Le is a

romanization Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...

of several rare

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...

n surnames and a common Vietnamese surname. It is a fairly common surname in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, ranked 975th during the 1990 census and 368th during the 2000 census. In 2000, it was the eighth-most-common surname among America's

Asian and Pacific Islander Asian/Pacific American (APA) or Asian/Pacific Islander (API) or Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) or Asian American and Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islander (AANHPI) is a term sometimes used in the United States when including both Asian an ...

population, predominantly from its Vietnamese use. It was also reported among the top 200 surnames in

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, based on a survey of that province's

Registered Persons Database Registered may refer to: * Registered mail, letters, packets or other postal documents considered valuable and in need of a chain of custody * Registered trademark symbol, symbol ® that provides notice that the preceding is a trademark or service ...

Canadian health card Healthcare in Canada is delivered through the provincial and territorial systems of publicly funded health care, informally called Medicare (Canada), Medicare. It is guided by the provisions of the ''Canada Health Act'' of 1984, and is Universal ...

recipients as of the year 2000.

Origins of surname

Vietnamese

* Lê is a

Vietnamese surname Traditional Vietnamese personal names generally consist of three parts, used in Eastern name order. * A family name (normally patrilineal, The father’s family name may be combined with the mother's family name to form a compound family name). ...

written in Hán-Nôm. It is pronounced in the

Hanoi dialect The phonology of Vietnamese features 19 consonant phonemes, with 5 additional consonant phonemes used in Vietnamese's Southern dialect, and 4 exclusive to the Northern dialect. Vietnamese also has 14 vowel nuclei, and 6 tones that are integral t ...

and in the

Saigon dialect The phonology of Vietnamese features 19 consonant phonemes, with 5 additional consonant phonemes used in Vietnamese's Southern dialect, and 4 exclusive to the Northern dialect. Vietnamese also has 14 vowel nuclei, and 6 tones that are integral t ...

. It is usually pronounced in English, with it being mistaken for another surname, with similar spelling, Lý.

Chinese

Mandarin * Le is the

Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...

romanization of the Chinese surname (written 乐 in

Simplified Chinese characters Simplified Chinese characters are standardized Chinese characters used in mainland China, Malaysia and Singapore, as prescribed by the ''Table of General Standard Chinese Characters''. Along with traditional Chinese characters, they are one o ...

and 樂 in

Traditional Chinese characters Traditional Chinese characters are one type of standard Chinese character sets of the contemporary written Chinese. The traditional characters had taken shapes since the clerical change and mostly remained in the same structure they took at ...

); it is Lok in Cantonese.

Minnan

* Lê or Le is the POJ romanization of the

Chinese surname Chinese surnames are used by Han Chinese and Sinicized ethnic groups in China, Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam, and among overseas Chinese communities around the world such as Singapore and Malaysia. Written Chinese names begin with surnames, unlike the ...

Li (, ''Lí'')

People with the surname

Vietnamese

;Lê *

Anterior Lê Dynasty Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position prov ...

*The

Lê Dynasty The Lê dynasty, also known as Later Lê dynasty ( vi, Hậu Lê triều, chữ Hán: 後黎朝 or vi, nhà Hậu Lê, link=no, chữ Nôm: 茹後黎), was the longest-ruling Vietnamese dynasty, ruling Đại Việt from 1428 to 1789. The Lê ...

Lê Công Vinh Lê Công Vinh (born 10 December 1985, in Nghệ An, Vietnam) is a former Vietnamese footballer. He was part of the Vietnam national team from 2004 to 2016 as an attacker. Considered one of the greatest players in Vietnamese football's histor ...

, football player *

Lê Hoàn Lê Hoàn (10 August 941 – 18 March 1005), posthumously title Lê Đại Hành, was a Vietnamese emperor and the third ruler of Dai Viet kingdom, ruling from 981 to 1005. He first served as the generalissimo commanding a ten-thousand man arm ...

