Vietnamese Names

The order of Vietnamese names is different than in the west.  For example, Nguyễn Hồng Ngữ would have the family name (Nguyễn) going first, followed by the middle name (Hồng) and then the given name (Ngữ).  In terms of family names, according to many sources, nearly 60% of Vietnamese are named Nguyễn, Trần or Lê.  Other common family names are Huỳnh/Hoàng, Phạm, Phan, Vũ and Đặng.   Common middle names are often gender-specific.  Examples of this are Thị (which was much used in the past but is less common today in urban areas) indicating that the bearer is female, and Văn, meaning “Literature”, which is a male’s middle name.  Given names also often have meaning and are often gender-specific.  Some examples for women are “Dung”, which means beauty, nice appearance, and “Hạnh”, which means virtue.  Other examples are Hoa “flower”, Hồng “rose”, Hương “fragrance”, Kim “gold”, Lan “Orchid”, Ngọc “jade”, Tiên “fairy”, Tuyết “snow”, Yến, means "canary” and Anh “intellectual brightness”.  Names such as Công, which means “candor”, Hưng “prosperity”, Tiến “progress”, Chính “veracity”, Danh “fame”, Trung “loyalty” and Tuấn “bright-looking” are usually used for men.  Some common names that may be applied for either sex include Minh “clarity, brightness”, Thanh “elegance”, Bình  “peace”,  Lộc “manna” and Phúc “happiness.”

Vietnamese Forms of Address

As in most of Asia, one’s relationship to the group is of upmost importance.  These marks of relationship also are part of the language.  Historically within the family and also today, hierarchy has been based on a person’s relationship to other members of the family in terms of age, sex, maternal or paternal lineage, marriage, etc.  Older siblings are addressed as anh (older brother) or chị (older sister).  Younger siblings are referred to as em or more deninitively em trai (younger brother) and/or em gái (younger sister).  Older siblings of the parents and their spouses are often called bác. The father's younger siblings are called chú for males and cô for females. In some regions of Vietnam (notably the central Vietnam), the wives of the father's brothers are usually addressed as thím. On the Mother’s side, younger siblings are called cậu for males and dì for females; the wives of the mother's older brothers can sometimes be called mợ. When speaking, usually a speaker will refer to themselves in a modest way as em if one is younger and would refer to the older as chị or anh.  This way of speaking is often used outside the family and generally, the speaker may speak of themselves with one of these forms of address and oftentimes to the person being spoken with as anh in the case of males or chị in the case of females to show respect and also to indicate that one respects the other like a more senior family member, or in the case of speaking to younger individuals that one thinks of the other like a younger family member.