Nguyễn () is the most common

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). ...

. Outside of Vietnam, the surname is commonly rendered without

diacritic A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacriti ...

s as Nguyen.

Nguyên Nguyễn () is the most common Vietnamese surname. Outside of Vietnam, the surname is commonly rendered without diacritics as Nguyen. Nguyên (元）is a different word and surname. By some estimates 39 percent of Vietnamese people bear this s ...

(元）is a different word and surname. By some estimates 39 percent of

Vietnamese people The Vietnamese people ( vi, người Việt, lit=Viet people) or Kinh people ( vi, người Kinh) are a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to modern-day Northern Vietnam and Dongxing, Guangxi, Southern China (Jing Islands, Dongxing, Guangxi ...

bear this

surname In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community. Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name ...

.Lê Trung Hoa, ''Họ và tên người Việt Nam'', NXB Khoa học - Xã hội, 2005

Origin and usage

"Nguyễn" is the spelling of the Sino-Vietnamese pronunciation of the

Han character Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji' ...

阮 (, ). The same Han character is often romanized as ''Ruǎn'' in

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

, ''Yuen'' in

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...

, ''Gnieuh'' or ''Nyoe¹'' in

Wu Chinese The Wu languages (; Romanization of Wu Chinese, Wu romanization and Romanization of Wu Chinese#IPA, IPA: ''wu6 gniu6'' [] (Shanghainese), ''ng2 gniu6'' [] (Suzhounese), Mandarin pinyin and IPA: ''Wúyǔ'' []) is a major group of Sinitic languag ...

, or ''Nguang'' in Fuzhou dialect, Hokchew. . Hanja reading ( Korean language, Korean) is 완 (''Wan'') or 원 (''Won'') and in

Hiragana is a Japanese syllabary, part of the Japanese writing system, along with ''katakana'' as well as ''kanji''. It is a phonetic lettering system. The word ''hiragana'' literally means "flowing" or "simple" kana ("simple" originally as contrast ...

, it is げん (''Gen''), old reading as け゚ん (Ngen). The first recorded mention of a person surnamed Nguyen is a 317 CE description of a journey to

Giao Châu Jiaozhou (; Wade–Giles: Chiao1-Cho1; vi, Giao Châu) was an imperial Chinese province under the Han and Jin dynasties. Under the Han, the area included Liangguang and northern Vietnam but Guangdong was later separated to form the province of ...

undertaken by

Eastern Jin dynasty Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways * Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air ...

(, ) officer and his family. Many events in Vietnamese history have contributed to the name's prominence. In 1232, after usurping the

Lý dynasty The Lý dynasty ( vi, Nhà Lý, , chữ Nôm: 茹李, chữ Hán: 李朝, Hán Việt: ''Lý triều'') was a Vietnamese dynasty that existed from 1009 to 1225. It was established by Lý Công Uẩn when he overthrew the Early Lê dynasty an ...

Trần Thủ Độ Prince Trung Võ Trần Thủ Độ ( vi-hantu, 陳守度, 1194–1264) was a general and leader of the Trần clan during the reign of Lý Huệ Tông and Lý Chiêu Hoàng of Vietnam. Trần Thủ Độ was credited for overthrowing the Lý dyna ...

forced the descendants of the Lý to change their surname to Nguyễn. When

Hồ Quý Ly Hồ Quý Ly ( vi-hantu, 胡季犛, born 1336) ruled Đại Ngu (Vietnam) from 1400 to 1401 as the founding emperor of the short-lived Hồ dynasty. Quý Ly rose from a post as an official served the court of the ruling Trần dynasty and a milit ...

overturned the

Trần dynasty The Trần dynasty, (Vietnamese: Nhà Trần, chữ Nôm: 茹陳）also known as the House of Trần, was a Vietnamese dynasty that ruled over the Kingdom of Đại Việt from 1225 to 1400. The dynasty was founded when emperor Trần Thái T ...

