Vietnamese names () generally consist of two components including a "surname" and a "given name", follow the Eastern name order:
However, not every name is conformant. For example:
The "family name first" written order is usual throughout the East Asian cultural sphere which Vietnam is a part of. Persons can be referred to by the whole name, the primary name, or a hierarchic pronoun, which usually connotes a degree of family relationship or kinship â but referring via the primary 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, the primary name can be written first then surname e.g. Tam Dinh or Khoa Tran.
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. ÃÂoàn () 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 å () or ç· (), 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 Quá»Âc ngữ, popularized during the French colonial era, is fully romanized and has replaced the earlier, Chinese characterâÂÂbased script, chữ Nôm.
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 Nguyá» n was estimated to be the most common (31.5% in 2022). 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.
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 (e.g., Nguyá» n from "nguá»Ân, ngòi" meaning spring or canal) or from traditional totems (e.g., Gàfor "chicken tribe"). 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 (from the overthrown Lý dynasty) were ordered to change their surname to Nguyá» n. The Nguyá» n dynasty (1802-1945) further contributed to the prevalence of the Nguyá» n 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 (Khá»Âng, Lðu, Trðáng), Khmer (Thạch, Sán), Cham (Chế, Chiêm), and various ethnic minorities (Linh, Giáp, Ma).
The following are the most common surnames among Vietnamese, with their chữ Quá»Âc ngữ spelling, and their corresponding Hán-Nôm characters. The figures are from a 2022 study 100 há» phá» biến á» Viá»Ât Nam (100 Most Popular Surnames In Vietnam) from the Vietnamese Social Science Publisher (Nhàxuất bản Khoa há»Âc Xã há»Âi). 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):
In Vietnamese culture, women keep their surnames after marriage. Even though it is not required by law, children usually bear the fatherâÂÂs surname. After the French colonial period, there emerged a trend in which someone is given a middle name derived from the <u>motherâÂÂs surname</u> as a gesture of respect and remembrance (e.g. Trần <u>Lê</u> Quá»Âc Toàn).
In more casual contexts, people are always on a "first-name basis", which involves their primary names, accompanied by proper kinship terms.
The given name () is consist of an optional middle name and a mandatory primary name.
Middle name, which is known officially as "Padding name" () in Vietnamese is optional. Although placed in the "middle" position in a full name, Vietnamese middle name has a very different role and usage compared to Western one: as the prefix 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.
Most Vietnamese people have a monosyllablic middle name, but it is also quite common to have multisyllable or none at all such as Tô Lâm. Semantically, a middle name can stand alone (e.g., VÃÂn or Thá»Â), but it is usually combined with the primary name to form a more meaningful full name, where the middle name functions as part of the primary name.
In the past, the middle name was selected by parents from a fairly narrow range of options. Almost all women had Thá» () as their middle name, and many men had VÃÂn (). More recently, a broader range of names has been used, and people named Thá» usually omit their middle name because they do not like to call it with their name. For example, singer Há» Ngá»Âc Hàhas birthname "Há» Thá» Ngá»Âc Hà". Thá» is a most common female middle name, and most common amongst pre-1975 generation but less common amongst younger generations. Thá» () 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 Thá» Mai Loan" means "Mai Loan, a female person of the Trần family". Some traditional male middle names may include VÃÂn (), Hữu (), ÃÂức (), Thành (), Công (), Minh (), and Quang ().
The middle name can have several uses:
The first three are not as common in the present-day as they are 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.
In most cases, the middle name is formally part of the primary name (). For example, the name "ÃÂinh Quang Dà ©ng" is separated into the surname "ÃÂinh" and the primary name "Quang Dà ©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 syllable in a primary name with a title before it is used to call or address a person: "ÃÂng Dà ©ng", "Anh Dà ©ng", etc., with "ÃÂng" and "Anh" being words to address the person and depend on age, social position, etc.
The primary 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 (Khiêm, è¬Â).
