Nguyá» n (; sometimes abbreviated as NgÃÂ) 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.
is the transcription of the Sino-Vietnamese pronunciation of the character , 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 in Mandarin and as in Cantonese.
The first recorded mention of a person surnamed Nguyá» n is a description dating AD 317, of a journey to Jiaozhou undertaken by Eastern Jin dynasty officer Nguyá» n 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 ÃÂá» forced the descendants of the Lý to change their surname to Nguyá» n. When Há» Quý Ly overturned the Trần dynasty, he killed many of their descendants so when the Há» dynasty collapsed in 1407, many of his descendants changed their surname to Nguyá» n in fear of retribution. In 1592, on the collapse of the Mạc dynasty, their descendants changed their surname to Nguyá» n. In late 16th century, the Tð Mã clan from Thanh Hóa changed to Nguyá» n and settled in Cochinchina. When the Nguyá» n dynasty (the descendants of the Nguyá» n Lords) took power in 1802, some of the descendants of the Trá»Ânh Lords fearing retribution changed their surname to Nguyá» n, while others fled north into China.
The prevalence of Nguyá» n 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 (second only to Smith in Melbourne phone books), 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 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.
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 Nguyá» n 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 Nguyá» n family are:
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 Nguyá» n 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 .
There have been various points in Vietnam's history at which people have changed their family name to Nguyá» n. When the Lý dynasty fell in 1232, Trần Thủ ÃÂá»Â, 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 Há» Quý Ly (1401), in Hải Dðáng and a part of Haiphong today there is the district of the Phàfamily (Vietnamese: ). At the end of the Lý and the Trần dynasty there were many people who changed their names to Nguyá» n and Nguyá» n PhÃÂ. 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 NguyỠn.
Trần Quang Diá»Âu (like his wife Bùi Thá» Xuân) worked as a major officer for the Tây Sán dynasty, against Nguyá» n ÃÂnh. After the Tây Sán dynasty was defeated, his children adopted various names or changed names (one of them into Nguyá» n) 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 Nguyá» n in modern Vietnam, attributing it to the influence of the Nguyá» n dynasty (1802âÂÂ1945) as the country's last dynasty. However, the surname of the ruling dynasty was Nguyá» n Phúc (é®è¤Â), not only Nguyá» n (é®).
In 1841, Nguyá» n VÃÂn Tðá»Âng (é®æÂÂ祥), originally named Nguyá» n Phúc Tðá»Âng (é®è¤Â祥), participated in the civil examination. Emperor Thiá»Âu Trá» (紹治) ordered his name be removed from the list of graduates, changed it to Nguyá» n VÃÂn Tðá»Âng, and handed him over to the Censorate for punishment. As a result, Tðá»Âng 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 (; ÃÂại Nam thá»±c lục):
People with the name include:
HỠChàMinh was born NguyỠn Sinh Cung and used various names with the surname NguyỠn throughout his career (, ). He was not known as HỠChàMinh until late in his life.