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, a ...
of several rare
East Asia
East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both Geography, geographical and culture, ethno-cultural terms. The modern State (polity), states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. ...
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 territori ...
, 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 ...
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 C ...
,
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 ...
of
Canadian health card 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 Chữ Nôm, Hán-Nôm. It is pronounced in the Hanoi dialect and in the Saigon dialect. It is usually pronounced in English, with it being mistaken for another surname, with similar spelling, Lý (Vietnamese surname), Lý.
Chinese
Mandarin
* Le is the Pinyin romanization of the Chinese surname (written :zh:乐姓, 乐 in Simplified Chinese characters and 樂 in Traditional Chinese characters); it is Lok in Cantonese.
Minnan
* Lê or Le is the Pe̍h-ōe-jī, POJ romanization of the Chinese surname Li (黎), Li (, ''Lí'')
People with the surname
Vietnamese
;Lê
*Anterior Lê Dynasty
*The Lê Dynasty
*Lê Công Vinh, football player
*Lê Hoàn, founding emperor of the Anterior Lê Dynasty
*Dinh Q Lê
*Lê Duẩn
*Lê Đức Anh
*Dowager Empress Gia Từ, originally of the Lê clan of Vĩnh Lộc District
*Lê Hằng Phấn
*Lê Huỳnh Đức, football player
*Lê Khả Phiêu
* Lê Lâm Quỳnh Như, Vietnamese-American singer known as Như Quỳnh (singer), Như Quỳnh
*Lê Lợi, founding emperor of the Lê Dynasty
*Nguyên Lê
*Lê Minh Đảo
*Lê Nhân Tông
*Lê Quan Ninh, French percussionist
*Lê Quang Liêm, chess player
*Lê Quang Tung, commander of ARVN Special Forces
*Lê Quý Đôn
*Lê Văn Duyệt, general of Gia Long and viceroy of southern Vietnam
*Lê Văn Hưng
*Lê Văn Khôi, adopted son of Le Van Duyet
*Lê Văn Thiêm
*Lê Thái Tông, second emperor of the Lê dynasty
*Lê Thánh Tông, fifth emperor of the Lê dynasty
*Lê Tuấn Hùng
*Lê Long Đĩnh, the last emperor of the Anterior Lê dynasty
;Le
*Murder of Annie Le, Annie Le
*Cung Le (born 1972), Vietnamese-born American martial artist
*Duy-Loan Le
*Hoang Le
*Linda Le, Vietnamese-American cosplayer and model
*Murder of Michelle Le, Michelle Le
*Minh Le
*Tony Le-Nguyen
*Thuy Thu Le
*Tuan Le
*Shiphtur, Danny "Shiphtur" Le, Canadian ''League of Legends'' player
Chinese
* Le Jingyi, a former swimmer from China who won the gold medal in the 100 meters freestyle at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, United States, USA
Other people
* Francesca Le
See also
* LE (disambiguation), Le (disambiguation)
* Lí (黎)
* Lee (Korean surname)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Le
Surnames
Chinese-language surnames
Vietnamese-language surnames
Hokkien-language surnames
Surnames of Vietnamese origin
vi:Lê (họ)