Vietnamese names and surnames. What do Vietnamese names mean: interpretation and history of origin

In Vietnamese language The meanings of female names are beautiful and poetic. Vietnamese female names can be classified according to their meaning.

First of all, these are flower names. The simplest option is Khoa (flower).
It has long been customary for the Vietnamese to give their daughters names of different flowers: Hong (rose), Cuc (chrysanthemum), Lan (orchid), Ly (lily), Quynh (fragrant flower of the night). There are also names in the Vietnamese language with meanings close to the floral theme: Huong (aroma), Diep (foliage), Lieu (willow).

The moon in the east is considered a symbol of femininity and beauty. And as a result, in the Vietnamese language there are several female names with the gentle poetic meaning of “Moon”: Chang, Hang and Nguyet. Moreover, the word Chang in modern Vietnamese refers to a celestial body that is visible through the window at night. While the other two names for the moon are found not in astronomy, but in ancient poetry and fine literature.

In Vietnamese society, girls were often named after the traditional feminine virtues of Confucian culture: Hien (kind), Chinh (chaste), Dung (patient). Previously, this list also included the name Kong (hard-working). However, in last years it's not at all popular. The name Mi (beautiful) is much more common.

In a Vietnamese traditional family, sons are valued more than daughters. It is to the son that the sacred duty of performing rituals is transferred. Lack of heir male line is perceived by the Vietnamese as a tragedy: who will send and make offerings to all generations of the family?

However, many Vietnamese families consider their daughters to be jewels and give the girls appropriate names: Ngoc (pearl, jasper), Kim (gold) and Ngan (silver). The sum of the above forms the female names Kim Ngan (gold + silver) and Kim Ngok (gold + pearl).

The Vietnamese understand that it is rare that a foreigner can remember and pronounce a Vietnamese name correctly. That’s why many people choose an additional name for business communication and communication with foreigners. This name is printed on business cards instead of or in addition to the Vietnamese name: Jenny Kim, Monica Nguyen, Vanessa Chan, Cecilia Ho, Veronica Ngo.

Choice foreign name determined by social circle. Thus, among the Vietnamese who studied in the USSR and Russia, many proudly call themselves Fedya, Ivan, Misha, Katya, Sveta, Natasha. The choice of name is based on different motivations. Usually choose a name with similar meaning(Vinh = Fame) or starting with the same letter as a Vietnamese name (Huong = Helen).

However, the most decisive factor: the name must be liked and sound beautiful. This is what determines the choice of an additional foreign name by a Vietnamese.

Where do Vietnamese names come from?

After the birth of the child, the father throws a pan on the floor in the kitchen.
As it thundered, so they called it - Bam Van Dong, Han Long Gong..... (famous Vietnamese joke)

Vietnamese names consist of three parts: the family name (analogous to our surname), the middle name and the last, individual or given at birth. For example: Lã Xuân Thắng. Lã – family name, Xuân – middle, Thắng – last.

Names have a huge meaning in Vietnam. Many Vietnamese people have secret names known only to themselves and their parents. There is a belief that when spoken out loud, this name gives power evil spirits over its bearer. Because in in public places children are often named by birth order, for example Ti-hai/Chị Hai, Ti-ba/Chị Ba (Second Daughter, Third Daughter), etc.

There are only 300 surnames in Vietnam and almost half of the country's population bears the surname Nguyen. The middle part of the name is usually the same for all children in the family. Women's names are followed by a fourth part - "-thi".

Vietnamese people usually go by several names throughout their lives. So in villages, many Vietnamese children do not give beautiful names(Rat/Chuột, Puppy/Cún, etc.). This is done because of the superstition that the gods will not want to take a child with an ugly name or harm him. Therefore, it is believed that the “simpler” a child’s name is, the easier it is to raise him. Subsequently, many villagers come to work in the city and choose new, beautiful names, which usually have a literal meaning in Vietnamese. For women, names often represent beauty, like the names of birds or flowers. Men's names reflect the desired attributes and characteristics that parents want to see in their children, such as morality or calmness.

In Vietnam, the “religion” of the cult of ancestors is very developed, so after death a person acquires a sacred name for worship, for example: Cụ đồ“, “Cụ Tam Nguyên Yên Đổ“, “Ông Trạng Trình (grandfather/elder..). This name is recorded in the family annals and is considered the main name.

Where do Vietnamese names come from?
After the birth of a child, his father throws a pan on the floor in the kitchen.
As it thundered, so they called it - Bam Van Dong, Han Long Gong.....
(Vietnamese joke)

Vietnamese names consist of three parts: family name (analogous to our surname), middle name and last, individual or given at birth. For example: Lã Xuân Thắng. Lã is the family name, Xuân is the middle name, Thắng is the last name.
The middle part of the name is usually the same for all children in the family. Surnames in Vietnam total 300 and nearly half the country's population bears the surname Nguyen. In addition to Nguyen, common surnames also include Le, Chan and Fam.
Names women after the surname, the fourth part is added - “thi”.
Many Vietnamese have secret names, known only to themselves and their parents. Exists belief that when spoken out loud, this name gives power to evil spirits over its bearer. Therefore, in public places, children are often called by birth order, for example, Ti-hai/Chị Hai, Ti-ba/Chị Ba (Second Daughter, Third Daughter), etc.

