OneTaskBy Tim King · Updated
Vietnamese Name Generator
Three-Part Names With Văn, Thị and Modern Middle Names
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How the Vietnamese Name Generator works
This Vietnamese name generator makes Vietnamese names in their full three-part form, family name, middle name, given name: Nguyễn Thị Lan, Trần Văn Minh, Lê Thu Hương, Phạm Đức Anh. Nguyễn appears as often as it does in Vietnam, the traditional Thị and Văn middle names mix with the modern ones, and the diacritics can be kept or dropped to match how names appear abroad. Choose female, male or either and generate up to a hundred.
How the Vietnamese name generator works
A Vietnamese name has three parts and is written in the Chinese order, family name first, but it is used in the Western way: a person is addressed by the given name, the last part, with a title, so Nguyễn Thị Lan is Chị Lan or Bà Lan, never Ms Nguyễn. The family names are very few, because they were the names of ruling dynasties adopted by the population under them: Nguyễn, the last dynasty, is carried by about forty per cent of all Vietnamese, and the generator weights it accordingly; Trần, Lê, Phạm, Hoàng or Huỳnh, Phan, Vũ or Võ, Đặng, Bùi and Đỗ complete a top ten that covers nine people in ten. Hoàng and Huỳnh, Vũ and Võ are the same names in northern and southern pronunciation. Women keep their surnames on marriage, so a family lists three or more.
The middle name is the distinctive part. Traditionally it marked the sex: Thị, a word meaning clan or maiden, for every woman, and Văn, literature, for most men, so that Nguyễn Thị Lan and Nguyễn Văn Minh were the archetypal Vietnamese names, as they still are for people born before about 1980. Younger families choose a middle name for meaning and sound, and often as a compound with the given name: Thu Hương autumn fragrance, Ngọc Anh jade brightness, Đức Anh virtuous brightness, Minh Tuấn bright and handsome. Some families give all the children of one generation the same middle name, in the Chinese manner, and some use the mother's surname as the middle name. The generator gives the traditional Thị and Văn about a quarter of the time, a modern middle name half the time, and occasionally a two-part name with no middle at all, which is common in the south.
Given names are one syllable and ordinary words: for women flowers and virtues, Lan orchid, Hoa flower, Mai apricot blossom, Hương fragrance, Hạnh virtue, Ngọc jade; for men strength and ambition, Hùng brave, Dũng courageous, Long dragon, Nam south, Sơn mountain, Thắng victory. Anh, Minh, Ngọc, Khánh and Thanh serve both sexes. The diacritics carry tone and vowel quality and are essential in Vietnamese; abroad they are almost always dropped, and the second output gives that form. For the neighbouring conventions, the Chinese page and the Thai page; for the Vietnamese of overseas communities, the same names with the diacritics off.
FAQ
Why do so many Vietnamese people have the surname Nguyen?
Because it was the name of the last royal dynasty and of earlier ones, and commoners and defeated rivals took it in successive waves for protection or favour. Around forty per cent of Vietnamese are Nguyễn, and the generator reflects that proportion rather than levelling it.
Which name do I use to address someone?
The given name, the last one, with a title: Nguyễn Thị Lan is Chị Lan or Ms Lan, and the prime minister is addressed by given name too. The surname alone is never used in address, because it would fit half the room.
What do Thi and Van mean?
Thị is the traditional female middle name, marking a daughter, and Văn, literature, the traditional male one. Nearly everyone born before 1980 has one or the other; younger Vietnamese usually have a chosen middle name instead, and the generator mixes both generations.
Should I keep the diacritics?
In Vietnam, yes, always; they distinguish words that are otherwise identical. Overseas Vietnamese, passports in Latin-script countries and most English text drop them, so Nguyễn Thị Lan becomes Nguyen Thi Lan. Choose the output that matches where the name will be used.
Can I use these names for fiction or test data?
Yes. They are combinations of ordinary names and cannot be owned. Nguyễn Văn Minh and Nguyễn Thị Lan are carried by tens of thousands each, so a common combination will coincide with real people; a name that will be attached to something public deserves a quick search.
See also: all Culture & Language tools, People, Fantasy & RPG, Sci-fi, Online & Social, Business & Brand, Places & Things.
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