The family name, positioned first, is passed on by the father to his children (patronymic naming system). It is estimated that there are around one hundred family names in common use, although some are far more common than others. The name Nguyễn 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 kings, to show their favor and loyalty. Over many generations, the family names became permanent.
The most popular family names among the Vietnamese are (the Chinese characters following each name are their Chinese equivalents)[1]:
Nguyễn 阮 (38.4%)
Trần 陳 (11%)
Lê 黎 (9.5%)
Phạm 范 (7.1%)
Huỳnh/Hoàng 黃 (5.1%)
Phan 潘 (4.5%)
Vũ/Võ 武 (3.9%)
Đặng 鄧(2.1%)
Bùi 裴 (2%)
Đỗ 杜 (1.4%)
Hồ 胡 (1.3%)
Ngô 吳 (1.3%)
Dương 楊 (1%)
Lý 李 (0.5%)
The following include some other less common surnames, in no particular order:
Lâm 林
Đinh: 丁
Nghiêm: 嚴
Đào: 陶
Vương: 王
Trịnh: 鄭 (almost exclusively a northern surname, based around Thanh Hóa)
Phùng: 馮
Chung: 鍾
Triệu: 趙
Đoàn: 段
Hà: 何
Trương: 張
Tôn: 孫
Liễu (in northern or central regions): 柳
Lưu (in central or southern regions): 劉
Mai: 梅
La: 羅
Văn: 文
Tạ: 謝
Lương: 梁
Kim: 金
Thạch: 石
Lạc: 駱
Thủy:水
In Vietnamese cultural practice, women almost always keep their family names once they marry, just as in other East Asian cultures.
Some Vietnamese have a dual family name. Usually it is a combination of the father's family name and the mother's family name. For example, "Nguyễn Phạm", "Nguyễn Lê".
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