Typically, Vietnamese will be addressed with their primary 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 surname 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 "Doña/Dona" and men as "Don/Dom", along with their first name.
Addressing someone by the surname is rare in the current. In the past, women were usually called by their (maiden) surname, with thá» (æ°Â) as a suffix, similar to China and Korea. In recent years, doctors are more likely than any other social group to be addressed by their surname, 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 surnames regardless of whether the name is an alias, such as Há» ChàMinh (Bác Há»ÂâÂÂ"Uncle Há»Â) (although his real name is Nguyá» n Sinh Cung), Trá»Ânh Công Sán (nhạc Trá»ÂnhâÂÂ"Trá»Ânh music), and Há» Xuân Hðáng (nữ sé há» Há»ÂâÂÂ"the poetess with the surname Há»Â). Traditionally, people in Vietnam, particularly North Vietnam, addressed parents using the first child's name.
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:
If either the father or mother is a foreigner and is married to a Vietnamese citizen, and their child is born in Vietnam and registered with Vietnamese nationality from the outset, the child may take the surname of either the foreign parent or the Vietnamese parent, however, the given name (underlining) must be Vietnamese, such as "Smith <u>Tuấn Anh</u>" (or Tuan-Anh Smith in Western order) is acceptable, but "Nguyá» n <u>David</u>" (David Nguyen) is not. For those born abroad who wish to acquire Vietnamese citizenship, they may keep their foreign name (regardless of whether it is the surname or the given name in the original name) after becoming Vietnamese citizens, such as "Hoàng Và © <u>Samson</u>", "Huỳnh <u>Kesley Alves</u>", "Nguyá» n <u>Filip</u>", "Cao <u>Pendant</u> Quang Vinh".
Vietnamese Catholics are given a saint's name at baptism ( or ). Boys are given male saints' names, while girls are given female saints' names. This name appears first, before the surname, 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 personal name in prayers after their death. The most common saints' names are taken from the New Testament, such as (Peter, or Pierre in French), (Paul), (John), (Mary), and or they may remain as they are without Vietnamisation.
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.
Some names may appear the same if simplified into a basic ASCII script, as for example on websites, but are different names:
Typically, as in the above examples, it is middle or the last primary name which varies, as almost any Hán-Nôm character may be used. The number of surnames is limited.
Further, some historical names may be written using different chữ Hán (Chinese characters), but are still written the same in the modern Vietnamese alphabet.
Due to foreignersâ limited familiarity with writing and typing Vietnamese diacritics, and to avoid encoding errors that may corrupt font display, Vietnamese names are often written without diacritics in English, such as "Ho Chi Minh" instead of "Há» ChàMinh", "Vo Nguyen Giap" instead of "Võ Nguyên Giáp". However, this may lead to pronunciation distortions that even Vietnamese speakers cannot accurately verify when the name is transliterated back into Vietnamese with diacritics. For example, surname ÃÂoàn () vs Doãn (), both become Doan when diacritics are omitted and can only distinguish by IPA or respelling.
Based on the Vietnamese custom of addressing individuals by the last monosyllable of their primary name, the English-language Chicago Manual of Style indexes Vietnamese names according to the "primary-name, surname middle-name", with a cross-reference placed in regards to the surname. Ngô ÃÂình Diá»Âm would be listed as "Diem, Ngo Dinh" and Võ Nguyên Giáp would be listed as "Giap, Vo Nguyen". In Vietnamese-language sources, names are also generally organized in this manner.
However, indexing the name in the form "Giap, Vo Nguyen" can be misleading as it suggests that "Võ Nguyên" is the surname. Likewise, when the comma is omitted such as "Giap Vo Nguyen", it may also confuse Western readers by implying that the middle name "Nguyên" is the "last name" because it appears at the end of the name, whereas in reality the personâÂÂs actual surname is solely "Võ". Nowadays, to avoid problems caused by mistakes with surnames, Vietnamese names in English are commonly indexed according to "middle-name primary-name surname" in the Western order such as "Nguyen Giap Vo" instead of "Giap Vo Nguyen", to determine exactly the surname "Vo", which corresponds to the true "last name" in English texts (especially in media such as TV on-screen graphics, websites, and social media at sports events). At the very least, this helps Western readers identify the correct surname "Võ", rather than mistaking the middle name "Nguyen" for the surname and confusing it with "Nguyá» n".
