Work With Vietnamese
  • Cultural Literacy
    • Who is Ms. Nguyen?
    • How old are you?
    • When it's time for siesta...
    • To hear what isn't said
    • Tet = Christmas + New Year
    • Smart casual? What does it mean?
    • Rubber time
    • We request the honor of your presence...
    • Where Midas is welcome
    • From outings to the company trip
    • The rising rainbow flag
    • Song of a thousand honks
    • To bribe or not to bribe…
    • It's more than just money
    • The six dimensions of Vietnamese culture
    • Good luck, bad luck
    • The ugly Vietnamese
  • For Employers
  • Author

vietnam cultural literacy

Who is Ms. Nguyen?

There are two things that you should know about Vietnamese names: their structure and how you address a person by name. First of all, unlike Western ones, Vietnamese names have the following order: Surname – Middle Name – Given Name. Secondly, Vietnamese people are addressed by their given name, not their surname. For example, my name in Vietnamese is Le Vinh Khanh and Vietnamese people call me Mr. Khanh, not Mr. Le even though Le is my family name. And this may be the reason:

More than 80% of Vietnamese population share the top 8 popular surnames in Vietnam. The top 3 are Nguyen (38%), Tran (12%) and Le (10%). So if you see a group of 100 random Vietnamese girls and call out “Ms. Nguyen”, there is a high probability that  40 ladies will response. The following funny photo from an American high school yearbook can perfectly demonstrate the popularity of most popular Vietnamese surname:

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The caption says: "We know what you're thinking and no, we are not related!"
It may be interesting to know that “Nguyen” is the Australia's 13th most popular last name due to the high population of the Vietnamese community there. Click here if you want to learn how to pronounce it correctly.

Another interesting fact is that after getting married, Vietnamese women still keep their surname. In Vietnam we don’t have the tradition of married women changing their family name to the husband’s. In my opinion, this is even better than some other cultures in terms of gender equality. However, similar to most other cultures, children inherit the surname of their father’s.
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Key takeaways

  • Order of Vietnamese names: Family Name - Middle Name - Given Name.
  • Vietnamese are addressed by their given name, even in formal situations.
  • "Nguyen" is the most popular family name in Vietnam with nearly 40% of the population.
  • Vietnamese women don't change their family name after getting married.

More to read...

  1. Who is Ms. Nguyen?
  2. How old are you?
  3. When it's time for siesta...
  4. To hear what isn't said
  5. Tet = Christmas + New Year
  6. Smart casual? What does it mean?
  7. Rubber time
  8. We request the honor of your presence...
  9. Do you want to relax, Sir?
  10. Where Midas is welcome
  11. From outings to the company trip
  12. The rising rainbow flag
  13. Song of a thousand honks
  14. To bribe or not to bribe...
  15. It is more than just money...
  16. The six dimensions of Vietnamese culture
  17. Good luck, bad luck
  18. The ugly Vietnamese
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  • Cultural Literacy
    • Who is Ms. Nguyen?
    • How old are you?
    • When it's time for siesta...
    • To hear what isn't said
    • Tet = Christmas + New Year
    • Smart casual? What does it mean?
    • Rubber time
    • We request the honor of your presence...
    • Where Midas is welcome
    • From outings to the company trip
    • The rising rainbow flag
    • Song of a thousand honks
    • To bribe or not to bribe…
    • It's more than just money
    • The six dimensions of Vietnamese culture
    • Good luck, bad luck
    • The ugly Vietnamese
  • For Employers
  • Author