many men had Văn. More recently, a broader range of names has been used, and people named Thị usually omit their middle name because they do not like to call it with their name. For example, singer Hồ Ngọc Hà has birthname "Hồ Thị Ngọc Hà". Thị is a most common female middle name, and most common amongst pre-1975 generation but less common amongst younger generations. Thị is an archaic Sino-Vietnamese suffix meaning "clan; family; lineage; hereditary house" and attached to a woman's original surname, but now is used to simply indicate the female sex. For example, the name "Trần Thị Mai Loan" means "Mai Loan, a female person of the Trần family". Some traditional male middle names may include Văn, Hữu, Đức, Thành, Công, Minh, and Quang.
The middle name can have several uses:
- 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.
- To separate branches of a large family: "Nguyễn Hữu", "Nguyễn Sinh", "Trần Lâm". However, this usage is still controversial. Some people consider them to be a part of their surnames, not surname + middle name. Some families may, however, set up arbitrary rules about giving a different middle name to each generation.
- To indicate a person's position in the family. This usage is less common than others.
- To provide a poetic and positive meaning. E.g. "Trần Gia Hạnh Phúc" meaning "Happiness to the Trần family".
- Some children take the father’s surname, their middle name is derived from the mother's surname as a gesture of respect and remembrance. E.g. Trần "Lê" Quốc Toàn, Cao "Pendant" Quang Vinh.