Culture Notes

1. Components of names:
   • Traditionally, Vietnamese names consist of three components, written in the following order:
   Last name (Họ) + Middle name (Đệm) + First name (Tên)
   Examples:

   Nguyễn	Quốc	Dương
   họ	đệm	tên

   Hoàng	Thanh	Tùng
   họ	đệm	tên

   • People can also have more than one middle name:

   Nguyễn	Duy	Huy	Hoàng
   họ	đệm 1	đệm 2	tên

   Phạm	Thị	Thanh	Mai
   họ	đệm 1	đệm 2	tên

   • In many cases, the first name has two syllables instead of one. This often happens to people whose first name is “Anh”. The middle name is treated as part of the first name.

   Examples:

   	Trần	Ngọc	Anh
   	họ	đệm	tên
   or	họ	tên	tên

   You will call this person “Ngọc Anh“, rather than just “Anh“.

2. Other important notes:
   • Vietnamese women do not take their husband’s last name when they get married. They keep their father’s last name. In other words, their maiden name and married name are the same.
   • Like in various cultures, Vietnamese children often take the father’s last name.
   • When in Vietnam, because of common last names, you should refer to a person by their first name, even with the use of titles.

   Examples:

   	Full name: Nguyễn Thanh Thảo (Female)
   Avoid saying:		Say:
   Ms. Nguyen		Ms. Thao Nguyen
   		Ms. Nguyen Thanh Thao
   		or even Ms. Thao

   	Full name: Trần Quốc Vương (Doctor)
   Avoid saying:		Say:
   Dr. Tran		Dr. Vuong Tran
   		Dr. Tran Quoc Vuong
   		or even Dr. Vuong

When refering to a country, Vietnamese may choose to keep the English word, or form a new word in Vietnamese.

To indicate nationality, simply add “Người” in front of the country. For example: Người Mỹ = A person from America = American

To indicate languages, simply add “Tiếng” in front of the country, region or culture where the language is formed.

For example:

• English = Tiếng Anh = The language from England
• Spanish = Tiếng Tây Ban Nha = The language from Spain

This table outlines the common countries, nationalities and languages from those countries.