Vietnamese people usually wear several names. So in villages, many Vietnamese give small children ugly names (Rat/Chuột, Puppy/Cún, etc.). This is done because superstitions that the gods will not want to take a child with an ugly name or harm him. Therefore, it is believed that the “simpler” a child’s name is, the easier it is to raise him. Subsequently, many villagers come to work in the city and choose new, beautiful names, which usually have a literal meaning in Vietnamese. For women names often represent beauty, like the names of birds or flowers. Name men They also reflect the desired attributes and characteristics that parents want to see in their children, such as morality or calmness. Confession is very developed in Vietnam ancestor cult, therefore, after death a person acquires sacred name for worship, for example: Cụ đồ“, ‛Cụ Tam Nguyên Yên Đổ“, “Ông Trạng Trình (grandfather/elder..). This name is recorded in the family annals and is considered the main name.

Male names

Bao- “protection” (Bảo)
Binh- “world” (Bình)
Wang- “cloud” (Vân)
Vien- “completion” (Viên)
Ding- “top” (Định)
So- “desire” (Đức)
Dung- “brave, heroic” (Dũng)
Duong- “courage” (Dương)
Quan- “soldier” (Quân)
Quang- “clear, pure” (Quang)
Kui- “precious” (Quí)
Min- “bright” (Minh)
Nguyen- “beginning” (Nguyên)
Tea- “oyster” (Trai)
That- “star” (Tú)
Tuan- “bright” (Tuấn)
Thanh
Thuan- “tamed” (Thuận)
Xoan- “spring” (Hòan)
Hung- “brave, heroic” (Hùng)
Ting- “faith” or “trust” (Tín)

Female names

Beat- “jade” (Bích)
Kim- “golden” (Kim)
Kuen- “bird” (Quyên)
Kui- “precious” (Quí)
Lien- “lotus” (Liên)
Tench- “spring” (Linh)
May- “flower” (Mai)
Ngoc- “precious stone” or “jade” (Ngọc)
Nguyet- “moon” (Nguyệt)
Nyung- “velvet” (Nhung)
Phuong- “phoenix” (Phượng)
Tien- “fairy, spirit” (Tiên)
That- “star” (Tú)
Tuen- “ray” (Tuyến)
Tuet- “white snow” (Tuyết)
Thanh- “bright, clear, blue” (Thanh)
Thai- “friendly, loyal” (Thái)
Thi- “poem” (Thi)
Thu- “autumn” (Thu)
Hoa- “flower” (Hoa)
Hong- “rose” (Hồng) Xoan- “spring” (Hòan)
Huong- “pink” (Hường)
Chau- “pearl” (Châu)
Tee- “tree branch” (Chi)

The first part of the name is the surname, passed down from the father, less often - from the mother. Experts count about one hundred of the most frequently used surnames. Most of them are associated with the name of the dynasties in power. Most of the country's modern representatives bear the surname "Nguyen", corresponding to the last imperial family.

In ancient times, the middle name was intended to indicate the gender of the child. Women were given "Thi", and men had several options: "Van", "Shi", "Fu", "Min". These traditions have survived to this day, but the main function of this type of name has changed - it is used to indicate that a person belongs to one generation.

The main name, also called the personal name, is used for addresses. They have a literal meaning. For example, female names mean this or that plant, the name of birds: “Dao” - peach, “Loan” - felix. In the east, the Moon and its light are especially revered, so several names for girls mean this a natural phenomenon– Hang, Chang, Nguyet. Male names are designed to reflect the desired characteristics of a representative of the stronger sex.: courage, boldness, masculinity and morality. Thus, “Duc” means kindness, and “Khiem” means modesty.

The emergence of names among the Vietnamese is associated with various factors. One of them is the place of birth, for example, a person with the name Quyen was born near Hanoi, and Khoa - near Moscow. Another important factor is the place with which some significant event for the family is associated, for example, a meeting of parents.

The name “Thai” means the city of Thai Nguyen, where mother and father met. Some names are formed due to events that influenced the fate of the clan, for example - “Koi” means orphanhood, this is the name given to children born after the death of their father. Babies are named a profession belonging to one of the parents. For example, “Bao” is a plane, “Mao” is a tailor.

If the family consists of a large number of children, then Often children’s names form one whole phrase. The names "Nya", which translates as "house", and "Gao", meaning rice, were given to children whose parents wanted them to live in abundance and wealth.