, he killed many of their descendants so when the

Hồ dynasty The Hồ dynasty (Vietnamese: , chữ Nôm: 茹胡； Sino-Vietnamese: ''Hồ triều, chữ Hán:'' 胡朝) was a short-lived Vietnamese dynasty consisting of the reigns of two monarchs, Hồ Quý Ly (胡季犛) in 1400–01 and his second so ...

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 The Mạc dynasty ( vi, Nhà Mạc / ''Mạc triều''; Hán Nôm: 茹莫 / 莫朝) (1527-1627), as known as House of Mạc ruled the whole of Đại Việt between 1527 and 1540 and the northern part of the country from 1540 until 1593, and ...

, 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 The Nguyễn dynasty (chữ Nôm: 茹阮, vi, Nhà Nguyễn; chữ Hán: 阮朝, vi, Nguyễn triều) was the last Vietnamese dynasty, which ruled the unified Vietnamese state largely independently from 1802 to 1883. During its existence, ...

(the descendants of the

Nguyễn Lords Nguyễn () is the most common Vietnamese surname. Outside of Vietnam, the surname is commonly rendered without diacritics as Nguyen. Nguyên (元）is a different word and surname. By some estimates 39 percent of Vietnamese people bear this su ...

) took power in 1802, some of the descendants of the

Trịnh Lords The Trịnh lords ( vi, Chúa Trịnh; Chữ Nôm: 主鄭; 1545–1787), formal title Trịnh Viceroy (; ), also known as Trịnh clan (鄭氏, ''Trịnh thị'') or the House of Trịnh, were a noble feudal clan who de facto ruled Northern Viet ...

fearing retribution changed their surname to Nguyễn, while others fled north into China. The Nguyễn dynasty awarded many people the surname Nguyễn during their rule, and many criminals also changed their surname to Nguyễn to avoid prosecution. Distribution of Vietnamese family names

Usage outside Vietnam

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 (second only to Smith in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

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 The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. 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 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

and

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

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: * Nguyễn Phước or Nguyễn Phúc (阮福): Surname for the

family members, and all members of the

emperors. * Nguyễn Đình 阮廷 * Nguyễn Hữu 阮有 * Nguyễn Cảnh 阮景 * Nguyễn Khắc 阮克 * Nguyễn Tiến 阮進 * Nguyễn Đức 阮德 * Nguyễn Minh 阮明 * Nguyễn Thanh 阮清 * Nguyễn Ngọc 阮玉 * Nguyễn Văn 阮文 * Nguyễn Quang 阮光 * Nguyễn Xuân 阮春 * Nguyễn Huy 阮輝 * Nguyễn Hoàng 阮黃 *

Tôn Thất Tôn Thất (''Ton That'' or ''Ton-That'', often simplified to ''Tonthat'' in English-language text) is a two-character Vietnamese compound surname, originating from the Nguyễn dynasty. This surname was originally ''Tông Thất'' (), which is der ...

尊室 (Tôn Nữ 尊女 for females): Surname for members of the

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 The voiced velar nasal, also known as agma, from the Greek word for 'fragment', is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It is the sound of ''ng'' in English ''sing'' as well as ''n'' before velar consonants as in ''Englis ...

found in the middle of the English word "singer". Unlike in Vietnamese, this consonant is never found in initial position in English. is the

semivowel In phonetics and phonology, a semivowel, glide or semiconsonant is a sound that is phonetically similar to a vowel sound but functions as the syllable boundary, rather than as the nucleus of a syllable. Examples of semivowels in English are the ...

found in the English word "win. is a

rising diphthong A diphthong ( ; , ), also known as a gliding vowel, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of the speech ...