, founding emperor of the Anterior Lê Dynasty * Dinh Q Lê * Lê Duẩn * Lê Đức Anh *

Dowager Empress Gia Từ Dowager Empress Gia Từ of Lê clan ( Chữ Hán: 嘉慈皇太后黎氏, ? - 1381) was the consort of Trần dynasty. Biography Lady Gia Từ was born at Đại Lại village, Vĩnh Lộc district, Ái Châu, Thanh Hoa town (now Hà Đông ...

, originally of the Lê clan of Vĩnh Lộc District *

Lê Hằng Phấn Lê Hằng Phấn (died c.1990 in Bowie, Maryland) was the second daughter of a Vietnamese scholar Sở Cuồng Lê Dư. She was one among the four sisters: Lê Hằng Phương - Lê Hằng Phấn - Lê Hằng Huân - Lê Hằng Trang. The four ...

Lê Huỳnh Đức Lê Huỳnh Đức (born April 20, 1972 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam) is a Vietnamese football manager and former footballer. He is currently serving as technical director for V.League 1 side Saigon. Huỳnh Đức is a former member of the Vi ...

, football player *

Lê Khả Phiêu Lê Khả Phiêu (27 December 1931 – 7 August 2020) was a Vietnamese politician who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam from December 1997 to April 2001.Gainsborough 2010, p. 143 Lê Khả Phiêu served in the Viet ...

* Lê Lâm Quỳnh Như, Vietnamese-American singer known as

Như Quỳnh Lê Lâm Quỳnh Như ( or ; born 9 September 1970), known professionally as Như Quỳnh ( or ), is a Vietnamese Americans, Vietnamese-American singer. Performing Vietnamese popular music in the Overseas Vietnamese, diaspora, she is internation ...

Lê Lợi Lê Lợi (, Chữ Hán: 黎利; c. 10 September 1384/1385 – 5 October 1433), also known by his temple name as Lê Thái Tổ (黎太祖) and by his pre-imperial title Bình Định vương (平定王; "Prince of Pacification"), was a Vietname ...

, founding emperor of the Lê Dynasty * Nguyên Lê * Lê Minh Đảo *

Lê Nhân Tông Lê Nhân Tông (黎仁宗, 28 May 1441 – 25 October 1459), birth name Lê Bang Cơ (黎邦基) was the third emperor of the Later Lê dynasty from 1453 until his murder in a coup in 1459. He was a grandson of the emperor Lê Lợi. During near ...

Lê Quan Ninh Lê Quan Ninh (born Paris, 1961) is a French percussionist active in contemporary music and free improvisation. He began studying piano at the age of 7, but turned towards percussion as a teenager. When he was 16, he entered the National Con ...

, French percussionist * Lê Quang Liêm, chess player *

Lê Quang Tung Colonel Lê Quang Tung (13 June 1919 – 1 November 1963) was the commander of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces under the command of Ngô Đình Nhu. Nhu was the brother of South Vietnam's president, Ngô Đình Diệm. A forme ...

, commander of ARVN Special Forces *

Lê Quý Đôn Lê Quý Đôn (; 1726–1784) was an 18th-century Vietnamese people, Vietnamese poet, encyclopedist, and government official. His pseudonym was Quế - Đường. He was a native of Duyen Ha village in present-day Thái Bình Province. He is cons ...

Lê Văn Duyệt Lê Văn Duyệt)., group=n (1763 or 1764 – 30 July 1832) was a Vietnamese general who helped Nguyễn Ánh—the future Emperor Gia Long—put down the Tây Sơn wars, unify Vietnam and establish the Nguyễn dynasty. After the Nguyễn came ...

, general of

Gia Long Gia Long ( (''North''), ('' South''); 8 February 1762 – 3 February 1820), born Nguyễn Phúc Ánh (阮福暎) or Nguyễn Ánh, was the founding emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty, the last dynasty of Vietnam. His dynasty would rule the unif ...

and viceroy of southern Vietnam *

Lê Văn Hưng Lê Văn Hưng (March 27, 1933 – April 30, 1975) was an infantry general of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. Early life Hưng was born in Hóc Môn, in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam, and was raised by his widowed mother, Trương Thị ...