Vietnamese people do not have middle names. It was believed that mentioning dead parents out loud was bad sign. Interesting feature– often the father or mother took the name of the eldest child.

Until recently, the Vietnamese had several names which were given to them in different periods life. At first, the child had a “young, milky name”, which only parents and relatives knew. When a person became an adult, a new official name was given. There could have been another name that the mother gave when her son left to serve in the army. The Vietnamese himself could also take a pseudonym. Names could be changed by decree of the monarch in case of failure in Confucian exams.

Words of Han Viet origin rather than Chinese are often used as names. Residents of Vietnam are sure that they sound more beautiful and cultured.

How to name a child correctly - traditions and features

Choosing a name for a newborn is a responsible event. As in ancient times, so now The Vietnamese were guided by the following principles:

Today, the main principle is aesthetic beauty. But before the 1945 revolution in Vietnam, in families where children often died and were sickly, superstitious mother and father sought to give a name that would not attract “evil spirits” and will protect the child from troubles. Newborns were called a frog - “Et”, a worm - “Zun”, a tripe - “Theo”.

The choice of a middle name was not arbitrary; it was regulated by established rules and customs. Thus, all children of the same generation from the same related group had to have a common component in their naming. For example, in the Le family, the first generation has the element Hong, the second - Kam.

But there is also another principle - to pass on the same component, for example, the father’s name was Nguyen Van Duc, and the son’s name was Nguyen Van Mao. Now this tradition is being violated in cities and large towns, but is preserved in small villages.

Another one modern trend– the transfer of a component not from the father, but from the mother. This is associated with the increasing role of women in Vietnamese society.

A Vietnamese name usually consists of three parts: surname, middle name, and given name. For example, Nguyễn Kim Liên.
1) Vietnamese surnames traditionally coincide with the surnames of the ruling dynasties. Those. During the Lý dynasty, this surname became most popular. It is logical that about 40% of Vietnamese bear the surname Nguyễn from the last imperial dynasty.
Below is a list of the 14 most common surnames in Vietnam. Together they make up 90% of Vietnamese surnames.
Surnames are given with their Chinese equivalents and the number of speakers as a percentage:

Nguyen - Nguyễn阮 (38.4%)
Chan - Trần陳 (11%)
Le - Lê 黎 (9.5%)
Pham - Phạm 范 (7.1%)
Huynh/Hoang - Huỳnh/Hoàng 黃 (5.1%)
Fan - Phan 潘 (4.5%)
Vu/Vo - Vũ/Võ 武 (3.9%)
Dang - Đặng 鄧(2.1%)
Buoy - Bùi 裴 (2%)
Do - Đỗ杜 (1.4%)
Ho - Hồ胡 (1.3%)
Ngo - Ngô 吳 (1.3%)
Duong - Dương 楊 (1%)
Li - Lý 李 (0.5%)

Among another 10% of surnames, if desired, you can distinguish those that belong to the Chinese and those that belong to the rest of the small nations living in Vietnam. Although, most often Chinese surnames are not recognized as alien, because can be inherited by distant ancestor, and now belong to a family of purebred Vietnamese.

2) The middle name serves two functions:
First, it exists to avoid confusion. It is not always possible to determine the gender of a person by his first and last name. In this case, the middle name Văn makes us understand that we're talking about about a man, and the middle name Thị, which is about a woman.
Secondly, the middle name serves to form a beautiful phrase in combination with the proper name. For example, if you add the middle name Kim to the name Yễ́n, you get Kim Yến - golden swallow. The main thing is that these names are combined, and a beautiful (most often also having additional significance in the literary and cultural aspect) image is obtained.

3) There are a lot of options for the name itself. Most often, the middle name and the given name can be expressed in one word. For example, Ngọc Minh - pearl light and Hồng Ngọc - ruby.
As mentioned above, it is not always possible to understand a person’s gender by their name. But most often, the Vietnamese give girls poetic names - names of flowers, birds, names that mean everything tender and bright, and boys - names designed to express masculine qualities and strength.
Those. suitable names for girls: Liên (lotus), Hoa (flower), Yến (swallow), Hiền (tenderness), Hươương (aroma), Ngọc (pearl, precious stone), Mai (apricot), Thuỷ (water), Thu ( autumn) etc.
And for boys - Thắng (victory), Lâm (forest), Duy (single), Đưức (virtue), Sơn (mountain), Liễu (willow), Vương (ruler), etc.
But there are names suitable for both men and women. For example, Hà (river), Tâm (heart), Minh (clear, light), Xuân (spring), etc.
There are also situations when the middle or actual name can be double. Then we get something like Nguyễn Thị Trà My, where Trà My is actually a name meaning “camellia”.

Materials from the book Lê Trung Hoa (2005) were used. Họ và tên người Việt Nam, Hà Nội, Việt Nam: NXB Khoa học Xã hội (Social Sciences Publishing House).