The Origin of The Nguyen (Last Name)

The chance of you running into a Vietnamese person with the last name of "Nguyen" is pretty high (I wish my lottery chance was that high). If you are on this site, you have already encountered two Nguyens. So why there are so many people named Nguyen, yet the chances of the any two Nguyens being related to each other are slim? If you must put the spotlight on someone, then the person is the founder of the Nguyen Dynasty, Hue Nguyen. This is one version of the story as to why there are so many Nguyens.

First, how did Vietnam gets its name?

Let's start from the beginning. In 1788, the Chinese tried to conquer Viet Nam but failed due to an army led by Hue Nguyen. At that time, Viet Nam was known as "An Nam" and the land was divided into two: "An Nam and Viet Thuong." The new ruler wanted his country to be united under one name so he sent Le Quan Dinh in 1802 to see the Qing Emperor for permission to change the name to "Nam Viet."

The Qing Emperor hesitated for a bit because he did not want anyone to mistake "Nam Viet" for the Trieu Da's kingdom of "Nam Viet Dong," which consists of Guangdong and Guangxi, the Chinese Provinces. He did not want the new king of Nguyen to have any idea of taking his land so he suggested the name should be "Viet Nam" instead.

Vietnamese Culture

Why there are so many Nguyens?

There are a lot of different versions of the story. So if you heard something different, please don't panic. Although my brother and I live in the same household we already know two different versions.

Under the new rule of the Nguyen emperor, there was peace across the land. It is said that the emperor was very kind and caring to his people. When the emperor came across a rural village, he was shocked at the situation there. The people had hardly any food or clothes so the king immediately sent for the items to give to his people.

After spending some time at the village and beginning to know the people, the emperor realized that the residents residing there do not even have their own last name. As a result, he pitied the people and said that from now on the people of that village will have his last name. Soon words spread and out of admiration from the people, they too began to change their last name to the emperor's.

The change in last name is a common practice as each new Dynasty came into power. An explanation for this is simple. The people wanted to pay respect to the emperor and show him their loyalty by having his last name. After all, in an Asian country, carrying on the family's name is important and that is why people want to have a son instead of a girl.

In another version, the Nguyen emperor came to a village and massacred all the males. The emperor caused the whole village to lose its future without a name since males carry on the family's name. Out of guilt, he allowed the people residing there to have his last name.

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Raphita Tobing