Due to the high frequency of the same surnames in Vietnamese names (having around one-third of the Vietnamese people using the surname NguyỠn), it has also become more popular to be referred by given name in English. For example, NguyỠn Tiến Minh can be referred to as "(Mr.) Tiến Minh" or simply as "(Mr.) Minh". Addressing by surname such as "(Mr.) NguyỠn" is also used, but less commonly when using English in Vietnam.
Additionally, there are certain cases in which Vietnamese personal names when written in full-name form in English, are rearranged symmetrically around the middle name by swapping the surname and the final syllable of the given name, following the English-style order of "first-middle-last". This stems from a confusion that Vietnamese middle names, due to be located at the "middle", would be equivalent to Western middle names. For example, Võ <u>Nguyên</u> Giáp is reordered as "Giap <u>Nguyen</u> Vo", Trần <u>Lê</u> <u>Quá»Âc</u> Toàn is reordered as "Toan <u>Le</u> <u>Quoc</u> Tran". However, as mentioned earlier, the issue here is not about its position, but the fundamentally different ways in which Vietnamese middle names and Western middle names are used:
Consequently, when a Vietnamese personal name is written in full-name form following Western order, it is often recommended that it be reordered in "middle-name primary-name surname", meaning just focus on that only the surname (in bold) needs to be moved to the last position, while all parts of the given name (underlined) should be left as is, such as Võ <u>Nguyên Giáp</u> is reordered as "<u>Nguyen Giap</u> Vo", Trần <u>Lê</u> <u>Quá»Âc Toàn</u> is reordered as "<u>Le</u> <u>Quoc Toan</u> Tran". Along with this, when filling in the form of 3-name fields "First Name / Middle Name / Last Name", it is advisable to leave the "Middle Name" field blank and enter the entire "middle-name primary-name" sequence in the "First Name" field, such as "Le Quoc Toan / (blank) / Tran" instead of "Toan / Le Quoc /Tran". This practice helps preserve the Vietnamese given name in its proper form, minimizes complications arising from inconsistent ordering of the given nameâÂÂs monosyllabic elements across different documents, and remains consistent with cases of surname-based alphabetization in lexical name order which uses the "surname, given name" format, such as "Tran, Le Quoc Toan" rather than "Tran, Toan Le Quoc" (see in Presentation in passport and paperworks).
There are three common types to abbreviate a Vietnamese name:
Since 2023, names in Vietnamese passports have been split into two lines: "surname" and "given names", with the middle name treated as a part with the primary name in order to match the format of "given names".
However, because almost all Vietnamese surnames are monosyllabic and little attention is given to compound surnames (such as Hoàng Phủ, Tôn Thất, Tôn Nữ, ÃÂu Dðáng), the first syllable of a compound surname is often designated as the sole surname, while the second syllable is treated as a middle name. For example:
Vietnamese people do not have the practice of using hyphens (e.g., Hoàng-Phủ Ngá»Âc-Tðá»Âng) or any other markers to indicate the "partition" of their names, and they may sometimes omit their middle names in Western contexts for simplified translation or presentation. The more syllables a name has, the more complicated it becomes to fill it into the required fields.
The following shows ways to fill Vietnamese names in Western paperwork. The entries highlighted in the green background indicate the recommended method which is to leave the "Middle Name" field blank and fill all parts of given name including "middle-name primary-name" into "First Name" field, to avoid issues such as surname confusion or incorrect order of Vietnamese given name (ensure that the middle name is always positioned before the primary name as same as in Vietnamese) in procedures like visa applications or airline ticketing.