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Updated on
23 Aug 2021
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Question about Vietnamese
how does the Vietnamese name structure work
how does the Vietnamese name structure work
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23 Aug 2021
Featured answer
- Vietnamese
- English (US)
I will elaborate a bit on the previous answers here, based on what I know:
Vietnamese names usually consist of 3 main components, in this exact order:
Family name/Last name + Middle name + First name
(If you know Chinese, you can skip the entire long explanation below - just think of it like Chinese name but for First name where you usually have 2 syllables, we usually divide them into Middle name (1 syllable/word) + First name (1 syllable/word) instead - so for instance Liu Yifei's name in VNese would be consider as Liu (family name) Yi (middle name) Fei (first name) - 3 syllables. And we would address a person by first name i.e the last syllable - eg Ms Fei instead of Ms Liu)
Family name: Generally children inherit father's family name. Usually is 1 word/syllable but some very rare ones might have 2.
Middle name: Can be 1 or 2 words/syllables. Usually combine with first name, they will have some meaning. A common middle name type in Vietnam is Văn (for male) and Thị (for female), though I think younger generations nowadays don't use these middle names as often. This component is also optional - meaning you can not have a middle name, though in VN it is not common to not have middle name.
First name: Usualy 1 word, though sometimes if your middle name and first name makes a phrase together, some people would consider their first name to have 2 words. Some first names such as Anh (no tone, meaning brilliant) is so common and/or might be mistaken for another word, so usually people would call them with their middle name as well (eg Thu Anh, Minh Anh - where Anh is the first name and Thu, Minh are middle names).
Btw in Vietnam when we call another person's name, regardless of age, gender, position, level of respect,... you call the other person by first name. You will use modifier before their name (kinda like Mrs, Mr, Dr,...) to show respect instead.
Example:
Nguyễn Văn Nam (Mr).
Family name: Nguyễn
Middle name: Văn
First name: Nam
You will call this person Nam always, regardless of your position to them. If you want to show respect, you can say Mr/Dr/Director/etc Nam.
Another example:
Trần Ngọc Minh Anh
Family name: Trần
Middle name: Ngọc Minh
First name: Anh
(but as mentioned before, people usually would call this person "Minh Anh" instead of just "Anh")
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- Vietnamese
- Vietnamese
Ex: Ariana Grande
In Vietnamese -> Grande Ariana
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- Vietnamese
- English (US)
I will elaborate a bit on the previous answers here, based on what I know:
Vietnamese names usually consist of 3 main components, in this exact order:
Family name/Last name + Middle name + First name
(If you know Chinese, you can skip the entire long explanation below - just think of it like Chinese name but for First name where you usually have 2 syllables, we usually divide them into Middle name (1 syllable/word) + First name (1 syllable/word) instead - so for instance Liu Yifei's name in VNese would be consider as Liu (family name) Yi (middle name) Fei (first name) - 3 syllables. And we would address a person by first name i.e the last syllable - eg Ms Fei instead of Ms Liu)
Family name: Generally children inherit father's family name. Usually is 1 word/syllable but some very rare ones might have 2.
Middle name: Can be 1 or 2 words/syllables. Usually combine with first name, they will have some meaning. A common middle name type in Vietnam is Văn (for male) and Thị (for female), though I think younger generations nowadays don't use these middle names as often. This component is also optional - meaning you can not have a middle name, though in VN it is not common to not have middle name.
First name: Usualy 1 word, though sometimes if your middle name and first name makes a phrase together, some people would consider their first name to have 2 words. Some first names such as Anh (no tone, meaning brilliant) is so common and/or might be mistaken for another word, so usually people would call them with their middle name as well (eg Thu Anh, Minh Anh - where Anh is the first name and Thu, Minh are middle names).
Btw in Vietnam when we call another person's name, regardless of age, gender, position, level of respect,... you call the other person by first name. You will use modifier before their name (kinda like Mrs, Mr, Dr,...) to show respect instead.
Example:
Nguyễn Văn Nam (Mr).
Family name: Nguyễn
Middle name: Văn
First name: Nam
You will call this person Nam always, regardless of your position to them. If you want to show respect, you can say Mr/Dr/Director/etc Nam.
Another example:
Trần Ngọc Minh Anh
Family name: Trần
Middle name: Ngọc Minh
First name: Anh
(but as mentioned before, people usually would call this person "Minh Anh" instead of just "Anh")
Was this answer helpful?
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Summary of everyone's answers
- How do you say this in Vietnamese? sex
- How do you say this in Vietnamese? 仕事頑張ってね
- How do you say this in Vietnamese? お帰りなさい
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