Vietnamese personal names generally consist of three parts: one family name, one or more middle name(s), and one given name, used in that order. The "family name first" order follows the system of Chinese names and is common throughout the Chinese cultural sphere. However, it is different from Chinese, Korean, and Japanese names in the usage of "middle names," as they are less common in China and Korea and do not exist in Japan. Persons can be referred to by the whole name, the given name or a hierarchic pronoun, which usually connotes a degree of family relationship or kinship, in normal usage.
Due to the frequency of the major family names such as Nguy?n, Tr?n, and Lê, persons are often referred to by their middle name along with their given name in Vietnamese media and youth culture.
The Vietnamese language is tonal, and so are Vietnamese names. Names with the same spelling (ignoring diacritics) but with different tones are different names, which can confuse non-Vietnamese people when the diacritics are dropped, as is commonly done outside Vietnam.
Anyone applying for Vietnamese nationality must adopt a Vietnamese name.
Video Vietnamese name
Family name
The family name, positioned first, is passed on by the father to his children. It is estimated that there are around one hundred family names in common use, although some are far more common than others. The name Nguy?n is estimated to be used by almost 40% of the Vietnamese population. The top three names are so popular because people tended to take the family name of emperors, to show their loyalty. Over many generations, the family names became permanent.
The most common family names among the Vietnamese are the following (the Chinese characters following each name are Hán t?). Added together these 14 names account for 90% of the people.
- Nguy?n ? (39%)
- Tr?n ? (11%)
- Lê ? (9.5%)
- Ph?m ? (7.1%)
- Hu?nh/Hoàng ? (5.1%)
- Phan ? (4.5%)
- V?/Võ ? (3.9%)
- ??ng ?(2.1%)
- Bùi ? (2%)
- ?? ? (1.4%)
- H? ? (1.3%)
- Ngô ? (1.3%)
- D??ng ? (1%)
- Lý ? (0.5%)
The following include some other, less common, surnames, in alphabetical order:
In Vietnamese cultural practice, women always keep their family names once they marry, just as in other East Asian cultures, including Chinese culture, to the north and northeast.
Maps Vietnamese name
Middle name
Most Vietnamese have one middle name, but it is quite possible to have two or more, or even no middle names at all.
In the past, the middle name was selected by parents from a fairly narrow range of options. Almost all women had Th? (?) as their middle name, and many men had V?n (?). More recently, a broader range of names have been used, and people named Th? sometimes omit their middle name.
Th? is by far the most common female middle name. This word expresses possession; for example, "Tr?n Th? Mai Loan" is a person who has the given name of "Mai Loan" and the surname "Tr?n", and the combination "Tr?n Th?" means "A female person belonging to the Tr?n family". The combination is similar to Western surname formation like "Van" in "Van Helsing", "Mac" in "MacCartney" etc. Male middle names include V?n (?), H?u (?), ??c (?), Thành (?), Công (?), Quang (?) and many others.
The middle name can have three usages:
- To indicate a person's generation--brothers and sisters share the same middle name, which distinguish them from the generation before them and the generation after them (see generation name).
- To separate branches of a big family. For example, "Nguy?n H?u", "Nguy?n Sinh", "Tr?n Lâm". However, this usage is still controversial. Some people consider them to be dual family names, not family name + middle name. Some families may, however, set up arbitrary rules about giving a different middle name to each generation.
- To indicate a person's position (birth order) in the family. This usage is less common than others.
However, nowadays most middle names do not have those usages. They can either have a meaning or just be there to make the full names more euphonious.
Given name
In most cases, formally, the middle name is a part of the given name. For example, the name "?inh Quang D?ng" is separated into the surname "?inh" and the given name "Quang D?ng". In a normal name list, these two parts of the full name are put in two different columns. However, in daily conversation, the last word in a given name with a title before it is used to address a person, for example "Ông D?ng", "Anh D?ng", etc. where "Ông" and "Anh" are words to address the person which depend on age, social position, etc.
