Vietnamese

Compiled by Jason Morningstar

Vietnamese names are ordered surname – middle name – given name. You refer to somebody by their honorific and given name – so Đặng Công Bao would be Mr. Bao, not Mr. Đặng.

Surnames

Common names, in descending order of popularity (Nguyễn accounts for 38.4%)

  1. Nguyễn 阮
  2. Trần 陳
  3. Lê 黎
  4. Phạm 范
  5. Huỳnh黃
  6. Hoàng黃
  7. Phan 潘
  8. Vũ武
  9. Võ 武
  10. Đặng 鄧
  11. Bùi 裴
  12. Đỗ 杜
  13. Hồ 胡
  14. Ngô 吳
  15. Dương 楊
  16. Lý 李
  17. Lâm 林
  18. Đinh: 丁
  19. Nghiêm: 嚴
  20. Đào: 陶

Uncommon Surnames

  1. Vương: 王
  2. Trịnh: 鄭
  3. Phùng: 馮
  4. Chung: 鍾
  5. Triệu: 趙
  6. Đoàn: 段
  7. Hà: 何
  8. Trương: 張
  9. Tôn: 孫
  10. Liễu 柳
  11. Lưu 劉
  12. Mai: 梅
  13. La: 羅
  14. Văn: 文
  15. Tạ: 謝
  16. Lương: 梁
  17. Kim: 金
  18. Thạch: 石
  19. Lạc: 駱
  20. Lin: 林

Middle name (None, one, or two)

Male

  1. Hữu (means “very much so”, amplifies given name’s meaning)
  2. Đức
  3. Công
  4. Quang
  5. Sinh
  6. Lâm
  7. Ngoc
  8. Văn
  9. Manh
  10. Trong
  11. Qui
  12. Thuc

Female

  1. Thi (Almost always)

Male Names

  1. Anh
  2. Dung
  3. Bao (protection)
  4. Cânh (nature)
  5. Xuan (spring)
  6. Đe (royalty)
  7. Viẹn (palace)
  8. Chien (battle)
  9. Chinh (righteousness)
  10. Dao (religion)
  11. Duc (desire)
  12. Duong (virility)
  13. Huy (brightness)
  14. Loc (luck)
  15. Thanh (accomplished)
  16. Trang (honored)
  17. Trung (loyal)
  18. Son (mountain)
  19. Phuoc (lucky)
  20. Minh (bright)

Female Names

  1. Cồng: (skillful)
  2. Dung (beauty)
  3. Hanh: (decorous)
  4. Ngồn: (polite)
  5. Ly (lion)
  6. Phuong (phoenix)
  7. Qui (turtle)
  8. Long (dragon)
  9. Nhung (velvet)
  10. Tuyet (snowy white)
  11. Thu (autumn)
  12. Thanh Ha (bright river)
  13. Nguyet (moon)
  14. Kieu (graceful)
  15. Huong (perfume)
  16. Dao (peach blossom)
  17. Lan (orchid)
  18. Bian (secretive)
  19. Be (doll)
  20. Hoa (flower)