, the sound of which is similar to the diphthong found in the British English

Received Pronunciation Received Pronunciation (RP) is the Accent (sociolinguistics), accent traditionally regarded as the Standard language, standard and most Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestigious form of spoken British English. For over a century, there has been ...

of "ear". Finally, occurs in the English word "net". However, Nguyễn is also pronounced with a tone in Vietnamese. In Southern Vietnam, Nguyễn 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 The glottal plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages, produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract or, more precisely, the glottis. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents thi ...

in the middle of the vowel. See Vietnamese tones. 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

fell in 1232,

, who orchestrated its overthrow, forced Lý's descendants to adopt the name due to the

naming taboo A naming taboo is a cultural taboo against speaking or writing the given names of exalted persons, notably in China and within the Chinese cultural sphere. It was enforced by several laws throughout Imperial China, but its cultural and possibly r ...

surrounding Trần Lý, grandfather to emperor

Trần Cảnh Trần (陳) or Tran is a common Vietnamese surname. More than 10% of all Vietnamese people share this surname. It is derived from the common Chinese surname Chen. History The Tran ruled the Trần dynasty, a golden era in Vietnam, and succe ...

. During almost 1000 years, from 457 to

(1401), in Hải Dương and a part of

Haiphong Haiphong ( vi, Hải Phòng, ), or Hải Phòng, is a major industrial city and the third-largest in Vietnam. Hai Phong is also the center of technology, economy, culture, medicine, education, science and trade in the Red River delta. Haiphong wa ...

today there is the district of the Phí family (Vietnamese: ''huyện Phí Gia''). At the end of the Lý and the

there were many people who changed their names to "Nguyễn" and "Nguyễn Phí." By 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 ...

, the court changed the name of the district to "Kim Thành." When the

fell in 1592, their descendants changed their family name to "Nguyễn." Trần Quang Diệu (like his wife

Bùi Thị Xuân Bùi Thị Xuân ( vi-hantu, , d. 1802) was a Vietnamese female general during the Tây Sơn's era. Biography General Bùi Thị Xuân was born in Bình Khê District (now Tây Sơn District), Bình Định Province. She is said to have lear ...

) worked as a major officer for the

Tây Sơn dynasty The Tây Sơn dynasty (, vi, Nhà Tây Sơn (Chữ Nôm: 茹西山); vi, Tây Sơn triều ( Hán tự: 西山朝) was a ruling dynasty of Vietnam, founded in the wake of a rebellion against both the Nguyễn lords and the Trịnh lords befor ...

, against

Nguyễn Ánh 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 unifie ...

. After the Tây Sơn dynasty was defeated, his children adopted various names or changed names (one of them into "Nguyễn") in order to flee retaliation. Historically in Vietnam and many East Asian countries, the rulers may let their courtiers share their family name as a reward for their loyalty. Many officials thereby changed their name to match that of the last Nguyễn dynasty (1802–1945). Civilians also adopted the name during the Trịnh–Nguyễn Civil War for purposes of

social climbing A ''parvenu'' is a person who is a relative newcomer to a high-ranking socioeconomic class. The word is borrowed from the French language; it is the past participle of the verb ''parvenir'' (to reach, to arrive, to manage to do something). Origi ...

, having migrated from the north to the south. Even the Tây Sơn Brothers changed their name to "Nguyễn" from "Hồ."

Notable people

People with the name include: *Heads of state (

Nguyễn Minh Triết Nguyễn Minh Triết (born 8 October 1942) is a Vietnamese politician who served as the sixth President of Vietnam from 2006 to 2011. He was elected by the National Assembly of Vietnam with 464 votes (94%) in June 2006. Nguyễn Minh Triết w ...

Nguyễn Phú Trọng Nguyễn Phú Trọng (born 14 April 1944) is a Vietnamese politician who has served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam — the highest political position in Vietnam — since 2011. In addition, Nguyễn Phú Trọng serv ...

Nguyễn Xuân Phúc Nguyễn Xuân Phúc (born 20 July 1954) is a Vietnamese politician currently serving as the President of Vietnam, one of the highest-ranked officials in Vietnam along with Nguyễn Phú Trọng, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Viet ...