Lê Văn Khôi ( vi-hantu, 黎文 ; died 1834) was the adopted son of the Vietnamese general Lê Văn Duyệt. He led the 1833–1835 Lê Văn Khôi revolt against Emperor Minh Mạng, but died in 1834. As Duyệt was being prosecuted and his relatives condem ...

, adopted son of Le Van Duyet *

Lê Văn Thiêm Lê Văn Thiêm (29 March 1918 – 3 July 1991) was a Vietnamese scientist. Together with Hoàng Tụy, he is considered the father of Vietnam Mathematics society. He was the first director of the Vietnam Institute of Mathematics, and the first He ...

* Lê Thái Tông, second emperor of the Lê dynasty *

Lê Thánh Tông Lê Thánh Tông (黎聖宗; 25 August 1442 – 3 March 1497), personal name Lê Hạo, temple name Thánh Tông, courtesy name Tư Thành, was an emperor of Đại Việt, reigning from 1460 to 1497, the fifth and the longest-reigning empe ...

, fifth emperor of the Lê dynasty *

Lê Tuấn Hùng Lê Tuấn Hùng (born 1960 in Vietnam) is an Australian-Vietnamese composer, performer, and musicologist. He is a multi-instrumentalist with a strong background in Vietnamese traditional music and Western classical music. Known as a skilled perfor ...

* Lê Long Đĩnh, the last emperor of the Anterior Lê dynasty ;Le * Annie Le *

Cung Le Cung Le ( vi, Lê Cung; born May 25, 1972) is a Vietnamese-born American actor, retired mixed martial artist, Sanshou fighter and kickboxer. He competed as a middleweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), holding a record of ...

(born 1972), Vietnamese-born American martial artist *

Duy-Loan Le Duy-Loan T. Le (born 1962, Vietnam) is an engineer and the first woman and Asian elected as a Texas Instruments Senior Fellow. Early life Born in Nha Trang, South Vietnam, in 1962 to a labor-class family,Nguyen, Cuong Quoc"Vietnamese Defies Odds ...

Hoang Le Huang (; ) is a Chinese surname that originally means and refers to jade people were wearing and decorating in ancient times. While ''Huáng'' is the pinyin romanization of the word, it may also be romanized as Hwang, Wong, Waan, Wan, Waon, Hwon ...

* Linda Le, Vietnamese-American cosplayer and model * Michelle Le *

Minh Le Minh Le (Vietnamese: Lê Minh), also known by his online nickname Gooseman, is a Vietnamese Canadian video game programmer who co-created the ''Half-Life'' mod ''Counter-Strike'' with Jess Cliffe in 1999 and started the ''Counter-Strike'' seri ...

Tony Le-Nguyen Tony Le-Nguyen is a Vietnamese Australians, Vietnamese-Australian actor, filmmaker and teacher. Le-Nguyen is perhaps best known for his role as Tiger in the 1992 Australian drama film ''Romper Stomper''. Early life Le-Nguyen was born in as Lê ...

Thuy Thu Le Thuy Thu Le (born August 23, 1966) is a retired Vietnamese-American actress. Biography Thuy Thu Le was born in Saigon, South Vietnam. She was raised and educated in the United States, after her parents left Saigon during the Vietnam War. Le w ...

Tuan Le Tuan Le (born February 15, 1978 in Paris, France) is a Vietnamese-American professional poker player. Of Vietnamese ancestry, Le was raised in Kansas City, Missouri, in the United States, but by middle school age he was living in Los Angeles, Ca ...

* Danny "Shiphtur" Le, Canadian ''League of Legends'' player

Chinese

* Le Jingyi, a former

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

from

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

who won the gold medal in the 100 meters freestyle at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

Other people

* Francesca Le

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Le Surnames Chinese-language surnames Vietnamese-language surnames Hokkien-language surnames Surnames of Vietnamese origin vi:Lê (họ)

Origins of surname

Vietnamese

Chinese

Minnan

People with the surname

Vietnamese

Chinese

Other people

See also

References