Vietnamese Names: How to Read and Pronounce Them
Family name first, given name last. Hear 30 Vietnamese names in a Southern and a Northern voice, and see what the marks change when they go missing.
A Vietnamese name reads like any Vietnamese word: starting consonant, rhyme, tone. Here is how names are built, how they sound in each accent, and what happens when the marks disappear.
Family name first
Nguyễn Văn ToànFamily name · middle name · given name
People are called by the given name: Toàn, or Văn Toàn, never Nguyễn. Văn and Thị are traditional middle names, Thị for women (more on Wikipedia).
Family names
The labels show what your accent changes. Switch it.
How do you say Nguyễn? It has its own guide.
Given names
- anhsaid as written
- linhinh = in
- hoasaid as written
- lanan = ang
- maisaid as written
- hùngsaid as written
- dũngd = gi = vngã = hỏi
- tuấnuân = uâng
- hươngsaid as written
- trangtr = chang = an
- thảohỏi = ngã
- minhinh = in
- namsaid as written
- hảihỏi = ngã
- ngọcsaid as written
- thusaid as written
- hàsaid as written
- phươngsaid as written
- quanguang = oan
- đứcưc = ưt
- thanhsaid as written
- tâmsaid as written
- anan = ang
- bìnhinh = in
- huysaid as written
- vyv = d = gi
- mysaid as written
Many given names are also everyday words. The meaning a family chose isn't always the everyday one: ask them.
Thủy or Thuỷ?
The same name, two spellings: the tone mark sits on a different vowel depending on the writing habit. It sounds exactly the same. Here it is, built step by step:
Each line adds one piece. Read it aloud, then tap a card to compare: a consonant plays the way it is spelled at school (ph = “phờ”).
Spelled the Vietnamese school wayi uy thờ uy thuy hỏi thuỷ
thuỷwater (element)
Every tone
The same letters without a tone (the root), then with each tone the spelling allows: some are words, some only possible syllables.
When the marks go missing
On forms, Dũng often becomes plain “Dung”. Here's every real word those bare letters can stand for (d or đ, u or ư, any tone):
- đứngto stand
- đúngright, correct
- đừngdon't (negative imperative)
- dùngto use
- dừngto stop
- dựngto build, erect
- đụngto touch, bump into
- đựngto contain, hold
- dungto tolerate
- đùngboom (sound)
- dũngcourage, bravery
- dưngbut (colloquial)
+ 2 rarer words
The marks are not decoration: they are the name.
Read any name
Every name is made of the same syllables as the rest of the language. Learn the alphabet and the accent marks, and you can read them all.
Hear more names, dishes and everyday words built step by step: Vietnamese pronunciation tool.
Quick answers
What order are Vietnamese names in?
Family name, then middle name, then given name: in Nguyễn Văn Toàn, Nguyễn is the family name and Toàn the given name. People are addressed by their given name.
What do Văn and Thị mean in a name?
They are traditional middle names: Thị for women, Văn for many men. Thị is more common in older generations.
Why do names lose their marks?
Many forms and keyboards don't accept them. Without the marks, a name can stand for several different words, which is why the marks matter.
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