Vietnamese Baby Names, Meanings and Naming Structure
Vietnamese names are written with the family surname first and the given name last, the reverse of typical English order, a structure confirmed by Wikipedia’s overview of Vietnamese naming. A full name traditionally has three parts: surname, then a middle name, then the given name, and that middle name often does more work than it seems, since a small number of Vietnamese middle names have historically been used specifically to signal gender.
How Vietnamese names are structured
A traditional Vietnamese name follows surname, middle name, given name, in that order. The middle names “Van” and “Thi” have long been used almost exclusively for this gender-marking purpose, Van for men and Thi for women, a pattern confirmed by sources including Cultural Atlas and Vietnam Airlines’ own cultural guide. So a name like Nguyen Van Minh signals a man named Minh from the Nguyen family, while Nguyen Thi Lan signals a woman named Lan from the same family.
Vietnamese names for girls
- Linh (commonly read as meaning spirit or soul)
- Mai (meaning apricot blossom)
- Huong (meaning fragrance)
- Lan (meaning orchid)
- Thuy (commonly read as meaning gentle, associated with water)
- Hoa (meaning flower)
- Kim (meaning gold)
- Ngoc (meaning jewel or precious stone)
- Phuong (meaning phoenix)
- Yen (commonly read as meaning peace, though the same sound can also be written with a character meaning swallow, the bird)
- Chi (commonly read as meaning branch, though the same sound can also be written with a character meaning wisdom)
- Diep (meaning leaf)
- Tuyet (meaning snow)
Browse girl names by letter
Namelyra’s general girl-name pages, if a specific letter doesn’t have Vietnamese names covered here:
Vietnamese names for boys
- Minh (commonly read as meaning bright or intelligent)
- Duc (meaning virtue)
- Hung (commonly read as meaning heroic or brave)
- Long (meaning dragon)
- Phuc (meaning blessing or good fortune)
- Nam (commonly read as meaning south, or man)
- Khoa (meaning science or study)
- Tuan (commonly read as meaning successive or sequence)
- Quang (meaning bright or wide)
- Son (meaning mountain)
- Thanh (commonly read as meaning blue or green, though the same sound can also be written with a character meaning pure)
- Dat (commonly read as meaning to achieve or attain)
- Vinh (meaning eternal or lasting)
Browse boy names by letter
Namelyra’s general boy-name pages, if a specific letter doesn’t have Vietnamese names covered here:
Vietnamese surnames
According to research cited by UMass Boston, roughly 85 percent of the Vietnamese population shares one of just twelve surnames, an unusually concentrated surname pool compared with many Western naming systems. Nguyen alone is the standout: multiple sources, including Wikipedia, estimate that somewhere between 30 and 40 percent of Vietnamese people carry the surname Nguyen, making it one of the most common surnames on Earth relative to a single country’s population.
- Nguyen (by far the most common Vietnamese surname, carried by roughly 30 to 40 percent of the population)
- Tran (one of the other most common Vietnamese surnames)
- Le (one of the other most common Vietnamese surnames)
- Pham (one of the other most common Vietnamese surnames)
- Hoang / Huynh (regional variants of the same surname, common in the north and south respectively)
A Southern naming custom: starting the count at two
In parts of southern Vietnam, family members are traditionally addressed by birth order instead of by name, and the counting starts at two rather than one, so the oldest child is called “Hai” (two). Sources including the USC Digital Folklore Archives trace this to an old folk belief that referring to a firstborn child as “number one” could draw unwanted attention from spirits.
Quick facts
| Name order | Family surname first, given name last |
| Gendered middle names | “Van” historically marks a man’s name, “Thi” historically marks a woman’s name |
| Most common surname | Nguyen, carried by an estimated 30 to 40 percent of the population |
| Southern sibling custom | Family members addressed by birth order starting at “two,” not “one” |
Frequently asked questions
Are Vietnamese names written backwards?
Not backwards, just in a different order than English. The family surname comes first and the given name comes last, the reverse of the typical English first-name-then-surname order.
Is “Van” a Vietnamese name for a girl or a boy?
Van has historically been used almost exclusively as a middle name for men. The equivalent traditional middle name for women is Thi.
Where does the Vietnamese middle name come from?
Traditionally it served a functional purpose beyond just being an extra name: “Van” and “Thi” in particular were long used specifically to indicate that the person was male or female.
Is Nguyen a Vietnamese name?
Yes, and it’s the most common one by a wide margin. Estimates suggest 30 to 40 percent of Vietnamese people carry the surname Nguyen.
Why do some Vietnamese families call the oldest child “Two”?
In southern Vietnam, it’s traditional to address siblings by birth order rather than by name, and the count starts at two rather than one, tied to an old folk belief about protecting the firstborn.