Everything about Nguy N totally explained
(in Vietnamese; approximated as /wɪn/ in English) is the most common
Vietnamese family name. By some estimates, approximately 40 percent of
Vietnamese people have this
surname. The Chinese surname
Ruan is represented by the same
Chinese character, and in East Asian cultures the two are identified as the same surname.
The prevalence of Nguyễn as a family name in Vietnam can be felt in countries to which many Vietnamese have immigrated: Nguyễn is the 7th most common family name in
Australia (second only to Smith in the
Melbourne phone books), and the 54th most common in
France. In the
United States, it's the 57th most common family name according to the 2000 Census, as well as the most common exclusively Asian surname, a massive leap from its 229th-place ranking in 1990. It is ranked 124th in the Social Security Index. In the
Czech Republic, it tops the list of foreign names.
Origin and usage
Even though people with this surname are most often associated with Vietnam, it's of
Chinese origin, written in
Chinese as —pronounced
Ruǎn (
Ruan) in
Standard Mandarin and
Yun (
Yuen) in
Cantonese (
see Chinese surnames). Today,
Ruan is an uncommon, though by no means rare, surname in China.
Some Vietnamese with this surname claim to be descended from a man named Ruan Cho, a
governor of
Jiaozhi (the Sino-Vietnamese name for northern Vietnam at that time) during China's
Chen Dynasty (
557-
589).
Throughout Vietnamese history, many events contributed to the name's prominence. In
1232, after usurping the
Lý Dynasty,
Trần Thủ Độ forced the descendants of the Lý to change their surname to Nguyễn. When
Hồ Quý Ly overturned the
Trần Dynasty, he killed many of their descendants so when the
Hồ Dynasty collapsed in
1407, many of his descendants changed their surname to Nguyễn in fear of retribution. In
1592, on the collapse of the
Mạc Dynasty, their descendants changed their surname to Nguyễn and Lều. When the
Nguyễn Dynasty (the descendants of the
Nguyễn Lords) took power in
1802, some of the descendants of the
Trịnh Lords fearing retribution changed their surname to Nguyễn, while others fled north into China. The Nguyễn Dynasty awarded many people the surname Nguyễn during their rule, and many criminals also changed their surname to Nguyễn to avoid prosecution. Thus, many people having this surname are not necessarily related.
In Vietnamese custom as with other
East Asian cultures, the surname precedes the given names. Like many surnames in Vietnam and other
Chinese-influenced cultures (including
Korea and
Japan), the name Nguyễn is shared with
those in Chinese culture with the same surname. The
Chinese/
Hán Tự character for
Nguyễn is, which also refers to a moon-shaped
lute instrument called
ruan (Mandarin).
Subfamilies
In Vietnamese tradition, people are referred to by their personal names and not by their family names even in formal situations. Thus, there isn't much confusion about who is being referred to as one might expect. However, some groups distinguish themselves from other Nguyễn by passing elements of their names that are usually considered middle names to their children. This practice is more common with male than with female children. Some of the prominent subgroups within the Nguyễn family are:
- Nguyễn Phước or Nguyễn Phúc: all members of the Nguyễn Dynasty have this as part of their name
- Nguyễn Hữu
Pronunciation
The correct Vietnamese pronunciation is [[:Image:Nguyen.ogg, pronounced as one syllable. /ŋ/ is the
velar nasal found at the end of the English word "si
ng". Unlike Vietnamese, this consonant is never found in initial position in English. /w/ is the
glide found in the English word "
wet". /iɜ/ is a rising
diphthong. The sound of this diphthong is close (but not identical) to the diphthong /ɪə/ found in British English
Received Pronunciation in the word "beer". Finally, /n/ is the same consonant as in English.
Besides these vowels and consonants, Nguyễn is also pronounced with a
tone in Vietnamese. In Southern Vietnam, Nguyễn is pronounced with the dipping-rising tone, meaning the pitch of the voice first lowers from level 3 to 1 then rises back to level 3. In Northern Vietnam, Nguyễn is pronounced with the creaking-rising tone, meaning the pitch of the voice rises from level 3 to 5, but with constricted vocal cords, almost akin to a
glottal stop heard in the middle of the word. See
Vietnamese tones.
The pronunciation of Nguyễn can be approximated by English speakers as "win" or "when". Writers familiar with this approximation have created puns from the pronunciation.
Notable Nguyễns
Since approximately 40 percent of all Vietnamese people have the surname Nguyễn, notable people with this surname run the gamut of Vietnamese society. They range from heads of state (
Nguyễn lords,
Nguyễn Dynasty,
Nguyễn Văn Thiệu,
Nguyễn Minh Triết), poets (
Nguyễn Trãi,
Nguyễn Du), writers, scientists, composers, professional poker players (
Scotty Nguyen) to executed criminals (
Nguyễn Tường Vân). Perhaps the most well-known Nguyễn isn't known as a Nguyễn at all, but through an alias.
Hồ Chí Minh was born Nguyễn Sinh Cung and used various names with the surname Nguyễn throughout his career (
Nguyễn Tất Thành,
Nguyễn Ái Quốc) and wasn't known as Hồ Chí Minh until late in his career.
Notable Ruans
Ruan Lingyu, prominent 20th century Chinese actress (阮玲玉, 1910-1935)
Ruan Lufei, Chinese chess player (阮露斐, b. 1987)
Ruan Yuan, Qing dynasty mandarin (阮元, 1764-1849)
Yuan Kay-shan (阮奇山)
Keely Wee, Singaporean singer (阮诗凯, b. 1990)
Anthony Yuen (阮次山, b. 1946)
Ruan Xiaoqi, character in the novel Water Margin (阮小七)
A Zhu, character in novel by Louis Cha (Ruan Azhu, 阮阿朱)Further Information
Get more info on 'Nguy N'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://nguy___n.totallyexplained.com">Nguyễn Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