The given 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, ?).
Typically, Vietnamese will be addressed with their given name, even in formal situations, although an honorific equivalent to "Mr.", "Mrs.", etc. will be added when necessary. This contrasts with the situation in many other cultures, where the family name is used in formal situations, and is a practice similar to Icelandic usage and, to some degree, to Polish practice. It is similar to the Latin-American and southern European custom of referring to some people as "Don" along with their first name.
Addressing someone by his or her family name is rare though not unheard of. In the past, married women in the north were called by their (maiden) family name, with Th? (?) as a suffix. In recent years, doctors are more likely than any other social group to be addressed by their family name, though this form of reference is more common in the north than in the south. Some extremely well-known people are sometimes referred to by their family names, such as H? Chí Minh (Bác H?--"Uncle H?") (however, his real surname is Nguy?n), Tr?nh Công S?n (nh?c Tr?nh--"Tr?nh music"), and H? Xuân H??ng (n? s? h? H?--"the poetess with the family name H?"). In the old days, people in Vietnam, particularly North Vietnam, addressed parents using the first child's name; for example, Mr and Mrs Anh or Master Minh.
When being addressed within the family, children are sometimes referred to by their birth number, starting from one in the north but starting with two in the south. This practice is less common recently, especially in the north.
Double names are common among females, especially in combination with the name Kim. For example, Phan Th? Kim Phúc has the given name Kim Phúc.
Examples
- Nguy?n T?n D?ng is the former Prime Minister of Vietnam. Nguy?n is his family name, T?n is his middle name, and D?ng is his given name. In formal usage, he is referred to by his given name ("Mr. D?ng"), not by his family name ("Mr. Nguy?n").
- Likewise, the famous general and military leader, Võ Nguyên Giáp, is referred to by his given name, i.e. "General Giáp".
Near homonyms distinguished by vowel or tones
Some names may appear the same if simplified into a basic ASCII script, as for example on websites, but are different names:
- Emperor Lê Hi?n Tông (Sino-Vietnamese: ???, 1461-1504), vs. emperor Lê Hi?n Tông (???, 1717-1786)
- Tr?nh C?n (??, 1633 - 1709) reformist warlord, vs. Tr?nh Cán (??, 1777-1782) infant heir of warlord Tr?nh Sâm
- Nguy?n Du (1765-1820) writer, vs. Nguy?n D? (c.1550) strange tales
- Hoàng Tích Chu (1897-1933) journalist, vs.Hoàng Tích Chù (1912-2003) painter
- Nguy?n V?n T? (1917-1992) painter and poet, vs. Nguy?n V?n Tý (1925), composer
- Phan Thanh Hùng (1960) football manager, vs. Phan Thanh H?ng (1987), footballer
- Nguy?n Bình (1906-1951), vs. Nguy?n Bính (1918-1966)
- Nguy?n V?n H?ng (1958-) representative of the Vietnam National Assembly, vs. Nguy?n V?n Hùng (1980), martial artist,
Typically, as in the above examples, it is middle or the last personal given name which varies, as almost any Sino-Vietnamese character may be used. The number of family names is limited.
Further, some historical names may be written using different Chinese characters (Sino-Vietnamese), but are still written the same in the modern Vietnamese alphabet.
Indexing
According to the Chicago Manual of Style, Vietnamese names are indexed according to the final given name and not according to the family name, with a cross-reference placed in regards to the family name. Ngo Dinh Diem would be listed as "Diem, Ngo Dinh" and Vo Nguyen Giap would be listed as "Giap, Vo Nguyen".
See also
- Chinese name
- Korean name
- List of common Chinese surnames
- List of most common surnames
- Surname
References
External links
- Vietnamese Name in Olden Day
- Vietnamese names for girls and boys
- Introduction to Vietnamese Language
- Vietnamese names (examples and pronunciation), a video lesson
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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