Nguyễn Xí Nguyễn Xí ( vi-hantu, 阮熾; 1397–1465), or Lê Xí, was a general, politician, and public servant who served as a minister for four generations of rulers during the late Lê dynasty. He is considered a historical military genius of Vietnam ...

Nguyễn lords Nguyễn () is the most common Vietnamese surname. Outside of Vietnam, the surname is commonly rendered without diacritics as Nguyen. Nguyên (元）is a different word and surname. By some estimates 39 percent of Vietnamese people bear this su ...

, ) *Poets (

Nguyễn Trãi Nguyễn Trãi (阮廌), pen name Ức Trai (抑齋); (1380–1442) was an illustrious Vietnamese Confucian scholar, a noted poet, a skilled politician and a master strategist. He was at times attributed with being capable of almost miraculous o ...

Nguyễn Du Nguyễn Du (; 3 January 1766 – 16 September 1820), pen names Tố Như () and Thanh Hiên (), is a celebrated Vietnamese poet. He is most known for writing the epic poem ''The Tale of Kiều''. Biography Youth Nguyễn Du was born in a gre ...

Nguyễn Đình Chiểu Nguyễn Đình Chiểu (; 1 July 1822 – 3 July 1888) was a Vietnamese poet who was known for his nationalist and anti-colonial writings against the French colonization of Cochinchina, the European name for the southern part of Vietnam. H ...

Nguyễn Khoa Điềm Nguyễn Hải Dương (born in Phong Điền District in Thừa Thiên–Huế Province on 15 April 1943) pen name and political name Nguyễn Khoa Điềm is a Vietnamese poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may d ...

). *Catholic clergymen (

Nguyễn Văn Thuận Phanxicô Xaviê Nguyễn Văn Thuận or Francis-Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận (; 17 April 1928 – 16 September 2002), was a Cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church. He was a nephew of South Vietnam's first president, Ngô Đình Diệm, an ...

) *Writers (

Viet Thanh Nguyen The Vietnamese people ( vi, người Việt, lit=Viet people) or Kinh people ( vi, người Kinh) are a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to modern-day Northern Vietnam and Southern China (Jing Islands, Dongxing, Guangxi). The native lang ...

) *Scientists (

Nam-Trung Nguyen Nam-Trung Nguyen (Vietnamese: Nguyễn Nam Trung; born on 14 April 1970) is a Vietnamese-Australian researcher in the fields of Microfluidics and Nanofluidics. He is notable for his work on nerve agent detector, PCR, Micromixer, Droplet-based Mi ...

) *Composers, actors (

Dustin Nguyen Dustin may refer to: Places in the United States * Dustin, Nebraska * Dustin Township, Holt County, Nebraska * Dustin, Oklahoma Other uses * Dustin (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname * Dustin ...

) *Models ( Nguyễn Thúc Thùy Tiên) *Professional poker players (

Scotty Nguyen Thuận B. "Scotty" Nguyễn (born October 28, 1962) is a Vietnamese-American professional poker player who is a five-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner, most notably as the winner of the 1998 World Series of Poker Main Event and ...

) *Professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player (

Dat Nguyen Dat Tan Nguyen (; vi, Nguyễn Tấn Đạt, ; born September 25, 1975) is a former American football linebacker who played professionally in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons with the Dallas Cowboys. He played college foo ...

) *Professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

( Lee Nguyen) *Criminals ( Nguyễn Tường Vân)

Hồ Chí Minh (: ; born ; 19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), commonly known as ('Uncle Hồ'), also known as ('President Hồ'), ('Father of the Nation, Old father of the people') and by other Pseudonym, aliases, was a Vietnamese people, Vietnam ...

was born Nguyễn Sinh Cung and used various names with the surname Nguyễn throughout his career (''Nguyễn Tất Thành'', ''Nguyễn Ái Quốc''). He was not known as Hồ Chí Minh until late in his life.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nguyễn Vietnamese-language surnames Surnames of Vietnamese origin